Need Help

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hi Group-

My father has a Dimension 2100 that he used ONLY for AOL 9.0. It is a dialup
connection and it has always worked rather well. It only has 128MB RAM, so
programs have always opened slowly, but it connected and did what he needed it
to do.

Last week he started having trouble with his dialup connection. It dials
repeatedly and connects every fifth or sixth try. I got involved and tried
the following:

1) Called AOL tech and did several things that accomplished nothing--the tech
thought that something was keeping the COM4 port open --said to call Dell.

2) I checked phone line, switched modem PCI slot, changed access numbers,
did a virus scan.

3) An older version of AOL on his machine also has trouble dialing. They both
hang after the modem connects to AOL.

4) Dell tech support guy was more knowledgeable than the AOL guy. He had me
test modem with modem helper and Hyperterminal and eventually told me the
problem is AOL..

Do modems tend to get flakey in this way? Should I replace the modem? Would
it help to totally remove and then reinstall AOL? I am stumped and all
suggestions are appreciated!

Jim

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"JBlock56" <jblock56@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041003211344.22732.00001580@mb-m15.aol.com...
> Hi Group-
>
> My father has a Dimension 2100 that he used ONLY for AOL 9.0. It is a
dialup
> connection and it has always worked rather well. It only has 128MB RAM,
so
> programs have always opened slowly, but it connected and did what he
needed it
> to do.
>
> Last week he started having trouble with his dialup connection. It dials
> repeatedly and connects every fifth or sixth try.

On that 5th or 6th try does it connect and operate normally?

On the first 4 or 5 failures is there any indication of how it fails? Can
you see/hear any connection progress?

> I got involved and tried
> the following:
>
> 1) Called AOL tech and did several things that accomplished nothing--the
tech
> thought that something was keeping the COM4 port open --said to call Dell.
>
> 2) I checked phone line, switched modem PCI slot, changed access
numbers,
> did a virus scan.
>
> 3) An older version of AOL on his machine also has trouble dialing. They
both
> hang after the modem connects to AOL.

What's "both"? Describe exactly where/when/how it "hangs".

> 4) Dell tech support guy was more knowledgeable than the AOL guy. He had
me
> test modem with modem helper and Hyperterminal and eventually told me the
> problem is AOL..

Sounds true.

> Do modems tend to get flakey in this way?

Possibly but there isn't the slightest indication of that yet. Is there any
alternate connection you can dial and try connecting with?

> Should I replace the modem? Would
> it help to totally remove and then reinstall AOL? I am stumped and all
> suggestions are appreciated!

More careful and thoughtful debugging is what's needed and not shotgun
blasts?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Yes it seems to work normally when it finally connects. On the unsuccessful
attempts, you can hear a dial tone, the dialing of the access number and the
normal modem noises and then the normal silence when the connection is made.

AOL has seven steps in all:
1)Initializing modem
2)Dialing
3)Connecting at xxxxxbps
4) Requesting network attention
5)etc,etc
On every attempt it gets through step 2. After step 2 or sometimes step 3 it
sits for maybe 30 seconds and then says that the connection to the network
could not be completed. It redials. If it gets to step 4 we are okay--it
always gets the rest of the way.

By both I mean both versions of AOL on the machine seem to have trouble
connecting to the network on most attempts.

The only alternate connection would be hyperterminal which Dell had me dial a
voice number with last night. It dialed fine --the voice on the other end
could be heard -very scratchy-through the modem speaker. I could load another
ISP on the machine to test the modem.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"JBlock56" <jblock56@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041003222902.16860.00003855@mb-m20.aol.com...
> Yes it seems to work normally when it finally connects.

That makes it sound a lot like the modem is ok.

> On the unsuccessful
> attempts, you can hear a dial tone, the dialing of the access number and
the
> normal modem noises and then the normal silence when the connection is
made.
>
> AOL has seven steps in all:
> 1)Initializing modem
> 2)Dialing
> 3)Connecting at xxxxxbps
> 4) Requesting network attention
> 5)etc,etc
> On every attempt it gets through step 2. After step 2 or sometimes step 3
it
> sits for maybe 30 seconds and then says that the connection to the network
> could not be completed. It redials. If it gets to step 4 we are okay--it
> always gets the rest of the way.

That makes it sound like AOL. Find someone else's dialup number like
Earthlink or Worldnet. Try dialing that number and see what happens.

> By both I mean both versions of AOL on the machine seem to have trouble
> connecting to the network on most attempts.

Something happened to connection settings on the PC or AOL did something.
Doesn't AOL have other numbers including long distance and 800 ones to try
as a test?

> The only alternate connection would be hyperterminal which Dell had me
dial a
> voice number with last night. It dialed fine --the voice on the other end
> could be heard -very scratchy-through the modem speaker. I could load
another
> ISP on the machine to test the modem.

Yes.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

My System Restore (Win ME)quit creating restore points. I checked the
memory allocation and increased it to maximum. I then turned System
Restore off and rebooted and turned it back on.
It created a restore point when I turned it back on but has not created
a restore point since. I have created restore points manually and they
work ok.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
TIA
Chuck

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Download the System Restore patch from Windows Update.

"KA6UUP" <ka6uup@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:sV38d.23833$QJ3.21489@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
> My System Restore (Win ME)quit creating restore points. I checked the
> memory allocation and increased it to maximum. I then turned System
> Restore off and rebooted and turned it back on.
> It created a restore point when I turned it back on but has not created a
> restore point since. I have created restore points manually and they work
> ok.
> Any suggestions will be appreciated.
> TIA
> Chuck

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

KA6UUP wrote:

> My System Restore (Win ME)quit creating restore points. I checked the
> memory allocation and increased it to maximum. I then turned System
> Restore off and rebooted and turned it back on.
> It created a restore point when I turned it back on but has not created
> a restore point since. I have created restore points manually and they
> work ok.
> Any suggestions will be appreciated.
> TIA
> Chuck
Well,
That was done about three years ago.
Has nothing to do with the problem. Read my explanation. It quit setting
restore points. Manually set restore points work OK.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 22:44:15 GMT, KA6UUP wrote in
<news:4161D23F.6070705@pacbell.net>:

> That was done about three years ago.
> Has nothing to do with the problem. Read my explanation. It quit setting
> restore points. Manually set restore points work OK.

I don't use System Restore since it doesn't really work for more than
simply getting to a working desktop so you can backup your system in
preparation for a reinstall of the OS, but have you tried turning it off,
rebooting the machine, then turning it back on?

Dave
--
You can talk about us, but you can't talk without us!
US Army Signal Corps!!

http://www.geocities.com/davidcasey98

Remove IH8SPAM to reply by email!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

When you click on System Restore...look on the left hand side...you should
see System Restore Settings (in blue font)...click on it and make sure it
doesn't have the System Restore turned off to all drives etc.
Gary

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

KA6UUP <ka6uup@pacbell.net> wrote:

>KA6UUP wrote:
>
>> My System Restore (Win ME)quit creating restore points. I checked the
>> memory allocation and increased it to maximum. I then turned System
>> Restore off and rebooted and turned it back on.
>> It created a restore point when I turned it back on but has not created
>> a restore point since. I have created restore points manually and they
>> work ok.
>> Any suggestions will be appreciated.
>> TIA
>> Chuck
>Well,
>That was done about three years ago.
>Has nothing to do with the problem. Read my explanation. It quit setting
>restore points. Manually set restore points work OK.

Your computer needs to be left idle for a while before it will set a
restore point, and 24 hours need to have elapsed since the last restore
point was taken.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Although my system appears to create system restore points, they never
work. When I "restore" and then reboot, my machine tells me that it
wasn't restored. Anyone else have this happen, and, if so, how did
you fix it?

cagey

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Go here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

line 278, left side. See if the fix helps.

--
David Nimon
dnimonREMOVE@##sympatico.ca

--------------------------------
"cagey" <cagey91@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:jb88m097nphj66skuphvsfmbkmrffm8rnr@4ax.com...
> Although my system appears to create system restore points, they never
> work. When I "restore" and then reboot, my machine tells me that it
> wasn't restored. Anyone else have this happen, and, if so, how did
> you fix it?
>
> cagey