Sony Vaio phone cord/modem problem

[MT24/7]

I have an old Sony Vaio 386 that I use for backup on dial-up only. It's in good working order but the original phone cord to connect from phone jack to back of PC for internal modem is shot. So far, I've tried basic phone cords including 2, 4 and 6 conductor but have not found what works. This small problem is causing me a huge headache and any help would be greatly appreciated. I also no longer have the original phone cord that came with the computer new.

[ski]

Make sure that there is a dial tone on that phone line. If you have only one phone line, and the other extensions are working fine, connect a phone to the jack that the computer uses and check for a dial tone.
If you have two phone lines, check the second line for a dial tone by unplugging the computer line and connecting a regular phone to it. If there's no dial tone on the line the computer uses, contact the phone company.

Once you've verified that there is a dial tone on the phone line, there's a few other things to check:

(1)End task for "rnaapp" -
Reboot, press CTRL+ALT+DEL and look for "rnaapp" in the task manager. If it is there, select it and click "End Task". Try to connect again. If you are still not able to connect, close all programs, shut down the computer, wait 60 seconds, reboot and try to connect again.

(2)Voice mail on the phone line -
This only applies if you have voice mail service on the phone line that the modem connects with. When you have a voice mail message waiting and pick up the phone, normally you will get a broken dial tone sound, or some beeps. Your modem may interpret this as being no dial tone. The easiest solution: check your voice mail. Another solution would be to have the modem ignore the dial tone. This means that it will not even check for a dial tone before it tries to connect.
-Windows XP: Open your Control Panel, then Double click the Phone and Modem Options icon. click onto the Modems tab at the top, highlight your modem, and click the Properties button. Click onto the Modem tab, then uncheck the Wait for dial tone before dialing option. click OK on each of the open windows to save your changes.

-Windows 2000: Open your Control Panel, then Double click the Phone and Modem Options icon. Click onto the Modems tab at the top, highlight your modem, and click the Properties button. Uncheck the Wait for dial tone before dialing option on the General tab. Click OK on each of the open windows to save your changes

-Windows 98 & ME: Open your Control Panel (Start button, Settings, Control Panel), then Double-click the Internet options icon. Click onto the Connection tab, and highlight your Dial-Up Connection. Click the Settings button to the right, then click the Properties button. Near the bottom in the Connect Using section, click the Configure button. Click the Connection tab at the top, then uncheck the Wait for dial tone before dialing option. Click OK on each of the windows to save your changes.

(3)The phone line is not connected properly -
Check the phone line connections, the cord should go from your computer to your wall. Most modems have two jacks, and they're usually marked Line or Jack and Phone. Check where the line is plugged in - it should be in the one marked Line or Jack or Wall. If you can't tell or the jacks aren't marked, try switching it to the other then giving it another try.
If you are using a surge protector, remember that the line has to go from the computer to the surge protector, and then from the surge protector to the wall.

(4)Low system resources -
If you have a software-based modem, check the system resources usage. It will typically need at least 15% free resources to use a software-based modem properly. If the resources are low, then shut down all unnecessary programs running in the background. If that does not work, then do a clean boot.
If still no luck, then try dialing with Hyperterminal. If you can dial with Hyperterminal but not using Dial-up Networking, check your connection settings to be sure the modem is selected.

(5)Hardware problems -
Install the modem in a different slot.
If that does not work, then either swap the modem out, or install it in another computer. If another modem works ok, or if your modem does not work in another system, then your modem is bad.

[MT24/7]

Ski, many thanks for your reply. I will try to ultimately post the outcome. mt24/7