Fwiw, I don't see any sign of the modem going off-hook
nor a dial tone.
It's a Dell Laptop. With a current kernel the boot messages are:

auich0 at pci0 dev 31 function 5: i82801CA (ICH3) AC-97 Audio
auich0: interrupting at irq 11
auich0: The 2nd codec is ready.
auich0: ac97: Crystal CS4205 codec; dedicated mic channel, tone, simulated 
stere
o, bass boost, 20 bit DAC, 18 bit ADC, SRS 3D
auich0: ac97: ext id 209<AMAP,VRM,VRA>
auich1 at pci0 dev 31 function 6: i82801CA (ICH3) AC-97 Modem
auich1: interrupting at irq 11
auich1: The 2nd codec is ready.
auich1: ac97: ext mid 4001<LINE1>, secondary codec
[...]
auich0: measured ac97 link rate at 48004 Hz, will use 48000 Hz
audio0 at auich0: full duplex, mmap, independent
audio1 at auich1: full duplex, mmap, independent


Before your last changes, I got an additional line:

auich1: ac97: Silicon Laboratory unknown (0x53494c21) codec; no 3D stereo


Didn't have any time to look into details yet.

best regards
Matthias