Since the modem will actually dial out and make a connection (test again to make sure you can travel the net and/or check your mail), I would start with replacing the cord that connects from the modem to the phone outlet in the room. The cord may, in fact, be what took the lightning hit and not your modem and is the cheapest place to start to troubleshoot.
Let us know.
I now have a strange problem connecting to the internet. This follows a heavy thunderstorm with lightning yesterday.
First, my house telephone stopped working. When the repairman came to fix the phone today he checked continuity and said the problem was in the parallel line I had running from our telephone in the living room to my computer room for the modem connection.
We took a look at that line and, while the house phone was working in the living room, my Motorola SM56 internal modem still would not connect to the internet. When I double clicked the Windows desktop ISP icon to connect, the modem didn't want to dial. Here are the error messages I received:
* Dialup Networking unable to complete the connection
* Error #680
* No dialtone
* Make sure the modem is connected to the phone line correctly.
A Partial Fix?
However, after I pulled the telephone plug connection either (1) out of the back of the computer or (2) from the telephone line connection box in my room and immediately put the plug back in, the computer modem *would* dial and connect. Then, if I manually disconnected the internet connection and immediately tried to re-connect to my ISP again, the modem again would *not* dial. However, after simply pulling the telephone cable jack out again and plugging it back into the computer or phone jack box, the modem would dial up and connect.
So my problem is an intermittent modem dialer. It seems to work every time I pull the telephone line plug from the computer and immediately reconnect it
before dialing my ISP. Very strange.
The telephone repairman guessed the modem might have been damaged by electromagnetic interference during the lightning and thunderstorm. He said he was called to nearby house earlier today and that person's modem stopped working completely since that big thunderstorm.
What do you think -- has anyone had a similar problem? If it is my modem,what part of it do you think could be damaged that allows me to use it only after something simple like pulling and reconnecting the telephone plug to my computer? Do you think this modem can be repaired?
Thanks much for any advice.

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