No Dial Tone . . . Until USB Unconnect/Reconnect

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:37 pm

I keep losing my dial tone, until I unconnect and reconnect the usb connection. I have no ideal of when the dial tone (or usb) stop working. I'm running Win XP with all the latest SvPks and updates.

Thanks hap

Diggs · Post by **Diggs** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:49 pm

Probably your USB port going in to power saving mode. See here to disable it.

http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/mj-w ... t9283.html

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 7:14 pm

Thanks, Dan . . . I'm sure that was the problem. Time will tell

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:14 am

That did not solve the problem, plus several calls the receiving party could not hear me. I still have to replug the USB plug to get the dial tone. It sometime drop connection when I call out ? ? ?

bitstopjoe · Post by **bitstopjoe** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:47 pm

hap123 wrote:That did not solve the problem, plus several calls the receiving party could not hear me. I still have to replug the USB plug to get the dial tone. It sometime drop connection when I call out ? ? ?

Are you using the short extension cord which came with the MJ? If so, don't. Also be sure to use a REAR USB port as it makes a difference. If all else fails you may need to try a POWERED usb hub..

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:17 pm

yes I was using the short extension cord that came with the MJ. I removed it. Lets give that a try ! ! !

Thanks

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 3:16 am

I removed the short extension, and I also set the screen saver to 3D Pipes. Its been a few days and still connected.

Thanks - hap

bitstopjoe · Post by **bitstopjoe** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 7:21 am

Good to hear........

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:24 am

Its two days later and its back to the silence treatment (no dial tone). I will either call MJ for a replacement, or opt for a power USB Hub.

Thanks

bitstopjoe · Post by **bitstopjoe** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:51 am

hap123 wrote:Its two days later and its back to the silence treatment (no dial tone). I will either call MJ for a replacement, or opt for a power USB Hub.

Thanks

One other thing to try is to check in Device Manager in the USB section. Check to make sure ALL ( there are more than one) USB root hub settings do not have their power saving setting enabled.

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:42 pm

Thanks for the suggestion, I checked, all hubs are off. . . . . I still must disconnect/reconnect MJ to the USB.

Thanks hap -

ChairMaster · Post by **ChairMaster** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:17 pm

Sometimes when I have no dial tone, I just dial 1 on the onscreen softphone but don't click send and instead pick up my physical phone, it calls the test number then I hang up and the next time I pick up the phone I get the dial tone again. Not the best solution but saves me from unplugging the USB at least.

Diggs · Post by **Diggs** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:07 am

ChairMaster wrote:Sometimes when I have no dial tone, I just dial 1 on the onscreen softphone but don't click send and instead pick up my physical phone, it calls the test number then I hang up and the next time I pick up the phone I get the dial tone again. Not the best solution but saves me from unplugging the USB at least.

That really sounds like your USB ports going into power savings mode. What Joe said....

ChairMaster · Post by **ChairMaster** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:18 am

It probably is, I suspend my PC when I finish using it and the next day I wake up my PC and go through this ritual.

I used to leave my computer on all day but then I figured when I'm not home I'm not going to answer anyways so just let it go to voicemail and when I am home I wake up my PC. I got a power measuring device and found out my PC draws 65W on idle, and 125W under full load. So it would cost me around $100/year to leave it on all the time.

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:10 am

I change computers, same problem. The MJ icon was not showing on the task bar, I click the icon on the desktop and got dial tone. Is there updated drivers for this unit. If not i think I'll just chat MJ about a replacement.

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:48 pm

Today, I chat with MJ rep, they suggest I add these two sites (https://reg.talk4free.com and https://my.magicjack.com) to my Internet Security Option, as "Trusted Sites". Only time will tell.

crackerjack · Post by **crackerjack** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:04 pm

hap123 wrote:Today, I chat with MJ rep, they suggest I add these two sites (https://reg.talk4free.com and https://my.magicjack.com) to my Internet Security Option, as "Trusted Sites". Only time will tell.

This is utter hokum. Must be having a special promo on this bogus solution..

hap123 · Post by **hap123** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:55 pm

Well, I'm back to square one, no dial tone, and drop calls when it do connect. Also discovered that, while I have not dial tone, I can receive incoming calls, but not make outgoing calls.

hairr · Post by **hairr** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 5:32 pm

I am having the same issues with my MJ. Have been on chat several times with no real solution

hsweiss · Post by **hsweiss** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:24 pm

+1 - I have this problem every so often. At one point my XP box was up for 30 or 40 days with not a single MJ problem. Then uSoft pushes out patches forcing a reboot and I lose dial-tone within a day of the reboot. I lost dial-tone a few more times after that - maybe every 3-4 days. Unplugging the USB and plugging back in fixed it. Doing a "soft" reset from the softphone wouldn't do it. Switching from "telephone" to "headset" and back again wouldn't do it. Since we know that MJ is constantly "touching" the USB hardware, I'm thinking that its not a USB problem at all (MJ would yell about inserting the USB when it couldn't talk to it). Rather I think there is a MJ USB driver issue. Whenever I lose dial-tone I don't lose the ability to make a call from the softphone. The MJ software is working just fine - just not the analog telephone adapter.

hairr · Post by **hairr** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 1:59 pm

I had very good luck for almost 3 years. I understand this will not be perfect but I have to restart, unplug numerous times per day wihich is just not acceptable.
First I was told that they would not trans my number and remaining 2 years at all until I had a fit. Now they will but I have to buy a new one.
Since they will not trans my number and remaining subscription to a MJ that the sub ran out on I refuse to buy another.

I am going with the NetTalk Duo, I have had enough of chat sites for support. I would be into the chat of 2 hours and then poof gone. These guys actually have a person you could talk to.

I will be able to shut the PC down again and use my screensaver!

I have 2 years lft on mine anybody in the market, CHEAP

hsweiss · Post by **hsweiss** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:07 pm

I agree - multiple resets per day is broken. But before you trash the MJ have you tried it in another computer - maybe even a friend's computer just to see if its the MJ or possibly something corrupted in your machine? I'd say that if you haven't tried it, its worth the time to try to figure out what's going on.

hsweiss · Post by **hsweiss** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:47 am

I just had this problem last night and paid a bit more attention to what was going on. It seems that the softphone "thinks" that it has been switched into headset mode. I switched it back to telephone mode but it didn't do anything. I tried making a call from the softphone and then tried switching it to telephone. Nope. I tried a soft reset from the softphone. Again nope. The only thing that worked was pulling out the USB and re-inserting it forcing a hardware reset.

My MJ is on a USB PCI board with several other USB 2.0 devices - none of which are having any problems. But what I intend to try is to pull out all (or nearly all) the other devices (one of them is a USB sound card so that one needs to stay) and see if (how long) the problem goes away. Its definite that a USB reset fixes the problem - just wonder why it needs it and why the software thinks that the USB device is not operating (but obviously there because the softphone would exit if the hardware wasn't present).

ChairMaster · Post by **ChairMaster** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 12:46 pm

I thought MJ was supposed to be easy to use? Anyone should be able use it. and having the hardware and software locked down should make it more reliable not less...

nailgunner · Post by **nailgunner** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:48 pm

ChairMaster wrote:I thought MJ was supposed to be easy to use? Anyone should be able use it. and having the hardware and software locked down should make it more reliable not less...

It is easy to use. So is my desktop, printer, webcam, monitor...and on and on. But seeing as how they all will interact at some point it is foolhardy to think ANYTHING you plug into a computer is going to work hassle free.

VaHam · Post by **VaHam** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 11:27 am

hairr wrote:I had very good luck for almost 3 years. I understand this will not be perfect but I have to restart, unplug numerous times per day wihich is just not acceptable.
First I was told that they would not trans my number and remaining 2 years at all until I had a fit. Now they will but I have to buy a new one.
Since they will not trans my number and remaining subscription to a MJ that the sub ran out on I refuse to buy another.

I am going with the NetTalk Duo, I have had enough of chat sites for support. I would be into the chat of 2 hours and then poof gone. These guys actually have a person you could talk to.

I will be able to shut the PC down again and use my screensaver!

I have 2 years lft on mine anybody in the market, CHEAP

You may also want to take a look at the OBi110. You can have free service via Google at least thru 2012 but more importantly you can use the device with any voip service so your not locked to one provider.

hsweiss · Post by **hsweiss** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:52 am

[quote="ChairMaster"]I thought MJ was supposed to be easy to use? Anyone should be able use it. and having the hardware and software locked down should make it more reliable not less...[/quote]

The tradeoff was making it cheap by using your PC's CPU cycles to the the hard work as opposed to the MJ hardware. This is good from a cost perspective. But its BAD from a reliability perspective. Anything that has or will happen to your PC may/will effect MJ. PCs are a beastly lot - some work great - some not so great. Some are infected with goodness knows what and owners don't know whats going on. MJ will work great on a pristine PC (e.g., brand new or re-imaged). But often, there are problems on PCs that have been running because of malware, virus', old drivers, conflicts between poorly written apps, etc.

The right way to have done this was not to rely on the PC - e.g., the way NetTalk and Vonage are done. But both of those are more expensive. And while they don't have the PC-instigated problems, they have their own set of issues - or at least did in the past.

hsweiss · Post by **hsweiss** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:33 pm

hsweiss wrote:I just had this problem last night and paid a bit more attention to what was going on. It seems that the softphone "thinks" that it has been switched into headset mode. I switched it back to telephone mode but it didn't do anything. I tried making a call from the softphone and then tried switching it to telephone. Nope. I tried a soft reset from the softphone. Again nope. The only thing that worked was pulling out the USB and re-inserting it forcing a hardware reset.

My MJ is on a USB PCI board with several other USB 2.0 devices - none of which are having any problems. But what I intend to try is to pull out all (or nearly all) the other devices (one of them is a USB sound card so that one needs to stay) and see if (how long) the problem goes away. Its definite that a USB reset fixes the problem - just wonder why it needs it and why the software thinks that the USB device is not operating (but obviously there because the softphone would exit if the hardware wasn't present).

Follow-up - I pulled off the web cam that I had on the same USB hub as the MJ but left the USB audio. I found a cute little program called 'usbdeview' that shows everything and anything that has been connected to your usb ports. The neat thing is that when a device is connected, it shows the current being used.

Since I pulled off the web cam, I have not had this problem with MJ.

hsweiss · Post by **hsweiss** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:09 pm

My MJ just stopped working after 4 days - symptom: softphone still up and working fine but handset had no dial tone. This usually caused me to remove the dongle allowing the softphone to exit, and then re-insert the dongle which had magicjack fully restart. The last time I did this, MJ restarted OK, but all of my other USB devices were somewhat hosed (some worked, some didn't). A reboot fixed everything.

I wanted to find a way to do a full USB controller reset w/o having to reboot the machine. Here's what I found that worked for me when I lost dialtone:

1. Kill the magicJack process (on WinXP): tskill magicJack

2. Use the Microsoft 'devcon' command line: devcon restart *USB*

devcon restarts all of the USB devices which (at least in my case) resulted in magicJack restarting itself and I had dialtone on the handset.

You can get devcon from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272