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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Internal dialup modem not responding; G4, MacOSX 10.4.3
ozaru - Jun 28, 2006 - 8:41 am
I am helping a non-computer savvy friend with a Mac, based on (or maybe despite?) my 20+ years of PC experience.
Their eMac (PowerPC G4 running MacOSX 10.4.3) has an internal modem described as follows:
Modem model: Jump
Interface type: I2S
Modulation: v.92
Hardware version: 1.0
Driver: Motorola M56K.kext (version 1.3.3)
Country: B4 (U.K.)
The modem does not seem to respond to any commands -- it does not dial, and does not even seem to pick up the line (there is not a "no dialtone" error). It did use to work at another location and I am not aware of any major changes to the system since then, other than physically moving it. Other computers with modems do work fine where it is now, using the same phone socket and modem cable.
My guess is that the modem itself may have failed. Maybe the Mac was jolted when being moved, although it would have to be quite fragile for this to have such an effect. However, before paying the local repairmen to look at it (I doubt it's under warranty, as it's second-hand anyway), I thought I'd better try anything else sensible and free I can to test the modem.
The only tests I've been able to conduct so far are (a) AOL (the user has an AOL account and we used the AOL dialup disk for MacOSX, and for good measure had AOL support talk us through; 'modem not responding' => not an AOL problem); (b) Some built-in Mac stuff (Internet Connection?) for PPP connections etc. -- tried manually specifying other numbers but it clearly was not dialing, and the status never showed anything other than "trying to connect" / "disconnecting".
I would appreciate suggestions for things to try. I've seen references to an "Apple Hardware Diagnostics CD" but I don't think my friend has this. If there were some free Mac modem diagnostic utilities I could download via my PC onto a 120MB USB keychain and then take to my friend's house to run on their Mac, that would probably be the ideal solution for now.
All ideas welcome! Thanks in anticipation.
Their eMac (PowerPC G4 running MacOSX 10.4.3) has an internal modem described as follows:
Modem model: Jump
Interface type: I2S
Modulation: v.92
Hardware version: 1.0
Driver: Motorola M56K.kext (version 1.3.3)
Country: B4 (U.K.)
The modem does not seem to respond to any commands -- it does not dial, and does not even seem to pick up the line (there is not a "no dialtone" error). It did use to work at another location and I am not aware of any major changes to the system since then, other than physically moving it. Other computers with modems do work fine where it is now, using the same phone socket and modem cable.
My guess is that the modem itself may have failed. Maybe the Mac was jolted when being moved, although it would have to be quite fragile for this to have such an effect. However, before paying the local repairmen to look at it (I doubt it's under warranty, as it's second-hand anyway), I thought I'd better try anything else sensible and free I can to test the modem.
The only tests I've been able to conduct so far are (a) AOL (the user has an AOL account and we used the AOL dialup disk for MacOSX, and for good measure had AOL support talk us through; 'modem not responding' => not an AOL problem); (b) Some built-in Mac stuff (Internet Connection?) for PPP connections etc. -- tried manually specifying other numbers but it clearly was not dialing, and the status never showed anything other than "trying to connect" / "disconnecting".
I would appreciate suggestions for things to try. I've seen references to an "Apple Hardware Diagnostics CD" but I don't think my friend has this. If there were some free Mac modem diagnostic utilities I could download via my PC onto a 120MB USB keychain and then take to my friend's house to run on their Mac, that would probably be the ideal solution for now.
All ideas welcome! Thanks in anticipation.
skapp - Jun 28, 2006 - 2:02 pm
Did you setup Network preferences? Open System Preferences and click on the Network icon. Select Internal Modem and click on the Configure button. Click on the TCP/IP tab and set the Configure IPv4 dropdown menu for DHCP and click on the Apply button. Click on the PPP tab and configure the ISP information required. Click on the Modem tab and select the modem script for the specific internal modem installed in the computer. Check the box at the bottom to Show modem status in menubar. Click on the Apply button. Quit System Preferences. You now use the Internet Connect app in the Utilities folder to do the dialup.
ozaru - Jul 19, 2006 - 9:43 am
Thanks for these tips, and sorry for the delay in replying: it took a while to get access to the machine again. When I did, I tried the above -- and in particular, changed the settings so that at last I had a terminal window into which I could type ATZ, ATDT etc. This showed that the modem was in fact working and was able to dial out. We then deleted all the AOL things we could find (couldn't find an 'uninstall' function: does this not exist on Macs?), reinstalled AOL and it worked fine. Hooray... *except* that when we did Sign Off (from AOL), shut down the Mac and rebooted, AOL could no longer access the modem. :-(
To be precise, it gave a new error initially: "AOL dialup alert! AOL must be installed for AOL Dialup to function correctly. Please install AOL or select another tcp/ip configuration method in the Network Control Panel for your modem." then acted the same as before.
Once again we deleted AOL, reinstalled, and it worked fine, but when we rebooted it failed again. So unless anyone has any bright ideas what rebooting could be doing to the Mac to make it 'forget' AOL, our conclusion is that AOL is too much hassle and typing a standard ISP's phone number etc. into the Internet Connect settings is probably the best way forward, even though it means changing e-mail address etc. At least I'm confident now we don't need to send the machine back to Apple. Any final views/advice?
To be precise, it gave a new error initially: "AOL dialup alert! AOL must be installed for AOL Dialup to function correctly. Please install AOL or select another tcp/ip configuration method in the Network Control Panel for your modem." then acted the same as before.
Once again we deleted AOL, reinstalled, and it worked fine, but when we rebooted it failed again. So unless anyone has any bright ideas what rebooting could be doing to the Mac to make it 'forget' AOL, our conclusion is that AOL is too much hassle and typing a standard ISP's phone number etc. into the Internet Connect settings is probably the best way forward, even though it means changing e-mail address etc. At least I'm confident now we don't need to send the machine back to Apple. Any final views/advice?
skapp - Jul 19, 2006 - 12:19 pm
Moving away from AOL is the smartest move you can make, in my opinion. AOL is slow and cumbersome especially on a dialup connection. It may be wonderful for someone who needs all that hand holding, but otherwise they are one of the worst ISPs.
Stick to an ISP that's just in the connection business. It's a lot less expensive than AOL and you'll have better service and connections.
If you can afford it (and it's available) consider broadband service such as DSL or cable internet. Much faster than dialup.
Stick to an ISP that's just in the connection business. It's a lot less expensive than AOL and you'll have better service and connections.
If you can afford it (and it's available) consider broadband service such as DSL or cable internet. Much faster than dialup.
ozaru - Jul 23, 2006 - 2:20 am
Quick update: broadband is out as the machine is only needed to check e-mail 2-3 times a week, so there's no point paying for an always-on connection, despite the other advantages. I did try to set my friend up with another dialup ISP, but the modem gave so many problems (at one stage, when we moved the eMac to a different phone socket, it even disappeared completely!) that we eventually gave up on that eMac altogether, and dragged a 10-year-old iMac out of the cupboard. This too failed on the 'new' ISP (it dialed OK but then gave the error "connecting at an unknown speed"?!) so as a last resort we tried the AOL CD, and AOL v5 (as it's MacOS9 not X) installed first time and worked. So we currently have a solution, i.e. an iMac and eMac side by side, one for e-mail, the other for all other tasks. It's inconvenient as the keyboard has to be plugged/unplugged each time the other machine is used, but at least the setup is working. Sometime we'll try and find a local Mac guru with time to come around and play with the eMac to see why the modem's kaputt; we may also find someone with a USB modem we could borrow to test that option. Anyway, thanks for all your help.
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