Other causes for "No Dial Tone"

[Metaphorically]

Hi all...
I have a Pentium (a couple years old) running Windows 98 (SE, iirc) that's giving a "No Dial Tone" error message when trying to dial using its "PC Softmodem." I've checked the phone line by plugging a phone handset in to the other jack on the modem as well as directly in to the wall and I hear a dialtone. I've switched the cord between the phone and line jacks on the modem and back again. I believe the telco side of things works fine.
I've gone into the control panel under Modems and run the diagnostics (I believe the button says "More Information") and it comes back with sensible responses to the AT commands. This tells me that Windows can talk to the modem just fine.
Since Windows can talk to the modem, and the phone line has a dial tone, the problem is, I believe, tracked down to the modem.
The modem did work until it was on during a heavy storm yesterday and the power went out. I propose that the relay that connects the phone jack to the internals of the modem was hit with an electrical spike and popped like a fuse (this is my guess, not my electrical engineering degree opinion ). I've heard other places that storms and lightening can do things like this, but I've never had convincing causal evidence. I don't see any physical marks on the modem, but the relay could be solid state and thus not have any visible marks.
I was okay with this conclusion and recommended that the modem be replaced. The user replaced the modem with the same model and is still having a problem, but I haven't confirmed first-hand that it's the same problem.

Any thoughts? Do I make sense or have I totally missed something?

[SupraMan84]

couple things to try...get new drivers or re-install the ones you have now...if that doesnt work try deleting the connection you using now and creating a new one...sounds simple but it might help...and please get a surge protector cause it is possible that a surge ruined the card just be happy it wasnt your mb...

[jhirst]

Try using the HyperTerminal or phone dialer to dial a mobile phone number. If there is no dial tone then and you are sure that the phone cable is ok then your modem must have a problem.

[glc]

Replace the softmodem with a decent hardmodem.

[pillainp]

Disable "Wait for Dial Tone Before Dialing" in the modem's properties page.

[Metaphorically]

It's not my computer, so I might not get access to it again, but I'm going to pass along any suggestions.
The driver thing is something I would've done, but they didn't have the drivers and not being able to get online makes for a catch-22. I'll see if I can track them down.
I tried turning off the "Wait for Dial Tone Before Dialing" setting, but that made no difference (which I assume means the driver is ignoring this setting).
The modem is a PCI card, but I assume the name "Softmodem" refers to the user-mode application that it has to help it run (the hardware didn't even show up in safe mode). Many modems work this way now so they can reduce the cost of the card by offloading work to your CPU. This offends me as a hardware purist, but makes the technology cheaper and thus more widely accessable...
I'll try the hyperterminal thing (if I get at the machine again), but I expect the same result since it should be the modem that comes back with the status message. I've seen this in the modem log (it says what the hardware response was and what it was interpreted as by Windows).
Can I issue the AT commands directly in hyperterminal? Isn't ATH0 all it takes to take the phone off the hook?

[glc]

No, ATH0 hangs the modem up.

Yes, open Hyperterminal, make a new connection, name it anything. When prompted for a phone number, hit Cancel. You will be in a console window where you can issue commands.

Softmodems require a full driver package, they don't work with a simple .inf file like hardmodems. Hardmodems aren't *that* expensive - the USR 2976/2977 is around $45 US.

[yellohut]

I would get a new modem..
I saw a similar thing on a clients computer before..
a lightning strike damaged the modem so that it couldn't close the port.. so when you plugged it into the wall it would pick up and after a few seconds it would lose the dial tone (same thing as if you left a phone off the hook)
we had to replace the modem.