Connection Problems

Idle Disconnect

Depending on the operating system that you're using, there will
usually be a setting somewhere on your computer to disconnect
a dialup connection if it should remain idle for a certain number
of minutes. Most folks find this to be a rather annoying feature
and prefer to disable it. Here's how...

Win98 First Edition
Click on your Start button, move up to Settings, then click on
Control Panel. Double click the icon labeled "Internet". This
should open an Internet Properties window. Along the top, there
should be several tabs. Click once on the Connections tab. Make
sure the dot is next to "Connect to the Internet using a modem",
then hit the Settings button. If "Disconnect if idle for 5 minutes"
is checked on the following screen, you may choose to disable
it at this time. At the very least, you might want to bump it up
to close to an hour or so to make the warnings less frequent.

Win98 Second Edition
Click on Start, move up to Settings, then click on Control Panel.
Double click the icon labeled "Internet Options", then click once
on the "Connections" tab toward the top of the Internet Properties
window. Highlight the connection you're currently using inside the
large field labeled "Dialup and Virtual Private Network settings",
then hit the "Settings" button to the right. There should be an
"Advanced" button located near the lower right-hand portion of the
settings screen. Click on this once to open the Advanced dialup
window. If the option to "Disconnect if idle for 20 minutes" is
checked, you may bump the time between warnings up to close
to an hour or so or disable this feature entirely by removing the
checkmark. You might also notice the option to "Disconnect when
connection may no longer be needed". This feature, when enabled
causes a box to appear which reminds you that you still have an
open modem connection whenever you close out of any Internet
related programs. You might like this feature... you might not.
It's a matter of personal preference.

WinME (Millenium Edition)
Click on Start, move up to Settings, then click on Control Panel.
Double click the icon labeled "Internet Options", then click once
on the "Connections" tab toward the top of the Internet Properties
window. Highlight the connection you're currently using inside the
large field labeled "Dialup and Virtual Private Network settings",
then hit the "Settings" button to the right. Toward the lower right-
hand portion of the Internet Properties screen, there should be a
Properties button. Click on this once to display the details for
this connection. Click once on the "Dialing" tab, which should be
the last of a series of tabs that span the top of this connection
properties screen. If there is a checkmark next to "Enable idle
disconnect", you may remove it now. Otherwise, you may bump
up the time limit a bit to make the disconnect warnings a little
less frequent.

Win2000 Professional
Click on Start, move up to Settings, then click on Control Panel.
Double click the icon labeled "Internet Options", then click once
on the "Connections" tab toward the top of the Internet Properties
window. Highlight the connection you're currently using inside the
large field labeled "Dialup and Virtual Private Network settings",
then hit the "Settings" button to the right. Toward the lower right-
hand portion of the Internet Properties screen, there should be a
Properties button. Click on this once to display the details for
this connection, the click once on the "Options" tab at the top of
the connection properties screen. Under "Redialing Options", you
will notice an item labeled "Idle time before hanging up". You may
set this to never to disable it entirely, or bump the time limit up a
bit to make the disconnect warnings a little less frequent. Click OK
once you're done, then hit the "Advanced" button located near the
lower right-hand portion of the connection settings screen. If there
is a checkmark next to "Disconnect if idle", you may remove it or
bump the time limit up here as well.

Windows XP
Click on your Start button, then slide your pointer over to the right-
hand column of the start menu and click on the Control Panel. Way
over to the left of the Control Panel you will see one of two options.
If it reads, Switch to Category view, you may leave it alone. If it
reads, Switch to Classic view, click this option once to apply it.
Double click the icon labeled "Internet Options", then click once
on the "Connections" tab toward the top of the Internet Properties
window. Highlight the connection you're currently using inside the
large field labeled "Dialup and Virtual Private Network settings",
then hit the "Settings" button to the right. Toward the lower right-
hand portion of the Internet Properties screen, there should be a
Properties button. Click on this once to display the details for
this connection, the click once on the "Options" tab at the top of
the connection properties screen. Under "Redialing Options", you
will notice an item labeled "Idle time before hanging up". You may
set this to never to disable it entirely, or bump the time limit up a
bit to make the disconnect warnings a little less frequent. Click OK
once you're done, then hit the "Advanced" button located near the
lower right-hand portion of the connection settings screen. If there
is a checkmark next to "Disconnect if idle", you may remove it or
bump the time limit up here as well.

 
Back to top of page

 
Connection Problems

Connecting but can't pull up any web pages or retrieve email:

A common issue that I hear people complain about now and then is a
total inability to browse to any web pages or retrieve email. The dialup
connection, itself, will usually still go through without any trouble, but
you just can't get anywhere from there. In general, I have only seen this
occur in Windows 95, 98 and ME. The best known fix is to delete the
Winsock2 key from the registry, then reinstall communications. Here's
how to do so on a Win95/98/ME machine...

1.   Click on Start, then click on Run.
2.   Type in regedit on the command line, then hit OK.
3.   Navigate to the following directory in your registry editor...
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
      and delete the key labeled Winsock2.
      (*always back up your registry before making changes)
4.   Close the registry editor, then open your Control Panel.
      (Start, Settings, Control Panel)
5.   Double click the icon labeled Add/Remove Programs.
6.   Click once on the Windows Setup tab up top.
7.   Once a list of items is populated, click once just on the
      word Communications to highlight it, then click once
      on the Details button down lower on the screen.
8.   This will display a new list of items like Dial Up Networking,
      Hyperterminal, and so on. Scroll down to the bottom of this
      list, if it is scrollable, and uncheck everything that's checked
      all the way back up to the top of the list.
9.   Click OK on this screen, and Apply on the following screen.
      Your computer should do some work, then it should prompt
      you to restart. If no such prompt comes up for you, simply
      close the Control Panel and restart the computer yourself.
10. Once your computer boots back up, go back to your Control
      Panel and double click on Add/Remove Programs.
11. Click once on the Windows Setup tab up top. Once a list of
      items populates, click once on Communications to highlight
      it, then hit the details button down below.
12. Here, you will see all the items that you just unchecked
      before restarting. It is only necessary to re-enable three
      of the items here: Dial Up Networking, Hyperterminal, and
      Phone Dialer. Click OK once you're done, then click Apply
      on the following screen. Your computer may ask for you to
      insert your Windows CD at this time. If your computer did
      not come with any such CD, hit the browse button and tell
      the computer to copy the files from your CABS directory...
                      C:\Windows\Options\CABS
      Once it is done, close out of everything and restart your
      computer if it does not prompt you to do so automatically.
13. Once your computer boots back up again, head back to the
      Control Panel and double click the icon labeled "Network"
      this time. On the Network Configuration screen, you may
      do any adding or removing necessary to have only these
      following items installed...
                     Client for Microsoft Networks
                     Dial Up Adapter
                     TCP/IP
      After doing so successfully, click OK. Your computer will
      do some more work, then prompt you to restart. Click Yes.
      When your computer boots back up, try browsing the web.
      If it works, great. If not, call your ISP's technical support
      number.

 
Back to top of page  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Connection Problems

Can't connect at all:

Depending on the operating system you're using, there
are quite a few different reasons why you would not be
able to successfully establish a dialup connection. Far
too many, in fact, for me to cover on this page. If you
ever have trouble with your dialup connection, the best
thing to do is to pay close attention to the error that is
displayed when your computer fails to connect. Armed
with this information, call your ISP's technical support
number. Together, you should be able to find a solution
to the problem fairly quickly. Touch America support for
dialup Internet customers may be reached from 8 a.m.
to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday at 1-800-823-4664.

 
Back to top of page

 
Connection Problems

Web pages won't fully load

When trying to navigate around the web, you're likely
to experience the following issue now and then: Your
web browser starts to load the home page, then hangs
there for what seems like forever and eventually just
times out. The same thing will happen on any other
sites you try to visit, as well. This is usually the result
of a full cache directory. Your browser's cache folder
(sometimes called Temporary Internet Files) is where
previously viewed web files are stored for later reuse.
The idea behind this is to help pages that you have
already viewed to load faster when you go back to
view them again. Sometimes, this plan will backfire.
Once the cache directory starts to become too full,
your browser will have a hard time writing any new
information to this folder. This, of course, results in
an inability to successfully navigate around the web
The solution: Empty the cache folder.

Using Netscape on a Windows machine
1. Launch Netscape.
2. Slide your pointer to the upper left-hand corner
    of the screen and click on Edit, then select
    Preferences from the drop-menu.
3. On the left-hand side of the Preferences screen
    you will see a large white field labeled Categories.
4. At the bottom of the Categories list, click on the
    plus next to Advanced to make it a minus.
5. Click once on the word Cache to highlight it.
6. Over to the right, click on "Clear memory cache",
    and "Clear disk cache". You'll have to click OK
    to confirm each action.
7. Close Netscape and restart your computer. If the
    problem continues, reinstalling communications
    would be the next thing to try.

Using Internet Explorer on a Windows machine
1. Launch Internet Explorer.
2. Move your pointer to the top of the screen and
    click on Tools, then select Internet Options
    from the drop-menu.
3. Down in the section labeled "Temporary Internet
    Files", click once on the Delete Files button.
4. Place a check next to "Delete all offline content",
    then click OK.
5. Click OK on the remaining screen, then close out
    of Internet Explorer and restart your computer. If
    the problem persists, reinstalling communications
    may be the answer.

 
Connection Problems

How to disable call waiting:

If you've got call waiting with your phone service, an
incoming call can drop your Internet connection. This
can be pretty annoying if you're trying to complete a
large download. To disable call waiting while you're
online, you must set your computer to dial a 3 digit
code before dialing your ISP's local access number.
*70 works in most cases, though you might want to
verify this with your local phone service provider. If
you're using Win98/ME/2000/XP, here's how to add
this string to the number your computer is dialing...

1.  Open the Control Panel.
2.  Double click on Internet Options.
3.  Click once on the Connections tab up top.
4.  Highlight the dialup connection you're
     using in the large white field labeled
     "Dial Up and Virtual Private Network
     settings", then click on the Settings
     button to the right.
5.  Click on the Properties button located
     toward the lower right-hand portion of
     the connection settings screen.
6.  Add *70, followed by a comma, before
     the number being dialed.
7.  Look and make sure that the option to "Use
     Area Code" or "Use dialing rules" is not
     checked.
 

Back to top of page