Computer problem

The length of the cable has absolutely no bearing on anything. You already have unsheilded and ungrounded phone line of some unknown length running from your customer interface box right? So an extra 10 or 15ft wont make any difference. Folks are always talking about what's outside the wall but never realize the massive interference they get from the cables inside the wall. I guess if they can't see it then it must be alright.

Do not install software and don't replace your modem if it's working. The "phone" jack on the back of the modem is your "splitter" and it stopped working. So get ya new one and install it at the wall jack side.

BTW. I have 14 years experience with this stuff and I think you did an pretty good job explaining your problem.

I WOULD NOT advise splitting it at the wall, splitters, long cords and machines such as faxes can create "noise" on the line and DRASTICLY affect dialup speed and quality

Alot of the time when people are having connection problems its due to long phone cords, and the javk split for other devices....

I'm on DSL here at the house, but at the farm I have dialup, about 3 miles from the dial house, as the crow flies, somewhat farther than that as the lines run.

I typically connect at 45K to 50K at the farm. During a period when it was more common to connect at the lower end of the speed range, I tried unplugging my desk phone from the jack on the modem, and there was little, if any change. I now have my phone plugged into the a splitter, or dual jack at the phone jack, and have also tried plugging the computer only in, with no change in modem connect speed.

I'm not saying there would never be an improvement with a shorter modem cord, or the not using a dual jack, but with good quality phone cords, the difference should be minimal. It would certainly be worth a try, though, to move your computer temporarily closer to the phone jack, and connect it with a short cord to see if there would be an improvement.

Insurance is now for big ticker items your supposed to eat the small stuff. I know that is not what they said when they sold it to you, but that is how it is today.

While the computer is on and no programs are running.

Put the System Restoration CD in the CDROM drive and reinstall the BVRP Phone tools in the Software section.

It may or may not solve your problem. But it is cheaper to try that first than buying a new Modem and having a tech look at it.

He said his dialup modem is working. The problem he is having is a HARWARE PROBLEM. Quite simply, the jolt of lightning fried a tiny fuse, or more likely simply toasted a tiny foil on the printed circuit board in the modem which connects the line input jack to the phone output jack. There is simply a straight-through electrical connection from the input jack to the output jack, and this has been fried.

There is NO SOFTWARE INVOLVED HERE!

Since the computer and modem are working, and the output jack to plug the phone into is simply a convenience item that is easily worked around by the simple splitter mentioned in my previous post, WHY RISK killing the computer over a non-problem????

I just know that after My phone line stopped working. I just had to re install the program that drove the phone tools.

And all I know is that my phone tools started working again after I did.

I didn't feel whizzed on. (Lord knows I have a wife and kids to do that)!

I just was trying to keep the guy from risking messing up Winders. Maybe it's just me, but I've had terrible luck with trying to do a "RESTORE" when windows gets weird. I always kill it worse while trying to fix it. It seems I wind up having to reformat the hard drive, and re-load Winders more often than not because it will screw itself up during the restore process.

I do not claim to be a Winders expert, and I have no idea of Bus Driver's Winders knowledge. I was just trying to save him from pulling a Bob and making things worse.

Was your dialup modem working to allow you to get on-line before you reinstalled the software, or was the modem down too?

Have a good one, Les!