> 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.

     I must say it doesn't sound good. I have encountered a few modems which
did the exact same thing (not USRs though), the only solution was replacing
them. Have you had a thunderstorm in your area lately? Having worked in
Customer Service for a computer company I can tell you that after a big
thunderstorm that is the most common problem. OTOH how old is your modem?
USR usually has a VERY good warranty program, it's possible that your modem
is still under warranty. TTYL

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