Need Modem Help Please

Twilight Flyer · Apr 13, 2011

CondoCruiser said: ↑

Thanks for the replies.

I hooked a phone to the line and it works great. The outside box is unhurt.
I'll buy a USB modem like you said. That's my cheapest way out for now.

That particular laptop has been nothing but problems. I had it 11 months and accidently dropped it in the truck and it quit working. I sent it to HP under warranty and they half arsed fixed it. I got it back the next week at 1 year and 1 week of ownership, some how the D-drive wiped itself out completely. HP wanted me to pay them for an extended warranty for them to fix it. I told them they weren't getting another dime from me. They should of fixed it right while they had it. I told the guy I been a loyal HP customer since the internet became popular. Time to try a new brand and I hung up on him. The phone rang back, but I didn't answer it, lol.

I learned one thing the hard way. HP support sucks. I spent maybe 6 hours on the phone with them just over that one laptop. They had me exchanging the harddrive on the phone without the right little screwdriver. I was like, who makes customers with no experience take their laptop apart?? That's when I they let me send it in the first time.

What's a good laptop to try next?? I bought an Acer before and took the slug back.
I don't want to spend the money on a Sony.
That leaves me Dell and Toshiba. I was thinking Toshiba. Any thoughts??
Click to expand...

I'll never buy HP. I've always bought Dell's when it comes to desktops. The two I have in my house are 8 and 7 years old respectively and have never been in for repair. I've replaced a graphics card on the big one, but it's a gaming/movie PC and gets a workout.

As far as laptops go, I got my wife a Toshiba a couple years ago and have had no issues with it at all. I did a lot of research on both Toshiba's and Dell's for laptops and both seem to test out near the top. Daughter will be getting one for graduation next month.

Motorhead01 · Apr 14, 2011

CondoCruiser said: ↑

I live out in the country and all I have available is dial up. I had lightning run in on my laptop modem yesterday, I think.

I was online when the storm hit and I was about to shut down when I got disconnected. I tried to sign back on. You hear the dial tone about half volume and it won't dial out. Then you get an error message that there is no dial tone, to check your phone line connection...

I tried uninstalling the driver and reinstalling. I tried restoring to an earlier time. Nothing helps. I run diagnostics on the modem and it says it's operating fine. I did a log query and everything shows okay except at the dial command there is some coded error.

Is there a way I can fix it? Do I need a new modem? What do they cost? Is it something I can do myself? I replaced the hard drive and motherboard before, but the modem looks like it would be hard to get to.

It's an 2009 HP Pavilion DV-4. I'm on my old laptop now.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I have an HP dv9700 entertainment PC with the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M graphics card, no problems in the last 3 years and I use it for online gaming, (MMOG's) when I'm not running.

My sweetie has a Toshiba, cheapest one they had at Best Buy simply because she wanted it, also no problems in 1 1/2 years and she is on it daily for all sort of different uses and web browsing, Facebook, bills, etc..

Pur48Ted · Apr 19, 2011

CondoCruiser said: ↑

Thanks for the replies.

I hooked a phone to the line and it works great. The outside box is unhurt.
I'll buy a USB modem like you said. That's my cheapest way out for now.

That particular laptop has been nothing but problems. I had it 11 months and accidently dropped it in the truck and it quit working. I sent it to HP under warranty and they half arsed fixed it. I got it back the next week at 1 year and 1 week of ownership, some how the D-drive wiped itself out completely. HP wanted me to pay them for an extended warranty for them to fix it. I told them they weren't getting another dime from me. They should of fixed it right while they had it. I told the guy I been a loyal HP customer since the internet became popular. Time to try a new brand and I hung up on him. The phone rang back, but I didn't answer it, lol.

I learned one thing the hard way. HP support sucks. I spent maybe 6 hours on the phone with them just over that one laptop. They had me exchanging the harddrive on the phone without the right little screwdriver. I was like, who makes customers with no experience take their laptop apart?? That's when I they let me send it in the first time.

What's a good laptop to try next?? I bought an Acer before and took the slug back.
I don't want to spend the money on a Sony.
That leaves me Dell and Toshiba. I was thinking Toshiba. Any thoughts??
Click to expand...

The tricky thing about modems is, if there is ANY static on the line, your modem WILL NOT CONNECT, or if it does connect, will not stay connected for long. The fact that the phone works is immaterial, phones don't need a real good line to work. It could be that your modem is fine, but lightning affected the integrity of the line (somewhere), and buying a new modem might not fix your problem.. You might have to pay for an engineer come out and test the lines.

Mark Kling · Apr 19, 2011

Pur48Ted said: ↑

The tricky thing about modems is, if there is ANY static on the line, your modem WILL NOT CONNECT, or if it does connect, will not stay connected for long. The fact that the phone works is immaterial, phones don't need a real good line to work. It could be that your modem is fine, but lightning affected the integrity of the line (somewhere), and buying a new modem might not fix your problem.. You might have to pay for an engineer come out and test the lines.
Click to expand...

The phone company can stress test the lines to the outside of your house. This will show any issues in the line. Any static will fail the test.

If you do not have an in-house protection plan with the phone company, get one, This will allow them to test to the very end of the line.

Mark

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