Dial-Up Networking Issue

[SheetsERR]

Hello!

I have a Pentium III 933 Mhz with 512 MB of RAM. I just re-installed Windows Me. I installed Norton SystemWorks 2004 and Anti-Spam thereafter. Other than that, there's not much on the PC yet.

Now, I'm having issues accessing Dial-Up Networking. Most of the time, when I double-click on my connection icon, nothing happens. The Connect window does appear, but the behavior is sporadic; it works about 25% of the time.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Sheetserr

 

[wolluf]

Did you try it before loading norton and anti-spam?

Any other problems - why did you reinstall ME? (wondering if you might have a hardware issue - often manifests as recurring problem that lead to reinstall to fix).

If you go into the modem properties, its got a diagnostic feature - have you run that?

 

[SheetsERR]

Hello!

Thank you for the response!

I did a reformat and reinstall, because the pc just started giving me fits one day. Started getting random freeze-ups, user32, IE and kernel.dll errors. It got to a point where I couldn't run an MS Office application without some sort of issue rearing its ugly head. Surfing the internet and running RealPlayer was particularly tough as well. This started happening after about four years of very solid, error-free use under the Windows Me platform.

I did run the Dial-Up Networking app successfully prior to loading the Norton products. Dial-Up Networking will run now, but I've got to jump through hoops. I've got to double-click on the icon several times, end a run32.dll task, close a Norton app or two.... It's a pain in the rump!

By the way, I did try out the modem diagnostics tool. My modem checked out OK.

This problem I'm having seems to point to some sort of system resource issue of sorts. I just don't know. Any other ideas?

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks again,
Sheetserr

 

[wolluf]

If the machine just started going wrong after 4 years stable, theis suggests either:-

Some piece of hardware has started dying
or
You installed/removed a piece of hardware/software just before the problem, that you've not mentioned.

If the latter is not the case, you need to troubleshoot the machine to find the errant hardware (disconnecting or replacing with known working equivalents for each connected hardware is a tried and tested method - bit of a pain if its the motherboard of course).

My only other suggestion is down to my aversion to most Norton products (apart from Ghost) - so many problems have a Norton root - particularly goback and anti-virus! Try reinstalling again, but don't install systemworks this time. You could install AVG free anti-virus (very good, and doesn't hog machine resources). See if any better - if not then I think its definitely hardware.

 

[SheetsERR]

Woluff,

I appreciate your thoughts on this topic! I think I nailed it; although, we'll see what happens two or three weeks down the road. I removed Norton Password Manager, a component of SystemWorks. I'm no longer having issues with Dial-Up Networking. Have to see how everything else holds up as I continue to re-install software.

Thanks again,
SheetsERR