This is probably going to be long, but here goes;

I have a Hewlett Packard Pavilion computer I bought in 1999. Hardware wise it's been a good one with no failures except the drive ribbon cable. The rub seems to be coming in with the old windows 98. I know what I need, a new computer. But I just bought a laptop for my daughter, and she is off to college, so money is tight. So I am hoping I have free software solution.

The problem I am having now is it will not get online very reliably. I have dial-up, and it will try 20 times, getting a "no answer" to a "cannot connect" message. What is really strange is it will get on more reliably if I take a phone receiver in the house off the hook when it's dialing. The connection will be slower(17kbs-20kbs vs around 40kbs) with the phone off the hook, but it will connect, and then I hang up and I am good to go, but slow.

I know it's not the telephone line, and not the provider, because my daughter's laptop would get on instantly, very rarely having connection problems. She has a Dell with XP on her computer.

I called my provider and talked with a tech, and he told me to go into "control panel", "network", scroll down to "TCP/IP dial up adapter", click on "properties", click on "WINS configuration" and then uncheck "WINS resolution". He said this was an old windows thing that is not used anymore, and should make it faster to connect, but it didn't help.

What really aggravated this problem is I just tried to put windows 2000 on my computer. I liked 2000 when I used it at work, but I could not get it to recognize the modem I have on my computer. When I told it to look for the modem, it kept looking for it at com 1 or 2, but my modem is an old Rockwell unit that is mounted on a internal sound card. I could not find a driver and get the windows 2000 to properly recognize it. I was thinking I could get an external modem and hook it to the serial port, but I am wondering if this old computer is worth putting any money into it.

Well, after the windows 2000 failure, I had to reformat and reload using the recovery disk. So now I have the ancient form of windows 98 with no updates. Instead of using windows explorer, I decided to download the browser Firefox. I really like it, and it works well if I could just connect better.

So what are my options?

Would going to the microsoft site and downloading some updates(probably take 5 hours!) help any?

Are there any little tricks I could type into the dial up configuration to make it work better?

Maybe a new external modem with the windows 2000 is the best option? Windows 2000 reconfigured the file system on the hard drive, which would supposedly make the computer work faster. That's why I had to reformat when I went back to 98.

Can anyone explain how the dial up thing works? Is there a main computer or server I am trying to talk to, and I am not bullying my way in like I would if I had a newer computer?

 

It's your MODEM.

I guarandangtee you it's a no longer supported modem causing you grief.

But those things should be sort of cheap now, and you should get a current one with downloadable drivers and such.

Ditch it and try again.

The alternative is to try opening the case and identifying exactly what modem it is, and then going to a driver site to download the latest driver - that might be cheapest, but might not be possible.

 

I had a similar problem,,, It turned out to be the slot in which the modem was connected. Try moving it up or down one slot,, the driver will still pick it up.

 

I would try a new modem.. They only cost about $15.00 to $25.00 at Compusa..

External modems start at $30.00 and go up close to $200.00

Hopefully your current modem is in a PCI (White) Slot, because that is about all you will find new.. Otherwise you have to go external if you can't find the right one..

Another option would be to check craigslist.. People are always listing old computer boards for free.. They also post old PC's... Maybe you can get lucky and find a new pc..

 

What special features do you have on your phone line ?

I know call forwarding and another one plays havoc with Modems.

 

It should work best with "use DHCP for WINS resolution" checked. I'd also check in network goto "dial-up adapter" it should be set for "enhanced 32 bit". I'd agree it's the modem. Some win98 updates may help, but I doubt it. I'd start by trying to find any updates specific to the modem. If you like I have several updates for win98 I could E-mail you. I still run it here with no problems, but I no longer use dial-up regularly. I use a Creative Labs Modem Blaster - DI5630 when required. It's the one I would suggest if you decide to replace yours.

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-DI5630-Modem-Blaster-Flash/dp/B00000JD6R

 

I was under the impression MS no longer has support for any version of Win98.

 

> my modem is an old Rockwell unit that is mounted on a internal sound card.

Most likely that modem does not support the latest and greatest hand shaking and compression routines. When you lift the receiver it causes noise, a bad connection, so the receiving modem defaults to its lowest (v22?) setting. Otherwise it tries connecting with a protocol your modem does not understand.

Plus, I bet you have a ISA card with hard IRQs and that is poorly supported. If you went into your BIOS and reserved it, that might work out better.

What you want is a brand name external modem. USR or Hayes is a good start in a used EBAY modem and you don't need the latest and greatest.

What you do need is to know what brand and protocol your ISP is using so you can match it.

 

The bottom line seems to be UPDATE.

And yes - MS is washing their corporate hands of supporting old products, which presents a problem in its own right.