XP needs hard booted to reset Modem

[Hunter97321]

I have a customer with Windows XP Home edition installed. He uses AOL and dial-up with a PCI v92 56k Intel Modem chipset Modem. When he first connects to AOL (after starting his computer) everything works normally. If he disconnects from AOL then tries to get back on later the modem doesn't connect. The computer needs to be hard booted before it will connect. Any ideas?

 

[micker377]

Has it always been this way, or did it just start?

 

[Hunter97321]

I don't know if it was like that originally or not. Customer can't recall either.

 

[micker377]

Re-install the modem drivers. One of the drivers tells the system to start the modem, it may be corrupted. Can you try a different modem?

 

[kjv1611]

It's worth checking for any viruses/spyware. Make sure the customer has adequate protection. For instance, some sort of antivirus, and at least 1-2 free anti-spyware programs as a minimum. A couple worth suggesting are these:

Antivirus - buy Norton, or get AVG Antivirus Free Edition from

http://www.grisoft.com

Spyware:
Ad-Aware SE Personal - download from

http://www.download.com

or

http://www.majorgeeks.com

Spywareblaster - download from same as Ad-Aware
"Spybot Search and Destroy" - download from same..

Registry cleaner program(s)
I suggest RegScrubXP if the user has Windows 2000 or above. - you can download this from same location as Ad-aware

Info on the app's listed above:
AVG antivirus protects (seemingly) as well as antivurses you would pay for, just doesn't have quite as many bells and whistles.
Ad-Aware scans your computer for existing spyware/adware files
Spywareblaster protects your computer against future installations of spyware/adware
Spybot Search and Destroy scans and protects, and it actually recommends you use it along with Spywareblaster, b/c it states that spywareblaster protects against some things better (if you have spywareblaster installed, but not enabled yet)

If you have updated the drivers in the past, then it sounds more of a type of problem caused by bad registry entries, or more than likely, spyware/virus activity. Just a hunch. Especially if the person does a lot of online gaming and such, and even more especially if they don't know a lot about computers and such.

Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

 

[Hunter97321]

Reinstalled the modem driver. Tested here and seemed to be ok. Returned to customer to see if that fixes his problem.

The machine has Norton A/V + Ad-Aware + I have bookmarked Panda Activescan and Trend Housecall and he says that all report the system to be clean.

If the customer reports back with the same issue then I will look more into registry issues. The only online gaming that he does is Yahoo Pinnochle. Doesn't seem too high risk to me. He does chat with AOL and Yahoo Messenger but, I don't think he's swapping files with people as he probably couldn't figure out how to do it.


Thanks for the advice! This is the best tech site that I've found to date.

 

[kjv1611]

I definitely agree with your last statement:

This is the best tech site that I've found to date.

I have found many answers for myself and others, as well as been able to help others here with problems I've already been through. Especially since nobody knows everything, we all need some help in some areas, and what better way than to ask others who have the same interests/responsibilities.


Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

 

[ceh4702]

You can get problems when there is bad line quality or the connection on the outside of the house is dirty or slightly corroded. I have gone outside and just jiggled the plug back and forth to clean it. Then the line would disconnect properly. But in my case, it was acutally the phone line not wanting to disconnect.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.