Dial up problem, phone line always engadged

[Atty]

A friend of mine asked me to look at his Grandmother's computer and see if I could diagnose the problem. I couldn't, I've never come across this problem before and dial up is so foreign to me I don't know where to start.

Problem: When the phone line is connected to the modem the line goes busy. Doesn't matter if the computer is off or on, what programs are or are not running, when the cable is plugged into the modem the entire house is busy.

Problem? Cause? Fix?

Halp 🙁

TIA! 🙂

 

[PhoenixEnigma]

I'm not exactly sure of the "why", but my parents used to have the same problem. If you didn't terminate the connection nicely on the modem, it would get stuck in the "off hook" position - maybe a relay or something didn't get switched, as you could actually hear it click back off.

Try killing power to the PC for a few minutes, either at the outlet or PSU. Always seemed to sort them out.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Sounds like the cables are reversed.

 

[C1]

Is it an internal or external modem? There will be two RJ-11 female connectors. One is the phone line input (mandatory) and the other is pass thru used for the physical telephone (not needed to be used). Make sure that you are not trying to plug into the RJ-45 (NIC) connector.

There may be a problem with the female modem connector or there might be a damaged modem as it is easy to accidentally poke something into the RJ-11 connector by mistake.

A possibility is to pick up a new or even used 56K PCI modem card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825104001

 

[bobdole369]

Very common issue back in the day - bad modem. It's stuck off-hook. Its a physical problem - replace the modem. It happened to a lot of Compaq notebooks when I was on the phones. Literally the phone jack hardware part of the modem is stuck open.