Problem

Ascendis Caller ID shows the date, time, and number of rings for an incoming call but the name and number is blank or "No Caller Information".

Solution

The most common causes of this problem are misconfigured modems and modems that don't support Type I caller id.  If you are using a modem, you can easily test caller id support and possibly fix the configuration using the Repair Modem window.  If the Repair Modem window cannot communicate with your modem or the repair does not solve the problem, please follow the instructions for the Technical Support Report window and send a report to Ascendis Software LLC.  If you prefer, you can manually test your modem using HyperTerminal or another communications program.

Other potential problems:

Some phone companies use the wrong code(s) for the caller information, which can confuse modems and Windows.  You can verify this in the Repair Modem window by clicking the "More" button and looking at the modem messages, or by looking in the Modem Log.  If you see one or more "MESG" or "TYPE" messages, then this may be the problem.  It has been reported that at least one Sportster model modem corrects the problem in at least some cases, but this has not been verified by any Ascendis Caller ID users.  The Repair Modem window may be able to workaround this problem.  If not, please follow the instructions for the Technical Support Report window and send a report to Ascendis Software LLC.  We may be able to send a modem configuration change to workaround the problem.  At the moment, Ascendis Caller ID cannot work around this problem as Windows does not give it the information it needs.

Problem

Ascendis Caller ID shows the correct caller information in the Repair Modem window, but not in the Call list, even after repairing the modem configuration.

Solution

Ascendis Caller ID cannot repair all modem configuration errors.  If you tried the Repair button in the Repair Modem window and restarted your computer as instructed but Ascendis Caller ID still does not display the caller information, try one of the following:

Problem

After deleting, replacing, or adding a modem, Ascendis Caller ID can't access the modem, or doesn't detect any calls, or doesn't report the name or phone number for any calls.

Solution

Try rebuilding the devices list.

Problem

Ascendis Caller ID reports the name and number of callers, except for private or out-of-area calls.

Solution

Your phone company may be sending the caller information incorrectly.  Some phone companies use the wrong code(s) for the caller information, which can confuse modems and Windows.  It has been reported that at least one Sportster model modem corrects the problem in at least some cases, but this has not been verified by any Ascendis Caller ID users.  At the moment,  Ascendis Caller IDcannot work around this problem as Windows does not give it the information it needs.

Problem

Ascendis Caller ID speaks the "Display Name" field from the Contact record, but not the "Speak Name" field.

Solution

Ascendis Caller ID version 1 didn't differentiate between Display Name and Speak Name.  Thus, the actions in version 1 referred to the Display Name field.  If you installed Ascendis Caller ID version 2 over version 1, the old actions were kept.  You can correct this by making sure any Speak commands use {SpeakName} instead of {Name}.  If you're using DWS scripting, use CallInfo.SpeakName.  Normally this only requires changing the action named "Default".

Problem

Ascendis Caller ID doesn't speak the caller information.

Solution

Please check the following:

Problem

Ascendis Caller ID doesn't speak the caller information immediately, or it starts speaking immediately but doesn't finish until much later.

Solution

Microsoft's text-to-speech engines appear to run at a very low priority, so if other programs are running on the computer part or all of the speech may be delayed by several seconds to several minutes.  This is very noticeable when running Seti@Home, for example.  The only solution we have found is to use a different speech engine.  We have had luck with the Lernout & Hauspie British English engine, for example.

Problem

Ascendis Caller ID only speaks once, or never, although a voice is selected on the Speech page of the Options window.

Solution

Some speech engines apparently don't do a good job of following Microsoft's Speech API, and misbehave.  One named "TextAssist 2.1 (MultiSpeaker)" is known to exhibit this behavior.  Select another voice and try again.  If you don't have any others, install the speech engines as described on the Ascendis Software LLC web site.

Problem

Ascendis Caller ID doesn't show the caller information until the second ring.

Solution

In the US, the caller information is sent by the phone company between the first and second rings.  However, Windows 95 is slow to report the caller id information.  The only solution we have found is to upgrade to Windows 98 or later.

Problem

Ascendis Caller ID shows phone calls even when the phone doesn't ring.  This may occur when the phone is picked up or during a phone call or for no apparent reason.

Solution

Modems are supposed to send "RING" messages when the phone rings.  Some modems send "RING" messages when the phone is not ringing.  This can be verified by looking at the Modem Log.  We have seen this happen with several US Robotics modems.  In one case, US Robotics, the modem manufacturer, opted to replace the modem.  We have had some success with disabling the Modem-on-Hold feature with these modems using the US Robotics "ControlCenter" program.

Problem

Two copies of Ascendis Caller ID are started when I log in or Windows starts.

Solution

This could happen in older versions if a restricted user enabled the "Start Caller ID when Windows starts" option, then a different user with administrative access did the same.  Versions 2.0.0.6 and later prevent Ascendis Caller ID from starting if it is already running in any user session.