No Dial Tone?

Wow, there might be a no-brainer answer to this question, but I've been completely dumb founded on what to do. From time to time, I use a 56k internet connection on a Windows 2000 Professional and it connects and works fine. The problem is, whenever I connect the phone line to the computer, I cannot use the phone when I disconnect from the web. I have to unplug the phone cord from the PC in order to use the phone. When I pick up the phone to dial (when the phone cord is plugged into the PC), there is dead silence and I cannot call anybody. Any help on how I can leave the phone cord plugged in and being able to use the phone at the same time (when disconnected)? Thanks a lot if you can...

 

I used to have this happen alot when I used dial up, I had to reboot to "break" the connection.
for me it was easier than crawling under my desk to unplug and replug the cord.
never did find a way around it though.

 

It's probably a winmodem, or software modem. Try to find updated drivers for the modem, but be sure to download all of them you can find for your model, or make sure you still have the driver CD, in case the one(s) you download don't work.

Also you can try sending the AT command for hanging-up the modem. Start->Programs->Accessories->Communications->HyperTerminal. name:test; connect using:com port of modem (find this in the properties of the modem in control panel); Ok; Ok; when you get to a window with a flashing cursor, type in ATH0 and hit enter (thats a zero after ATH). That should hang-up the modem if it's possible.

Hope this helps,

-K