Me or the ISP

ALL INTERNET SERVICE providers {ISPs} have a vested interest in providing a reliable, near foolproof service that will enable even the nerviest newbie to take the cyber ways with the minimum of palaver. That’s well and good, and just as it should be. But the same ISPs really won’t mind too much if you call them up five times a day to ask for whatever.

Analyze it
First things first: is the problem at your end? If your modem refuses to transport you on line, do take a moment to check the obvious. Modems are simple creatures: if they had moving parts, the odd drop of oil might be called for, but they’re solid-state doohickeys that should go on forever. If yours is an external model, check it’s plugged in to the wall socket, computer and telephone line – and switched on. Are the status lights blinking in an unusual manner that might offer a clue to its problem, or is all dark and lifeless? If the former, read the manual; if the latter, check the fuse.
Have you just added a fax machine or extension handset to your existing telephone wiring? It may be that you’ve exceeded the maximum number of devices that can work simultaneously (the Ringer Equivalence Number, or REN). Unplug any additions and try again.
It helps to listen to your modem’s innermost workings, so turn it up and tune in. An external modem should have a volume control on the case, but with an internal model you’ll need to click on the Modem icon in Control Panel, select the General tab and drag the slider. Now that you can hear it, does the modem at least go through the motions of dialing up your ISP? If so, that’s a good sign and the problem may be temporary. Try ringing the number with a normal telephone and listen for the shriek ‘n’ howl response that signals a willingness to connect. If the number is engaged, problem solved – just keep trying.
If, however, the squealing carries on for a minute or more and then all goes quiet, especially if this is your first experiment with this particular modem or your first attempt to reach this particular ISP, there might well be a hardware compatibility problem. Should the modem be a dusty old thing retrieved from some drawer, it’s also worth updating the driver {though we don’t know how you are supposed to do that without having access to the manufacturer’s Web site}.
If there’s definitely life in the old modem yet but it still won’t connect, try sending a fax with your communications software. If that works, rest assured that your hardware’s just fine.

Doctor, doctor
Still not online? Time for some serious diagnostics. Go to Control Panel and click Modems. In the General tab, the modem should be listed by name. Move to the Diagnostic tab to check which COM port it’s assigned to (COM 1and 2 are PC’s external sockets; COM 3and 4, if present at all, are virtual connections used by an internal modem). Highlight the appropriate port and click More Info. Windows will now attempt to make contact with the modem. You should see the string of meaningless gobbledygook (a good thing), but you may instead get a ‘Port already open’ warning (a bad thing). This almost certainly means that your fax or voicemail communications software is playing silly beggars in the background and tying up the modem. Seek it out and then shut it down with the three – fingered salute – [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Delete] – and remove any shortcuts from the Startup folder. Or, if you see a program called Rnaapp.exe running, close that instead. If the Diagnostics procedure throws up a truly incomprehensible error message, you could try reinstalling the modem from scratch. Click the remove button in the General tab and reboot. Your PC should then detect the presence of new hardware and prompt you for the drivers. If not, make certain that it’s properly connected. However, Windows is occasionally wont to turn a blind eye to internal modems. If virtually removing it and reinstalling doesn’t do the trick, try physically shifting it from one expansion slot to another. It’s a drag that means lifting the lid on your computer but it should kick-start Windows into plug-and-play mode. Finally, if your modem is definitely recognized by Windows but still refuses to do anything useful, try troubleshooting it with the aid of a detailed error log.