FAX console XP: answers phone on manual

[dale73]

My fax console is set to manual. Actually the "enable receive" box isn't
even ticked. Despite that, everytime my phone rings the fax answers a few
seconds after I've already picked up. Anyone know what could be happening?

 

[Earl F. Parrish]

My fax console is set to manual. Actually the "enable receive" box isn't
even ticked. Despite that, everytime my phone rings the fax answers a few
seconds after I've already picked up. Anyone know what could be
happening?

An Answer command has been written to the nonvolatile RAM of the modem.
Make sure that you also have auto-answer turned off for any modem string
sent to the modem when the computer is started. This could be a fax or data
program which modified the modem initialization string. The modem will
continue to pick up on incoming calls until a contrary command is sent to
it. Once a program sends a command to the modem, the modem will answer even
if the program is no longer running or installed.

 

[Chuck]

And, even worse, if the program is gone, or possibly in manual mode, nothing
is setup to deal with the modem. It may eventually time out, or the caller
hangs up.
Some of the fax programs will cause the modem to disconnect if started after
the modem has picked up the line. They initialize the modem at startup.