Help needed - Computer locks when phone rings??

lemmyslender · Oct 4, 2002

I think that this has happened to me before, but I'm not sure if it did or how I fixed it.

The computer will run just fine, no problem. However, if it is hooked to the phone line, it will freeze when the phone rings. If the phone line is not plugged in, it runs just fine, no random freezes.

Anybody have any idea why this would happen, or how to fix it?

I believe that the modem is an older 56K Digimodem? PCI, in the 5th slot of 5. NIC is in the 4th slot.

BIOS is set to disabled for wake on ring.

This is kind of annoying since I'm folding and want to be able to have the computer autodial.

Any ideas are appreciated.

IceMan3928 · Oct 4, 2002

I have no idea what might cause that to happen but i would suggest putting in another modem and dialing yourself, at least that would rule out the modem, if that doesnt work then try playing around with different BIOS settings, if all else fails i guess get your phone company to check the phone line for any "disturbances"

sorry i cant help more

CaptBill · Oct 4, 2002

One posibility is that there is a conflict with the interupts.

flounder43 · Oct 4, 2002

Ok, thinking way back to the days of analog modems....
hmmmm.....

If I recall correctly, there is a feature on modems to "auto answer". This is different that wake on ring or any bios settings. My guess is the modem wants to answer the call and it is causing the freeze-ups. I would look at modem initilization strings, as I think there is a command to turn the auto answer off.

*edit, I found it.

The command is "s0=0" (no quotes, that is s zero equals zero). s0=1 would set it to answer after 1 ring, s0=2 would be two rings, etc. 0 means the auto answer is off.

Two ways you can do this. Either add it to your modem initialization string, or open a modem dialer (like Hyperterminal) and just type "s0=0".

lemmyslender · Oct 4, 2002

Thanks guys, I'll try those ideas later tonight. Hopefully it works

Maximouse · Oct 4, 2002

They used to sell a cable with a switch mounted on it that would disconnect the ringer lead to the modem/phone. I think I might even still have one hidden in my mess somewhere

You could check with RadioShack and see if they still sell it, probably do as lots of people still use phones

IceMan3928 · Oct 4, 2002

just out of curiosity, where would i find my modem initialization string?

repo man11 · Oct 4, 2002

Odd things you might also check. Some motherboards also have a Wake On Ring jumper, I'd check for that. In the Power Management BIOS settings, there is often a Modem Use IRQ_. I'd set that to NA if it isn't allready.

turd · Oct 4, 2002

Seemed to recall ther was also a problem with some modems and call waiting.

Tipycol · Oct 4, 2002

just out of curiosity, where would i find my modem initialization string?

I'm not sure about the string itself but you can add things to it. Go to control panel and select modems -> properties -> connection tab -> advanced... it's called extra settings. You can place commands in there and it will follow those than the default settings.

Diggrr · Oct 5, 2002

Did you have fax software on your computer?
Virus scan lately? Some trojan's don't play nice.

And I'd try Flounder's recomendation first, that would probably get the system to bypass the command that's trying to answer.

baqai · Oct 5, 2002

do you have any answering machine caller id or some software like that installed on your pc? they at times coz the PC to freeze when a call is coming,

btw s11=40, if you add that to your modem extra setting it speeds up your dialing speed i know not relevant to this topic but may help someone

Help needed - Computer locks when phone rings??

lemmyslender

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IceMan3928

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CaptBill

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flounder43

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lemmyslender

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Maximouse

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IceMan3928

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repo man11

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turd

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Tipycol

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Diggrr

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baqai

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