It's Not Working

Members of the ISP-Tech list share the myriad reasons their customers have been unable to connect to dialup service for more than five minutes at a time—including the Microsoft Outlook hang up problem.

[October 18, 2001]

On the ISP-Tech list in October, ND queried,

"I've got a client who can't stay on for longer than five minutes at a time. I've triple-checked all the settings, and everything is fine. Any ideas?"

A number of respondents noted that a mail client or another program could be the culprit:

[AJ offered] "This might seem too simple, but does he have any other programs open when this happens, like his e-mail client? Have you checked those settings as well? They might be disconnecting him."

[JL agreed] "Have you checked to be sure his Outlook Express doesn't have the little box labeled 'hang up after sending and receiving' checked? It's the most common reason we've discovered for such problems."

[JT added] "As far as other programs running, I never believe the customer: I have them do a careful Ctrl+Alt+Delete, and read me the list."

Others suggested checking on the line clarity:

[BH asked] "What are his speeds like when he does get online? If they seem low, or if he has times when he cannot connect at all, have him call the repair center for his telco (usually 611) and have them do a line clarity test to see if he has excessive line noise. I have had several users who needed to have repairs done to their line because of this problem. If not, have him try a different jack in the house or a different phone line cable running from the computer to the wall jack, just to eliminate the possibility of a line problem."

[CS added] "You can eliminate the phone line and anything attached to it by taking another computer to that house (one that you know works from other locations—possibly your own) and try to connect. If it does, then you pretty much know it's within that computer."

Still others offered a full complement of additional suggestions:

[JH recalled] "We had a customer with a similar problem, and it turned out to be an answering machine connected to the same line. Have you had him unplug everything else from the line? I've heard of cheap caller ID boxes causing this, too."

[JT agreed] "I had the same problem with disconnects. I called the telco, and they charged me a service call to come into my office and check everything out. I had a fax machine plugged into my jack on the modem card. The tech unplugged it, and I never had another problem."

[CS noted] "I have had a faulty modem do this to me too; I replaced the modem, and it worked great. We've also had this happen if the computer has ever had AOL on it. By taking the AOL network properties out of the computer, it's helped to clear it of its problems. And we've also seen this problem clear up by uninstalling any unused network cards on the PC. It's weird, but it works."

—End