Let's assume for a moment your modem isn't broken.
The Hayes Command Set provides for several modem states that are
incompatible with standard phone company voice mode.  Sounds like
your modem is in one of these states.  There are different 'signals'
that you can 'force' your pc to send 'always on' or 'always off'
to the modem, which tell the modem, for examples, a call is in progress,
don't detect dial tone, never hang up, wait for another signal, etc.
The phone company does not provide for these, so your modem is hanging.

This is not a difficult problem, but it may require more trial and error
than you want to invest, and if you don't have a hint as to why your
modem reached this state, you might want to cut to the end and assume
it's broken, because that still could be the ultimate diagnosis anyway.

First you need a way to send the modem a command string.  You can use a
dial prefix dialogue box, or MS Hyperterminal, or a dos box. Find the
command string from your documentation or off the web that will restore
the modem to a normal state.  For example, many modems will respond to
AT&F by restoring saved factory defaults.  If your modem also supports
English
Return Codes, typing 'echo AT&F >com1 (if your modem is on com1) in a
dos
box will display 'OK' on the next line, meaning the modem understood.
'AT'
is the command mode 'attention', and is necessary for every Hayes
Command.
If you like a little trial and error, give it a try.
By the way, I would have guessed reloading the driver would have forced
factory
defaults, but maybe the modem will only change its stored settings by
explicit commands.
Faced with this problem myself, I start by figuring out what I did that
changed the modem in the first place. You don't need a hint, but it
helps
in predicting whether 'command string' experimenting will work, or the
modem
is just dead.
Tom Turak

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael A. Wosnick [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2000 9:12 PM

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.

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