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So my dad's computer started acting funny one day. The modem wouldn't
connect to the Internet, and when the line was plugged in to the modem,
none of the phones would work. Just that three-tone alert and the
robotic operator with the usual bad news.
A faulty modem, right?
So I ordered a Motorola PCI modem from eBay. A fresh new start. After
installing it correctly, I went to dial up. It connected without a
hitch. So I disconnected and then reconnected. The whole computer froze
up, and I got a pretty picture of pastel lines with no way to shut down
properly. Reboot, reconnect... yay! I got online three times in a row.
Thinking the freeze was a fluke, I went on my way with an air of
satisfaction knowing that there would be no more problems.
But things can't be that easy, I guess, for that very night I get a
phone call with news of multiple crashes. Not only would the computer
not connect to the net, but every time it tried, it would freeze up
horribly.
Some days later I got the computer home and went about trying to
troubleshoot the problem. Instead of experiencing crashes at every
dialing attempt, I would get a message saying that a telephone signal
was not detected. This with a line I repeatedly tested, and in fact use
all the time.
And so these events led me to try installing the new modem in my old
computer, and wouldn't you know it, it wouldn't work! Just that same
message regarding a possible bad phone line.
I checked the device manager in both computers, installed/reinstalled
drivers, avoided walking under ladders, but all to no avail. Windows
thinks the modem is fine, and querying it showed no anomalies.
Is it possible that the phone line is frying modems? Or that the
computer itself is somehow killing them?
The best option at this point is to just get a new computer, as the old
one is OLD. I don't think my dad can afford a new computer, so it seems
like I'm stuck :(
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TC wrote:
> Check you wiring. I don't know what kind of connectors and wiring you are
> using, but problems might arise from wrong wiring.
I use the same phone line with my computer, and it never fails. Would a
faulty line cause one modem to work but not another?
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"stbenge" <UN### [at] hotmail com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:4bbbea9a@news.povray.org...
> TC wrote:
>> Check you wiring. I don't know what kind of connectors and wiring you are
>> using, but problems might arise from wrong wiring.
>
> I use the same phone line with my computer, and it never fails. Would a
> faulty line cause one modem to work but not another?
It is almost impossible to say from here - so much that may go wrong,
because there are so many different ways people are wiring their phones. In
most cases just two wires are needed to transfer the signal. Sometimes four
wires are used. Here in Germany you have many kinds of different jacks -
many different sizes and forms, many different wirings. Connect the wrong
jack to the wrong socket, and when you plug it in you got a busy signal on
all lines.
Maybe the modem from E-Bay was just faulty from start - it happens.
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