Recent MSN Upgrades Causing Modem Problems?

swm asks: "My father-in-law runs Windows/XP on a low-end machine. He gets internet access through MSN over a 56K dialup. This worked OK for many months. Two or 3 weeks ago, MSN presented him with an auto-upgrade, and he clicked OK, and the system has been virtually unusable ever since. I booted the machine to see what it does. First, it thinks he is on a LAN (he isn't) and presents a window telling him it can't connect to the internet and he should disable his firewall. I dismiss that window. A few seconds later another window pops up and tries to dial out. I can cancel and close the dial-out window, but it just comes back in about 15 seconds and starts dialing out again. No matter how many times I cancel and close the dial-out window, it just keeps coming back. I reboot the machine and let it dial out. It connects to MSN. I click the 'Offline' button, but it doesn't drop carrier. I shut down the machine and it still doesn't drop carrier. Finally I pull the power cord out of the wall socket and it drops carrier. I've checked msn.com and Googled around a bit, and I can't find any mention of problems like this. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?" Have any MSN users experienced this problem? What have you done in your attempts to solve it?

Comments

Have you called MSN?

[Numeric]

If MSN created the problem, maybe they can also address it.

Re:Have you called MSN?

[Eagle7]

Right on.

And if they can't/won't, drop thier asses for a worthwhile ISP like Earthlink, Worldnet, etc.

Re:Have you called MSN?

[RaboKrabekian]

drop thier asses for a worthwhile ISP like Earthlink, Worldnet

It seems you've never had to deal with Worldnet's "customer service." I wouldn't exactly term them a worthwhile ISP.

On a happier note, Earthlink it indeed excellent.

Re:Have you called MSN?

[dalassa]

Not to mention Worldnet's less than stellar performance as an actual ISP. Nothing like the secondary phone number for your area being inactive permently or getting dropped every thirty minutes.

dial on demand?

[capoccia]

sounds like some rogue dial-on-demand. there is a setting for that somewhere in dial-up networking.

Calling home

[silicon_synapse]

Most likely the MSN software is trying to call home for some reason. Take a look in your task manager and see what doesn't look right. You did memorize the normal processes and pids didn't you? It's probably something sitting in your startup folder or in one of the run keys in your registry.

I've got a question though. Why are you even using MSN software? Why not just enter the phone number and create the connection yourself? Windows certainly doesn't need more software to establish a simple dialup connection. Get rid of the software and don't worry about it.

find a suitable "restore point" in XP

[avi33]

As if they knew their own "upgrades" would cause problems, they were kind enough to include a feature not unlike undo on steroids.

This page decribes How to Restore Windows XP to a Previous State.

Potential Solution

[tedDancin]

I think this may shed some light on the problem at hand.

(:

WTF?

[balog]

Has ask slashdot turned into a fscking software problems/bug report board?

Ask the fucking support department of MSN for god's sake.

Please be a little more selective; job ads, hormones, wtf news for nerds? - you're better than this guys...

Re:WTF?

[Asprin]

Has ask slashdot turned into a fscking software problems/bug report board?

Please be a little more selective; job ads, hormones, wtf news for nerds? - you're better than this guys...

Yeah, what do you think this is, Fark? Next we'll have stuff like "Photoshop this Star Trek convention to add Lego LotR characters."

Re:Windows XP and 40 GB HDDs

[GreyWolf3000]

Wow. That is one wierd tech support problem ;)

Honestly though, I can't imagine every 40 GB hard drive being unusable for XP. My dad has XP and I'm pretty sure it's a 40 GB disk.

Red herring?

[kawika]

It's also entirely possible that the MSN upgrade has nothing to do with this problem. It sounds like some piece of software is insisting on an Internet connection. This is very common with many viruses and spyware that wants to phone home. Have you checked for viruses and spyware? If your dad installed syware like Gator you could see this behavior, for example.

Re:Red herring?

[deanpole]

Right. It is probably spyware. Try downloading Ad-Aware. It will make your computer boot faster too.

Yeah

[anthony_dipierro]

The problem itself might be boring (and really none of us can fix it without access to the machine), but it's a good opportunity to poke fun at Microsoft, so it gets accepted.

connections

[Chris Canfield]

Section A - on LAN: MSN sounds misconfigured / messed up. Always on / LAN is a viable option for a connection, but you don't have one. I'm not familiar with MSN's proprietary software, but you really don't need it. You can rifle around looking for the setting for LAN / dialup, but I'd just uninstall the useless thing.

Section B - Dialing in: The software has apparently become configured to auto-connect whenever there isn't a connection. I find that setting to be useful, but I don't have buggy windows software trying to dial home to return the error message saying there is no LAN. If you edit the network setting directly in Windows you should be able to fix this.

Section C - Not Hanging Up: Yes, modems can be quite sticky. If you really want to make them hang up on eachother, pick up the phone and blow on it, or unplug the phone cord from the wall. Some modems keep power flowing to the line which keep the connection alive. Blowing introduces noise, which convinces the other modem to hang up, while disconnecting the line disconnects the power.

There is a very important lesson here -- Your ISP is not your software vendor. Use none of their proprietary tools, and never auto-update. Mature, stable, solid tools for creating and maintaining TCP / IP connections exist and are readily available, and integrated email / internet solutions can be built with a little creativity and without programming anything.

-C

Re:connections

[gaudior]

Your ISP is not your software vendor. Use none of their proprietary tools, and never auto-update.

MSN, like AOL, is not just an ISP. They are a content provider, and have many features which go beyond simply establishing a TCP/IP connection to the Internet. While many /.'ers find that amusing, or absurd, the fact is, most ordinary people actually like those additional features. The new MSN's child-safe stuff shows real promise, and the ability to share a browser session with someone else is downright cool.

I wouldn't want all that stuff, but I've got friends and relatives who do, and none of them are lame-brained idiots.

Re:connections

[Chris Canfield]

Most modems do maintain connections over spans of time when you knock the phone off of the hook. Your goal by introducing significant line noise (in a tone similar to the kind a modem generates) is to convince the ISP's modem to send out the "Too Noisy, hanging up now" tone, which happens after about 5 seconds. Sometimes this can be easier than unplugging the modem, especially if the computer and / or phone is in a hard-to-reach area.

Setting up a Manual Connection

[alatesystems]

When I worked for Best Buy and we sold this crap, I would just uninstall the software from the user's computer and make a manual connection through dial-up networking. Another poster mentioned this, but I'll tell you how to go about it.

Since MSN shares their access lines with other ISPs you have to specify which you are using by doing the following.

Use for the username: MSN/username
and then the password is the same
And of course, the access # you can get from the software itself or by going to msn.com and looking up access numbers in the search box.

So once again to recap:
Phone #(access #)
username: MSN/username
password: password

Chris
www.talkingtoad.com

Isn't Upgrading MS Products Always a Risk?

[TheWanderingHermit]

MSN presented him with an auto-upgrade, and he clicked OK, and the system has been virtually unusable ever since

And you expeccted something different from a Microsoft upgrade?

With all the things you mention, the one thing you never said you tried was calling tech support. Why not try that?

After all, it's an MSN problem. MSN should fix it. (But then again, they'll probably tell you that you should be running XP on a faster machine and it's time to upgrade.)

Re:XP

[gengee]

This long time Linux user is very fond of XP. It's very stable and packed-full with great features. I won't be running it on my servers anytime soon, but it makes a very nice desktop.

Ha-ha. Now you won't be able to use that "I have heard NOTHING good about XP" line ever again.

A good reason *not* to use internal modems

[0x0d0a]

I hate internal modems. You can't kill the power to 'em or get decent diagnostics on 'em easily. I've always purchased external modems, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Re:A good reason *not* to use internal modems

[0x0d0a]

If it's available and you want to spend the money. And you don't mind being at the mercy of a single monopoly that frequently likes port-blocking. :-)

Also-to-note:

[Hubert_Shrump]

Man, when we took MSN calls we HATED what BB used to do to people. No offence, but don't mention it to an MSN tech. They'll adjust your modem speed and give you a ticket number faster than you can spit.

If you build a manual connex, MSN isn't going to use it unless you specify you have "another ISP".

In the bad old days of MSN 6/7, you could repop it with CTRL-shift-F8, but I don't know if that works anymore...

Re:XP

[josepha48]

So is OS X and FreeBSD, and Linux.. they are all stable and packed 'full of features'. This doesn't make XP stand out against the rest.

You yourself said, "I won't be running it on my servers anytime soon", so why should anyone spend the 2-300 dollars on Xpensive XP????