Trouble getting online

Factual Questions
1

The problem began last Monday night. I had been using AOL 9.0 for a few months with no trouble, and then suddenly I was unable to sign onto AOL. Every time it reached Step 4, it would automatically go back to Step 1 and start all over again, in an endless loop.

After two consecutive nights of being bounced from AOL’s tech support staff and Dell’s tech support staff, I finally uninstalled AOL 9.0 and re-installed AOL 8.0. I’m still having similar trouble.

With AOL 8.0, here is the exact nature of the problem:

Every time I attempt to sign on, it spends an inordinate amount of time at Step 5. The first time it reaches Step 5 (“Talking to network…”), a white box titled “Connection Log” appears in the upper left of the screen, but no text ever appears. It jumps back to Step 1 and starts all over. If I leave the computer alone, it will go back to Step 5, spend approximately ten to eleven MINUTES stuck at Step 5, go back to Step 1 a third time and finally let me through to my account, all on the same phone number.

It’s worth noting that the very first time I tried starting AOL 8.0 after reinstallation, I got an error message reporting that “DialUp Networking cannot be found.”

According to AOL’s tech staff, there are no problems with the access numbers in my area.

Among the many attempts at solving the problem, I have tried:

  1. uninstalling and reinstalling the modem drivers
  2. physically removing the modem card and reinserting it
  3. uninstalling the AOL adapter (which automatically rebuilds the next time I start AOL)
  4. switching phone jacks into which the modem is plugged into
  5. System Restore – every attempt at this results in being told that it was unsuccessful, no matter which date I select
  6. vague and hostile threats towards the computer’s well-being

None of this has resolved the problem.

Attempts to get help from AOL’s online tech areas (chat rooms and message boards) have been equally unsuccessful.

A variety of diagnostic programs have informed me that there is nothing wrong with the modem hardware. It finds the dialtone, successfully dials the number, but what happens after that appears to suffer a breakdown.

For reference, here are the specs of my computer:
Computer OEM: Dell Dimension 4100
Operating System: Windows ME
Modem: 3Com U.S. Robotics 56K Voice PCI
AOL software version: 8.0 (was using 9.0 earlier)

Can anyone offer suggestions as to what might be causing the extremely long delay at Step 5, and how I might be able to resolve this problem?

And yes, I know that there are plenty of you out there who will sneer at AOL and Windows ME. I’m not looking for sneering. I’m looking for help, which I have not been able

2

This page from AOL troubleshooting might help. (‘Hanging on Step 5 …’)

3

One possible problem is that ME is a liar and a cheat when it comes to uninstalling. Don’t believe it. Use Add/Remove programs to unistall the AOL software but before you reinstall you have to check what really happended. Use Windows Explorer to navigate your hard drive and look to see if the AOL folder is still there. I’m betting it will be. Manually delete it and all other AOL related files/folders you can find (if any). You’re not done yet. Now you need to clean out the Registry. ME supposedly runs RegClean each time you boot up, so after uninstalling and manually deleting, reboot your system a few times before you try the reinstall. If the reinstall still fails, then you will need to repeat the whole automatic/manual unistall business and then download and run a third party Registry cleaner like Registry Mechanic and then try the reinstall again.

Good luck!

4

I’ve already tried every item on that list, with the exception of the last one since I’m now using AOL 8.0

5

Hmm. I haven’t messed with the registry yet, so it could be possible that the solution is there.

6

Have you run Spybot Search & Destroy and AdAware (both found on www.download.com) to check for spyware? Have you run a virus scan?

My aunt had MSN (different thing, I know) and her MSN connection kept getting fubared because of spyware from Kazaa.

Spyware could be the problem.

7

I have run both Spybout and AdAware, and the problem still persists.

I’m back after trying aldiboronti’s suggestion. I uninstalled AOL, and then used Norton SystemWorks to rip out everything I could find from the registry that was related to AOL. I reinstalled AOL 8.0, tried to get online, and ran into the same problem.

And just like the last time I tried the uninstall-and-reinstall trick, I got persistent messages saying that “Dial-Up Networking cannot run.” Eventually, when the AOL software dialed in using their 1-800 number, the DUN software appeared to create a connection file, which I cannot edit or use. But that particular connection file seems to use the 1-800 number, which is odd, since I’m not using that particular number right now.

It’s also a lie that “Dial-Up Networking cannot run”…it’s clearly there in my computer.

8

Just for giggles, I reinstalled AOL 9.0 (leaving AOL 8.0 on my hard drive). AOL 9.0 doesn’t even make it past Step 4 (“Requesting Network Attention”)

9

I started thinking that maybe the AOL error is really masking a deeper MS error.

The Microsoft Knowledge Base lists a few known issues with modems and ME and this one seems the closest to what you may be experiencing. Seems worth a shot anyway.

Check the “Support SerialKey devices” box to see if it checked and try unchecking it if it is or checking it if it isn’t. At this point I’d try almost anything short of reinstalling the OS but it may even come down to that in the end.

Also, it isn’t unknown for a Dial-up Networking connection to go bad. Have you tried deleting your “connectoid” and reinstalling a Dial-up Networking connection from scratch? I don’t even know if AOL uses the MS Dial-up Networking connections but like I said, at this point I start trying anything I can think of, even stuff that theoretically shouldn’t make a difference.