Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Modem Connections

This is topic Modem Connections in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-01-2003, 02:13 PM:

My boss's computer has a slight problem. It won't stay connected to the internet.

He has spent many hours on the phone with his ISP's technical support, but they could not detect the problem. The phone company "Zapped" the phone line, and could not find any problems. My boss plugged the modem into the demark box to determine if there was a problem with the phone system in his house, and still could not hold connection.

I found a virus in the computer, formatted the drive, reloaded all his programs, and installed a new modem.

He still can't stay on line.

We know it is a computer problem, as he took the thing down to the radio station and used its phone lines. Same problem.

Any suggestions?

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 02-01-2003, 02:40 PM:

What brand of modem and OS?

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-01-2003, 03:31 PM:

Windows 98SE, full install.
Old modem was a Diamond Supra 33K, and new one is a US Robotics 56K.

Posted by Gordon Bachlund (Member # 124) on 02-01-2003, 03:33 PM:

Paul, I had the same problem with a Fujitsu modem on my Earthlink DSL. Earthlink finally gave me a new modem and that seems top have solved the problem, though only time will tell.

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 02-01-2003, 04:25 PM:

quote:
It won't stay connected to the internet.

How long can he stay on before it disconnects?

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-01-2003, 04:51 PM:

Anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes....

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 02-01-2003, 07:01 PM:

Paul, what type of computer does your boss have? Who is the ISP? Would the Buss have anything to do with?

My friend has a Hewlet Packard and it always freezes up while on the net. He has a cable modem and asked for tech supprt and they couldn't figuer it out. He even had them come out and they couldn't get it to work. It still freezes. [Frown]

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-01-2003, 07:11 PM:

It was a bare-bones buildup. I built that thing up about 3 years ago. The problem has developed about 4 months ago.

I am not sure of the MB type, but I told him to leave it lay at the radio station until I can look at it Monday.

Posted by John Hegel (Member # 628) on 02-01-2003, 08:47 PM:

This is a shot in the dark... but check your power management and see what the power down time is on your hard drive.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 02-01-2003, 08:55 PM:

What John Hegel said. If this PC has power management capability in the BIOS, disable it.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-02-2003, 01:06 AM:

I know it is not a power mannagement problem for two reasons: I disabled all that [bs]

in the control panel, and when he was "kicked off" line, everything else worked. But it brings up an interesting point I am going to look into - and that's if he got any screwy error messages.

I do not know if the BIOS in his machine supports power management, it has been too long. From what I understand, as long as someone is screwing around with the keyboard or mouse, the power management option will not activate. (so they say in fine print)

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-02-2003, 01:16 AM:

Of course I would think this has been checked or determined but does he have a designated phone line for his computer or does he use call waiting. Call waiting should be turned off when using a phone line that has it. have you tried actually changing the phone cable going to the modem. double check to make sure that the settings for the modem are set to the fastes conection speed. These are just some possable thoughts.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-02-2003, 02:00 AM:

Darryl, those were discussed with the exception of the connection speed. I'll look into that. Thank you.

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 02-02-2003, 10:40 AM:

Paul, have you maybe tried trying another phone line?
A faulty line will surely cease a modem connection.

Whoops!
Looks like you did check the phone line. My mistake.
[Confused]

[ 02-03-2003, 02:29 PM: Message edited by: Sam Hunter ]

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-03-2003, 12:33 AM:

I don't know for sure if I fixed the problem, but when I went into the sysyem BIOS, I discovered the power management setting was set to "User Defined" and the PNP OS Installed was set to "Yes".

I disabled the Power Management feature, and set the PNP OS installed option to "NO".

Rebooted, came on line with NW Link (The boss's ISP) and it held connection. After screwing around on line, it still maintained connection without being booted.

I don't know how they got changed, maybe by the technical support people of his ISP while Jim had left thumbs... [Big Grin]

Tomorrow will tell the story when he drags his damn thing home and tries it. [Smile]

What do you think?

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-03-2003, 07:03 PM:

Update:

It held connection for the last hour. The boss told me that the computer locked up when he was having the problem. So, I am going to presume there were some wrong settings in the BIOS.

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 02-04-2003, 07:35 PM:

Does your modem allow you to view message exchanges, ie., diagnostic messages)? If so look for who is sending the disconnect. CD (carrier detect) droping would tend to point to the ISP or phone line. DTR (data terminal ready)dropping may indicate a computer issue. These things can be a royal pain but they can be solved.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 02-04-2003, 10:41 PM:

Rick, I don't think it does. Really does not make any difference, though. The computer self-distructed today. [Frown]

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 02-06-2003, 07:56 AM:

Sometimes that is the only cure. Sorry it was so drastic.