Modem Lost its Voice

[PT]

I used a dial-up internet connection until about six months ago when i
switched to DSL.

Today, I installed MSN dialup for use on my laptop while traveling. The
installation went smoothly, and things are working fine except:for one
thing: While the modem is dialing and linking to the MSN server, there is
silence. I used to get the dialing tones, as well as the answering modem's
whistle, beeps, etc.. I checked to see that the Control Panel | Sound
Devices looked normal (i.e. non-muted). The sound scheme is set to "No
Sounds", although this doesn't seem to list anything about the modem. To
the best of my recollection, I never did anything deliberately which might
have silenced the modem.

Any suggestions?

 

[Chuck]

I used a dial-up internet connection until about six months ago when i
switched to DSL.

Today, I installed MSN dialup for use on my laptop while traveling. The
installation went smoothly, and things are working fine except:for one
thing: While the modem is dialing and linking to the MSN server, there is
silence. I used to get the dialing tones, as well as the answering modem's
whistle, beeps, etc.. I checked to see that the Control Panel | Sound
Devices looked normal (i.e. non-muted). The sound scheme is set to "No
Sounds", although this doesn't seem to list anything about the modem. To
the best of my recollection, I never did anything deliberately which might
have silenced the modem.

Any suggestions?

If you can edit the phonebook entry, check the modem initialisation string
(different for each modem). Two of the parameters allows you to set speaker
volume, and when the speaker is on.

I have a modem that I only need to use when my DSL gets trashed by PacHell.

For USRobotics modems, for instance, "L0" sets it silent, thru "L3" sets it
loudest. And "M0" sets the speaker off always, thru "M3" sets the speaker on
til dialing complete. YMMV.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[PT]

I'll check it out. That looks like the old "Hayes" language, which I
believe is used by lots of other companies.

--
PT

I used a dial-up internet connection until about six months ago when i
switched to DSL.

Today, I installed MSN dialup for use on my laptop while traveling. The
installation went smoothly, and things are working fine except:for one
thing: While the modem is dialing and linking to the MSN server, there is
silence. I used to get the dialing tones, as well as the answering modem's
whistle, beeps, etc.. I checked to see that the Control Panel | Sound
Devices looked normal (i.e. non-muted). The sound scheme is set to "No
Sounds", although this doesn't seem to list anything about the modem. To
the best of my recollection, I never did anything deliberately which might
have silenced the modem.

Any suggestions?

If you can edit the phonebook entry, check the modem initialisation string
(different for each modem). Two of the parameters allows you to set speaker
volume, and when the speaker is on.

I have a modem that I only need to use when my DSL gets trashed by PacHell.

For USRobotics modems, for instance, "L0" sets it silent, thru "L3" sets it
loudest. And "M0" sets the speaker off always, thru "M3" sets the speaker
on
til dialing complete. YMMV.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[PT]

Mea maxima culpa. The problem was that the external speaker was plugged
into the laptop and not turned on. The plug disables the internal speaker.
I figured this out myself after spending a fruitless hour on the phone with
a very nice young lady from Dell support in India.

--
PT

I used a dial-up internet connection until about six months ago when i
switched to DSL.

Today, I installed MSN dialup for use on my laptop while traveling. The
installation went smoothly, and things are working fine except:for one
thing: While the modem is dialing and linking to the MSN server, there is
silence. I used to get the dialing tones, as well as the answering modem's
whistle, beeps, etc.. I checked to see that the Control Panel | Sound
Devices looked normal (i.e. non-muted). The sound scheme is set to "No
Sounds", although this doesn't seem to list anything about the modem. To
the best of my recollection, I never did anything deliberately which might
have silenced the modem.

Any suggestions?

If you can edit the phonebook entry, check the modem initialisation string
(different for each modem). Two of the parameters allows you to set speaker
volume, and when the speaker is on.

I have a modem that I only need to use when my DSL gets trashed by PacHell.

For USRobotics modems, for instance, "L0" sets it silent, thru "L3" sets it
loudest. And "M0" sets the speaker off always, thru "M3" sets the speaker
on
til dialing complete. YMMV.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Chuck]

Mea maxima culpa. The problem was that the external speaker was plugged
into the laptop and not turned on. The plug disables the internal speaker.
I figured this out myself after spending a fruitless hour on the phone with
a very nice young lady from Dell support in India.

DOHH. BTDT. Thanks for the update.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.