Fax used to work for 3 years. now ignores print to FAX

[LURKER]

I don't use it much, maybe two - four times a year. I use it to fax letters to my congressmen and other occasional needs.

After I "print" the document to FAX, 1st symptom I observe is no dial tone. At first I thought it was failing to "go
offhook". Then I notice in the Printers and Fax folder, the documents count stays at 0 suggestion the document is not
sent to the outbound queue.... I can see the document in the Fax Outbox. It does not seem to make it to the print
que... however I am unsure how to look at the actual queue.

The phone modem is otherwise very busy. Modem is used several times a day. It is used to catch Caller ID and post it on
the screen (TraySoft Phone Tray). It also passes the diagnostics from within the driver.

I t has always worked with the TraySoft application, but I tried stopping the Phone Tray app anyway. No help.

I tried deleting the FAX printer, and then Added it back.

Rebooting accomplishes nothing.

Here is the Log, typical for all the failures ever since it started failing in December.
Personal data deleted.

"0x0201c994726c3f25" "0x2001c994726c3c17" 2/21/2009 17:19:11 2/21/2009 17:19:11 "Transmission error" "Unknown fatal
error" "0x0000000c" 2/21/2009 17:23:10 2/21/2009 17:24:0 "Zoom V.92 PCI Voice Faxmodem #2" "1-913-6849497"
"9136849497" "Fax" 0 2 "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users.WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows
NT\MSFax\Queue\1C994726C3F25.FQE" "AARTS Transcript - AARTS_Transcript_Request.pdf" 187960 3 "generic.cov" "AARTS
Transcript Request

Absolutely nothing useful in the Event Logs except the "Error" word.

I a looking for suggestions how to debug the problem.

?

Lurker

 

[Larry]

I had the same problem and it was caused by interference from a 'page
counter' program called Papercut Print Logger (free version). As soon as I
uninstalled it & rebooted, fax returned to normal. Anything like that
installed on your machine that could be causing the problem?

Larry

I don't use it much, maybe two - four times a year. I use it to fax letters
to my congressmen and other occasional needs.

After I "print" the document to FAX, 1st symptom I observe is no dial tone.
At first I thought it was failing to "go
offhook". Then I notice in the Printers and Fax folder, the documents count
stays at 0 suggestion the document is not
sent to the outbound queue.... I can see the document in the Fax Outbox. It
does not seem to make it to the print
que... however I am unsure how to look at the actual queue.

The phone modem is otherwise very busy. Modem is used several times a day.
It is used to catch Caller ID and post it on
the screen (TraySoft Phone Tray). It also passes the diagnostics from
within the driver.

I t has always worked with the TraySoft application, but I tried stopping
the Phone Tray app anyway. No help.

I tried deleting the FAX printer, and then Added it back.

Rebooting accomplishes nothing.

Here is the Log, typical for all the failures ever since it started failing
in December.
Personal data deleted.

"0x0201c994726c3f25" "0x2001c994726c3c17" 2/21/2009 17:19:11 2/21/2009
17:19:11 "Transmission error" "Unknown fatal
error" "0x0000000c" 2/21/2009 17:23:10 2/21/2009 17:24:0 "Zoom V.92 PCI
Voice Faxmodem #2" "1-913-6849497"
"9136849497" "Fax" 0 2 "C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users.WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows
NT\MSFax\Queue\1C994726C3F25.FQE" "AARTS Transcript -
AARTS_Transcript_Request.pdf" 187960 3 "generic.cov" "AARTS
Transcript Request

Absolutely nothing useful in the Event Logs except the "Error" word.

I a looking for suggestions how to debug the problem.

?

Lurker

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

What happens when you open the Fax Console and examine the Fax Printer
Status?

 

[LURKER]

Russ,
It shows "Ready".

I think I have part of the answer, now.

I Tee'd the line to put a phone on the line with the fax.

I do have the modem driver's check box marked to "wait for Dial Tone". Apparently that is not happening....

Right before starting the fax send, I used the telephone to go off-hook and get a dial tone. The fax dialed, connected,
and I hung up the phone.

Fax proceeded to completion.

Observation:
Contrary to how it was when it all worked...
1) I never hear anything out of the modem speaker. Previously, I erroneously assumed the reason I did not hear the dial
tone was because the speaker was not working.

2) I still do not hear the noisy connection sequence. I used to hear it. Maybe the speaker IS bad?

I watch the Modem log live by using a "Tail" command from the MKS toolkit. That's how I knew what was happening.

Perhaps?.. something in the registry has gotten mucked up. Maybe a key is missing?

I guess I am seeing a double failure:
1) Wait for dial tone is not working.
2) Speaker behaves as if volume setting is off.

Carl

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Not sure I understand what "Tee'd the line" means, but I suspect that's what
changed the behavior. Why wouldn't you put the phone on the outboard jack of
your modem?

 

[LURKER]

Thanks for your well directed questions. It has pulled me in deeper and I am learning more about the issue.

Testing both ways seems to make no difference.

I have digital phone through cable service. It's about 4 years old and the voice service is not reliable with FAX.

I have the home network in a Linksys router.

I recently added a 2nd digital phone line with a digital phone modem that is more compatible with fax service. This is
misleading because the current connection problem existed before I ordered the 2nd line. The old line always connected,
but it would often drop out while transmitting the Fax data. Usually a retry or two would finally succeed. The new
digital phone modem was supposed to solve that problem.

Well, I don't know if the Fax modem helped because I was having this current problem before I got the new line. However
the new line does work fine for voice. For a reduced rate, outbound calls exceeding 800 minutes per month get a per
minute charge. Inbound is free. I pay $15 a month for the second line.

So... using the new line, I did not need a phone.

PC modem==> Digital Phone Modem==> Router==> Cable modem==> Time Warner Cable

For the test (because of physical location of the new Fax line cable modem, I did not have a phone on it... so I tee'd
the phone line coming out of the digital phone modem to do the test of "off hook" / dialtone.

Because of you asking the question, I just completed connecting the Fax line phone "the normal way" that you expected.
Symptoms did not change. Still no sound from the modem and still Fax does not wait for dial tone. It just starts dialing.

I did try shortening the wait between retries, and several successive retries DID connect one of the times, even without
the wait for dial tone.

Hmmm. Sounds like the cable modem sometimes is "off hook" sooner than others, and since I can't hear the dial tone, its
tough to debug. I got to find out why the modem speaker stopped working. I may have to buy a new modem to test.

This is a rather pricey modem with Caller ID. I have to use one on the compatibility list for Phone Tray. I have to
give up resisting the purchase. Meanwhile I keep trying things.

Note: This last day of testing has been with Phone Tray shut down.

Lurker

 

[Chuck]

The digital phone modem must generate the dial tone that the fax modem sees.
Does the fax modem work as a data modem?
Some digital phone providers charge extra for fax capability or don't
support it at all.