[HM] Modem doesn't dial on first attempt

[irene at trilliumwoods.com]

I have a dial-up connection, an iMac G5 running 10. 3.9, and a weird 
problem.

When I click the Connect button on Internet Connection (either window 
or menu bar icon) the Connecting... grinds on and on with no results. I 
don't hear dialing. Clicking Disconnect and re-clicking will almost 
always result in a stable connection. But it also sets the Sound to 
zero.

What on earth is going on? A conflict, somehow? I've run Disk Warrior, 
and repair permissions almost daily, with no changes to the weird 
connection behaviour. I can live with it until I upgrade to Tiger, but 
meanwhile I'd really like to understand what's going on.

Many thanks,

irene
irene at trilliumwoods.com