"Line busy"

[Mike McCoy]

Greetings,

I'm running WinXP Home on a PIII computer with 128MB RAM. I dial up to the
Internet using a 56k modem on a standard phone line.

Every now and then, after any number of successful connections, I find that
cannot dial up to my Internet connection: the "Connect to..." routine
returns an error message that the line is busy. But the line is *not* busy, as
I can quickly tell by picking up the phone and getting a dialtone.

It seems to me that some piece of software, somewhere, is telling the
computer that the line is engaged when it isn't. I'd appreciate help on
solving this. Is it the modem? The OS?

Mike

 

[John A]

I think that message means that your ISP's line is busy.

John A

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----
Greetings,

I'm running WinXP Home on a PIII computer with 128MB RAM. I dial up to the
Internet using a 56k modem on a standard phone line.

Every now and then, after any number of successful connections, I find that
cannot dial up to my Internet connection: the "Connect to..." routine
returns an error message that the line is busy. But the line is *not* busy, as
I can quickly tell by picking up the phone and getting a dialtone.

It seems to me that some piece of software, somewhere, is telling the
computer that the line is engaged when it isn't. I'd appreciate help on
solving this. Is it the modem? The OS?

Mike
--
Mike McCoy
Bloemfontein, South Africa
.
Try getting a second dialup # from your ISP as an

alternet but be sure that it is a local # if you don't
want a high phone bill.

 

[Mike McCoy]

Try getting a second dialup # from your ISP as an
alternet but be sure that it is a local # if you don't
want a high phone bill.

No, that's not the problem. As I said, my difficulty is when I try to
establish a dial-up connection. This is *before* I have made the
connection. I get dialtone if I pick up the handset, but the modem / OS /
something is telling the computer that the line is busy when it is *not*.
So I can't even get the computer to start dialling.

I'm a total amateur in these matters, but my guess would be that a program
is forgetting to tell the modem that the previous call has been ended.

Mike

 

[Mike McCoy]

I think that message means that your ISP's line is busy.

Hi, John

Thanks for your reply. No, that's not the problem. See my response to
"anonymous".

Mike

 

[John A]

Mike

Do you have other devices attached to your phone line? If so
disconnect them all and see if you still get the problem. Also
disable Call Waiting.

John Allen

 

[Dave R.]

Mike, I doubt if this has anything to do with your current problem but 128MB
of RAM is bare minimum for Windows XP. It's very inexpensive and easy to
install. I did it and barely know a monitor from a modem. Double it to
256MB. You'll enjoy the difference.
Dave

 

[Mike McCoy]

Do you have other devices attached to your phone line? If so
disconnect them all and see if you still get the problem.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have a fax machine; but it's been sharing the
same phone line for nearly five years, and this problem (Windows error
message 676: "The phone line is busy") has only started to happen in the
past couple of weeks. Disconnecting the fax doesn't seem to make a
difference anyway.

The problem seems to be intermittent. It doesn't happen every time after
I've connected to the Internet. Sometimes I can go a whole day without it
happening. Then (like yesterday and today) it seems to happen after the
first dial-up.

My problem is that I don't know enough about this stuff to know where to
look! I've tried running the Program Manager and shutting down some of
the SVCHOST.EXE programs, in case one of them is blocking the phone line.
So far no luck... Rebooting since to be the only way to fix it, which is a real
pain.

Also disable Call Waiting.

Sorry -- where do I do that? I've searched through my dial-up connection
settings and can't find that option.

Thanks again for your help!

Mike

 

[Mike McCoy]

Mike, I doubt if this has anything to do with your current problem but 128MB
of RAM is bare minimum for Windows XP. It's very inexpensive and easy to
install. I did it and barely know a monitor from a modem. Double it to
256MB. You'll enjoy the difference.

Thanks, Dave -- I'll look into it.
Mike

 

[John A]

Mike

Please post to the same thread (ie post Follow-up Newsnet Message)
otherwise your posts may be missed and it makes it impossible for
anyone with a similar problem following the discussion.

Re disable Call Waiting - check with your telco to see if it is
enabled and what you have to dial to disable it. If it is enabled you
can also get your computer to disable it - Phone & Modem options /
Dialling rules, Edit My Location.

John Allen

 

[Mike McCoy]

Reply in-line...

Mike

Please post to the same thread (ie post Follow-up Newsnet Message)
otherwise your posts may be missed and it makes it impossible for
anyone with a similar problem following the discussion.

Sorry! I have in fact been doing a follow-up each time, but deleting all
but the specific comments to which I was responding. I thought that
was good netiquette!

Re disable Call Waiting - check with your telco to see if it is
enabled and what you have to dial to disable it. If it is enabled you
can also get your computer to disable it - Phone & Modem options /
Dialling rules, Edit My Location.

OK, thanks.

 

[John A]

For some reason your messages are appearing in different threads.

John Allen

 

[Dave R.]

John, they're all in the same thread on my screen, a little less indent
after this message.
Dave

 

[Mike McCoy]

Every now and then, after any number of successful connections, I find that
cannot dial up to my Internet connection: the "Connect to..." routine
returns an error message that the line is busy. But the line is *not* busy, as
I can quickly tell by picking up the phone and getting a dialtone.

It seems to me that some piece of software, somewhere, is telling the
computer that the line is engaged when it isn't. I'd appreciate help on
solving this. Is it the modem? The OS?

I think I've found the culprit. Yesterday, when the phone line remained
"busy" after I'd disconnected, I experimented with closing the program
fxssvc.exe from Program Manager. I was able to re-connect immediately.

I presume that fxssvc.exe is the fax send/receive program that comes with
XP? If so, are there any tweaks I can make to its operations to make sure it
stops hogging the phone line after I've disconnected from the Internet?

Mike

 

[Doug]

You can disable both receive and send functions in the Fax Control
module. Do so and NEVER use it again as it is a piece of s**t anyway.
There are FREE and purchased fax programs that work 100% better than the
one included with XP. Microsoft did not do you a favor by including
their so-called Fax program with XP.

My opinion only...other opinions may vary.

Doug
=================================
| On Sat, 8 Nov 2003 21:13:17 +0200, Mike McCoy wrote:
|
| > Every now and then, after any number of successful connections, I
find that
| > cannot dial up to my Internet connection: the "Connect to..."
routine
| > returns an error message that the line is busy. But the line is
*not* busy, as
| > I can quickly tell by picking up the phone and getting a dialtone.
| >
| > It seems to me that some piece of software, somewhere, is telling
the
| > computer that the line is engaged when it isn't. I'd appreciate
help on
| > solving this. Is it the modem? The OS?
|
| I think I've found the culprit. Yesterday, when the phone line
remained
| "busy" after I'd disconnected, I experimented with closing the program
| fxssvc.exe from Program Manager. I was able to re-connect immediately.
|
| I presume that fxssvc.exe is the fax send/receive program that comes
with
| XP? If so, are there any tweaks I can make to its operations to make
sure it
| stops hogging the phone line after I've disconnected from the
Internet?
|
| Mike

 

[Mike McCoy]

You can disable both receive and send functions in the Fax Control
module. Do so and NEVER use it again as it is a piece of s**t anyway.
There are FREE and purchased fax programs that work 100% better than the
one included with XP. Microsoft did not do you a favor by including
their so-called Fax program with XP.

My opinion only...other opinions may vary.

Doug

Thanks, Doug. If you can point me to a couple of reliable FW fax programs,
I'd be grateful.

Mike

 

[sunshine]

Hi Mike...I use the Fax component of SuperVoice which came free as it
was distributed with my Winmodem. There were millions of these programs
distributed through various vendors. An updated version is available for
purchase from www.supervoice.com . They also have a stand-alone Fax
program. I also have MightyFax NT from www.rkssoftware.com . I have also
tried out a very nice Fax program from www.nicocuppen.com which works
great. All of these programs can be downloaded for a 30 day trial and
range in price from $49 to $69 US. Symantec also sells WinFax which is
more expensive but has a lot of great features. I have not tried it but
it has good reviews.

Hope this helps...Doug
=======================================

| On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 01:32:57 -0700, Doug wrote:
|
| > You can disable both receive and send functions in the Fax Control
| > module. Do so and NEVER use it again as it is a piece of s**t
anyway.
| > There are FREE and purchased fax programs that work 100% better than
the
| > one included with XP. Microsoft did not do you a favor by including
| > their so-called Fax program with XP.
| >
| > My opinion only...other opinions may vary.
| >
| > Doug
|
| Thanks, Doug. If you can point me to a couple of reliable FW fax
programs,
| I'd be grateful.
|
| Mike

 

[John A]

I use XP Fax for incoming/outgoing faxes and have had no problems with
it.

John Allen