I have a Dell Dimension XPS R400 with a US Robotics (internal) 56k Fax/voice
modem (PnP). The modem is connected to my phone line, and also to a
stand-alone telephone. All has worked flawlessly until today.

All of a sudden, when my computer boots up, the modem seems to grab the
phone line and hold it off hook. However, there is no dial tone. I have no
ability to use the phone either - it just shows as "in use" but of course it
is not. I can't even use the modem itself, since there is no dial tone. The
line is just "dead" when the computer is on.

I have changed the phone cord that runs from the modem to my phone, and it
makes no difference.

If I run the telephone line cord from the wall jack directly to the phone
and bypass the modem altogether, the phone and the line operate normally, so
I know that the problem is not the phone line itself, nor the cable, but has
to be the modem.

If I shut the computer down, as soon as it powers off, my phone and phone
line are returned to me. If I use the phone to make a call and during the
call I boot the computer, everything is fine until I hang up the phone. As
soon as I hang up on the call, the modem seems to grab the line again and
the phone shows as being in use, but is essentially a dead line.

I tried removing the modem from my device list and have Windows 98 find it
again and re-install but that did not solve the problem either. For now, all
I can do is bypass the modem altogether so that I can at least use the
phone. I have a cable modem on the same computer, so this 56k is only used
for FAXing, but even at that it is entirely useless right now.

Short of replacing the modem, is there anything someone can suggest?

Michael

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                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>