Winmodem setup in XP

Hi: Have a friends machine here and am unable to connect. Clean install of XP home with a Lucent Winmodem. Have verified dialup #s and connection setup through ISP, have tried uninstall/reinstall, disabled wait for dial tone, moved to a new pci slot and have updated drivers.
I am able to get the modem to dial but I either get a no dial tone error or I can hear whats sounds to be a busy signal from the modem.
One thing I am not clear on is that the modem is set to use Com 3 but only Com 1 shows on the device manager. The only network adapter I have showing is the onboard Ethernet.
What am I missing?
Help is appreciated.

 

You do have your modem listed in device manager under modem category don't you? It should have a diagnostics tab. Have you tried this?

Modems have at least two connection plugins, one for the phone and one for the modem. Do you have a phone plugged into the phone connection and what do you hear when you pick up the phone and listen? Does it have a dialtone immediately?

Try to manually dial the access number you have instructed the modem to dial. Is it making those weird dialup noises that it should be making or do you get a busy signal?

Do you have you modem speaker turned up so you can hear the sounds your modem is making while it is dialing? Do these sound right?

Although this is not your service some of the checks will apply:
http://www.vippowernet.com/site/supportconnectissues.html

Notice the section and explanation for "Busy Signal ". Are you using only one access number for your ISP?

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None of the suggestions above are technical just basic snooping-sleuthing. Simple methods, looking the most common human glitch's versus modem issues, using a hands-on approach. No matter how correct your settings are or how current your hardware is if the connected cords from the jack to your modem and phone are not correct first and eliminated as a possibility these other settings become a mute point.

 

Thanks for the reply: Couple things there I didn't do, am stepping out so will try the others later tonight.
Regards

 

Passing on a link I just stumbled onto while looking for AT strings for myself. Your problem prodded me to stop putting off this task for myself.
http://www.net-boy.com/

And this little tidbit:
Voicemail & Call Diversion - Telephone providers now offer voicemail features, and options to divert inbound calls to other numbers. While these are active, there will be a different dialling tone than normal, either a different pitch, or an intermittent tone. Modems find it difficult to recognise these different dial tones, and will report errors such as "There is NO DIALTONE ", or "The device/line appears to be in use ".
You have to switch this dial tone recognition off, in order that the modem will just go ahead and dial, regardless.

I'm not sure how to do this. Are any of these settings or options available via the ISP connection setup or the software that your using for this provider. For example: My daughter uses Netzero and the wizard that is used for making a connection has these options available for cofiguration preferences [enables/disables].

 

Finally got it, was using my spare room to hook up and I needed to rewire the phone jack, was fine a couple days earlier with another machine.

Thanks

 

So a simple snoop sleuth payed off. Non Working jack and no dialtone are the makings for a cranky modem connect. I'm glad you got this figured out and are able to put it behind you. Thanks for the u[date and your most welcome.