Troubleshooting Your Modem

Step 1: Check Modem Driver

Click on the START button on the bottom left of your screen. Click on Control Panel.
Click on the icon that says System.
Click on the Hardware Tab. Click on the button that says Device Manager
Expand down the heading labeled Modem. It should not have a Question Mark (?), Exclamation Mark (!), or X on it. If it does, it is not setup properly.

Step 2: Check your phone line

1. Plug a phone into the phone line and see if you hear the dial-tone
2. If you can, then try dialing one of the Stony Brook access numbers directly. If you get through you should hear a beep and a small tone, meaning the dilaup system is trying to receive a connection from your modem.
3. If you hear these tones, there should be no problem with your actual phone line. Reconnect the phone line to your modem.
4. If you have no dial tone, you may either have a bad phone jack or phone wire. Try to use another wire or the current wire at a known working jack. This will tell you the source of the problem, the wire or the jack. Also, be sure your phone line is plugged in correctly between the jack and the modem.