First off, thanks to Bob and Ray for the informative replies.

 I ended up calling the local phone service and when they came out to
check it, of course there wasn't any static on the line (same was true
when I checked the outside box as suggested). The repairman said he
would change my line at a junction box down the road from me and I
haven't had any more problems.

 Thanks again for the replies,
-Phil-

On 9/14/09, Ray Parrish <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Phillip Williams wrote:
>>  I have a Compaq 5000 series presario with an internal 56k modem that
>> occasionally won't get a dial tone. A while back I found that after
>> trying to connect, I'll close my AOL software and try my phone (on
>> same line) and there isn't a dial tone. Suspecting a bad line or
>> connection, I replaced all lines and connectors from the outside box.
>> I still have the problem intermittantly and am wondering if it's
>> possible for a dying modem to prevent a dial tone from being present.
>>  I haven't tallked to the local phone company yet about checking the
>> line coming to the house as we have three seperate lines and this is
>> the only one having problems.
>> If the modem isn't a possibility as the cause, I will contact them next.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -Phil Williams-
>>
> Sometimes your modem can hang, and not let go of the line. When this
> happens you need to tell it to hang up. To do this go to Start, Run, and
> type in "command" to get a command prompt.
>
> Now you will need to know the com port your modem is using, it should be
> com1, com2, com3, or com4.
>
> In the command prompt box type "echo ath0 > com1" [without the quotes],
> hit enter, and the modem will hang up the line, and you will be able to
> use it again. Make sure to change com1 to whichever com port your modem
> is using.
>
> Hope this helps. I used to have to do this quite often in the days of
> Win95 and Win3.1, but have DSL now so haven't had the problem in a long
> time.
>
> Later, Ray Parrish
>
>
> --
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> things, including my poetry.
> http://www.writingsoftheschizophrenic.com
>
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