computer problem

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U2Kitten

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A good friend of mine cannot get online! She replaced the modem, but it still will not go online. She has tried 2 different ISP's and has checked the phone line. What else besides the modem and the phone line could be the problem? Any suggestions or help appreciated!

No she cannot afford to take this to a 'shop' :(
 
Okay different story now. It turns out it's not the modem, it's something called 'uninterruptable power supply' What do you put in the settings to fix it?

If it means anything she had not turned the computer off for 2 weeks before this happened, and she does not have dsl.
 
Last edited:
:hmm:

Well, a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) is just something the computer plugs into so it won't shut down improperly if there's a power surge or something. I'm not sure how that could be keeping her from getting online unless she has the phone lines plugged into the UPS too (some of them have modem jacks) and there's something wrong with it. Can you find out if she has the phone lines plugged in to the UPS?

What happens if she tries to get online?
 
She found that getting into the settings to see if there was some reason it couldn't sign on. It kept telling her the communication port was busy, and it wasn't! I'm not sure how she got the power thing or what she did. She does have a phone line plugged into it but she says it works okay with the phone, just not the computer. She says she keeps trying to change it but it's shutting itself off every minute or two! What has she done to that computer?

Thanks for trying to help:)
 
We offer a dial-up service where I work and have had a few cases such as this. Computers/modems are often way more sensitive than phones so even if she has a dial-tone with no static with the line run through the power strip, the computer may not like it. Have her run the phone cable straight from the wall jack to the modem and see what happens....

Also, when you say "it's shutting itself off every minute or two" is that the computer? If so, I doubt that has anything to do with getting online besides that she may have a blaster or sasser worm shutting it off. Does it give her a countdown before it shuts off? If not, is the computer hot when it shuts down? Maybe her fan is not working or she needs another one to keep the computer cool inside. They'll shut off if they get too hot. Otherwise, the computer's own power supply could be bad.
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:
We offer a dial-up service where I work and have had a few cases such as this. Computers/modems are often way more sensitive than phones so even if she has a dial-tone with no static with the line run through the power strip, the computer may not like it. Have her run the phone cable straight from the wall jack to the modem and see what happens....
Click to expand...

I think it is right from the wall, I'll ask again.

Also, when you say "it's shutting itself off every minute or two" is that the computer? If so, I doubt that has anything to do with getting online besides that she may have a blaster or sasser worm shutting it off. Does it give her a countdown before it shuts off? If not, is the computer hot when it shuts down? Maybe her fan is not working or she needs another one to keep the computer cool inside. They'll shut off if they get too hot. Otherwise, the computer's own power supply could be bad.
Click to expand...

Oh I know what you mean, I had that awful countdown thing before! She did too for a long time. This shutting down started after she started messing with the settings so she probably set something wrong :huh: Thanks for any advice!
 
She just called me again, and this is all I can say: she fixed the shut down problem, it was something she screwed with in the settings. She just cannot get online. The phone line appears to be okay, the modem is new, the system recognizes the modem. But it will not go online. :sigh:

What else could it be?
 
Does she have a phone cord straight from the wall into the computer? Also, most modems have two ports, one for the incoming cord and one that goes out to a phone (like it you had one wall jack and wanted a phone and computer hooked up, you can simply run the phone through the modem as long as the computer's not online). You need them in the right ports in order for it to work.
 
no modem detected or
unable to establish a connection with aol service
 
is the modem driver installed? (does she have windows XP?) in the system device manager you should see the modem listed and if there's a problem there will be a red X or ! sign
 
Yeah it's XP. She installed the disc that came with the modem, and the system does say it recognizes a modem. But it will not sign onto the internet! She thinks sometimes it dials but just won't connect or sometimes it doesn't dial at all. It's weird.
 
I guess she can try the cord, but she probably won't be able to change the jack. It's brand new, she just got the second phone line for the computer a month ago. Is there anything else besides the modem that could be wrong that is not allowing the internet to hook up?
 
"no modem detected or
unable to establish a connection with aol service"

This sounds like the modem is either incorrectly/incompletely installed and/or she can't for some reason authenticate to AOL (check the access numbers, username, password, call them to verify she's an active user).

I don't know if you can logon to AOL with a generic dial-up connection, but she could give this a try:

Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Communications > New Connection Wizard

Choose "Connect to the Internet"
Choose "Set up manually..."
Choose "cOnnect using dial-up modem..."
Enter "AOL" as the ISP name
Enter the access number (she should have a few of those, pick one for now)
Enter the full username (ex. U2Kitten@aol.com)
Enter the password
Check only the top option
In the last window, check "Add a shortcut..."

Now there will be a new dial-up connection on the desktop. Click on that and see if it can dial in and connect. Since it's not using the AOL software, if it connects, she can open IE or whatever internet browser she's got.
 
I'll be dogged, she just called and I have her on the phone now!

She tried all that step by step and it says

error 624

system cannot update phone book file :huh:

:scream:

could this be a virus? Is there something blocking the phone? :confused:
 
She told me she was so desperate she was going to lose all her data and rerun the Windows disc from scratch. That was an hour ago and I haven't heard back from her yet :sigh:
 
SIGH new report. She says it's now telling her she has a broadband cable modem even though she doesn't. She still cannot get online using AOL. I even let her use my MSN account info to try it and it still did not let her go online. I am so frustrated, but I understand how awful it is not to be able to get online.
 
It came from Circuit city, but it was doing the same thing before she changed it. She said she did everything right.
 
Well, if she has a virus, I can get you an installer for the latest version of Norton/Symantec antivirus, but it's going to be around a 25MB download.

She should switch to PeoplePC or something not so destructive as AOL or MSN. Plus it's the cheapest I think, and definitely works w/ a generic dial-up connection (it does come with an integrated browser like AOL and MSN, but I never use it). It may not solve the problem, but it will make it easier in the long run.

She may have done everything right with the modem, but she needs to actually verify that it is correctly installed with the best driver. She needs to check the hardware device manager and then tell me what that says under "Modem(s)".
 
Thanks. Is there any way I can download these things onto a disc and give them to her since she can't get online? Would that work?
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:
Yeah, save them both for her. One's 3-4MB and the other's probably 2-3MB.
Click to expand...

I'm so lame I'm going to have to get someone to help me do this :huh: I'm also going to ask her to recheck the way she put both cords in. Thanks for your advice.
 
You'll need a CD or USB drive or something that's not a 1.4MB floppy. But all you have to do is save both of those files and double click on them to start the installer (do the Sym9 one and complete it before starting the second).
 
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