Modem not detecting dial tone, but dial tone exists!

[mainit123]

I am running Win98SE on several PCs. One is a Dell
PII 300 MHz and the other is a clone with a AMD chip running
at 500 MHz. I realize these are not the newest machines
but I had no trouble getting a V.90 modem from Creative
installed and configured on either one.
The modem responds just fine in the Control Panel Diagnostics and also shows in Device Manager.
In my (acid) test, I can talk to it directly from
within Hyperterminal using commands typed directly into
the Hyperterminal window. Enough said, the modem is being
recognized. The only problem is I cannot raise a dial
tone using my analog phone line. That is,
after plugging in the 4 conductor wire into the LINE
port on the modem (that port also has 4 conductors, not
two), I can never get a dial tone when I attempt to dial
out to my ISP using the ISP's front end interface software or by dialing while inside Hyperterminal. I don't believe
there should be anything real special to do to get a dial
tone when I tell the modem to go off hook and dial.
The kicker is this same phone line when connected to
another PC with a different vendor's modem picks up the
phone just fine. I know there is good dial tone there
and I just can't believe this Creative modem will
not go off-hook. Anything special or real obvious that
comes to mind? I have been around PCs for years and
cannot get this modem to go off-hook. I know one solution
is to get another vendor's modem but is there some setting
that once set will refuse to allow a modem to go off-hook?
Thanks.

 

[mattjurado]

So not even hyperterminal will dial out? Could be a problem with that modem. However, in the modem's properties, connection tab, there is an option that says wait for dial tone before dialing, uncheck that, reboot, and try again.

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[mainit123]

I would say this call should be closed.
I gave up and bought a new modem.
The problem is the modem.