Greetings from techno-challenged senior citizen.. Problem with connecting to internet. I'm in Philipines and the connection would be dial-up with Phillipine Long Distance company PLDT "Vibe". The computer was connected to the phone line through an UPS. Power cords were disconnected. THey say there was a very bright flash in the house during one of the ubiquitous afternoon thunderstorms. So now I hook up, and setup the dialer and the message comes back like "check modem, no dial tone". The same wire, when connected to the telephone, works fine. So is it the phone modem fried? This is a replaceable card? How about the protection in the UPS that should have protected tha computer? Need some ideas before I disconnect everything and take it downtown to the computer dude. Thanks in advance.

If your phone line was connected at the time of the storm, chances are your modem is fried. A surge protector is a good idea, but lightning is very powerful and there's no guarantee it worked. Modems are cheap and you can put it in yourself. Good Luck. Keep Smiling It makes them think you're up to something...

Your modem got fried it's time to get a new one. Like the post above said, it's very simple to install. buy a pci dial-up modem to replace your old one.

I can't find any info about an emachines i400 model but there is a 400i model. etower 400i mboard: http://www.emachine-upgraders.info/... Computer case - Fiat: http://www.emachine-upgraders.info/... modem info http://www.emachine-upgraders.info/... If the above mboard is the one you have, your modem is probably a card in one of the PCI slots (white) . You can replace it with any modem that is for a PCI slot. If that is not your mboard, the modem may be in a PCI slot, or it may be in a special shorter slot called an AMR riser or simlar - in the later case the card is very small and fits only in that slot. If you have the latter you can replace it with another one meant for an AMR slot, or if you have a spare PCI slot you can more easily find and get a regular one for a PCI slot. Unplug the computer or turn off tyhe power UPS or power bar to the computer before you open up the case, and especially if you remove and replace a modem card or make any changes to connections inside the case. ...... "How about the protection in the UPS that should have protected tha computer?" As already mentioned, sometimes no protection device can protect you from a nearby lightning strike, or a lightning strike anywhere on the AC power grid to your computer, whether you are aware of that or not. Most UPSs have an led that indicates whether the power surge/spike protection is working - check to see if that is still lit up - if it isn't you will have to replace the UPS if you want prorection from future power surges/spikes. One thing a lot of people forget to do is to protect the phone line as well as everything else connected to the computer. If you did not do that, lightning often strikes exposed overhead phone lines and can damage anything connected to the phone line. If you did or you do do that, it is better to use a separate protector for the phone line rather than one built into a surge/spike protection dervice or UPS.

Thanks all; I guess I'll haul it downtown to the computer dude. Labor's very modest, and parts may be too. Thanks again. J