Invalid Account - OE6 - W98- Fresh Installation

A friend gave me a used Compaq DeskPro. I formatted the
harddrive and rebuilt it for my mother. The machine has a
very basic Windows 98SE OS with Office2000 and
IE6/Outlook Express 6. The only "additional" software is
a current version of Norton AntiVirus and Quicken2000.

I took the machine to her this past summer and configured
it to get her email from her existing account (a small
local ISP).

So I know that the hardware/software was all working. The
service of this local ISP was dismal, so we set her up
with a new account Earthlink a few months later.

Although my mother is your typical end user, I knew I
could walk her through the simple steps of setting up the
new account... Well, I have been working on it for over a
month and it still doesn't work. Keep in mind I am doing
this from 1200 miles away over the phone - and she only
has one phone line.

I discussed with a friend and he thought he recalled a
similar discussion in the Knowledge base but I couldn't
track it down.

Here it is in a nut shell:

New Earthlink Account.

I can access the account through the internet from my PC.
So account is functioning propperly.

I can dial up the local dialup number my mother is using
and access the account through Outlook Express 6 on my
machine.

From her machine, she launches OE6, the dialup connection
box appears, her account name is shown, she types in
password, the modem detects dialtone, dials, handshakes,
then says it is confirming account information, then says
account or password invalid and severes the connection.

I cannot confirm that she is typing everything correctly,
but I have had her completely delete the account and
start over from scratch countless times; I have faxed her
the exact text to type in; I have had her read back to me
all entries character by character.... to the point I am
confident the information going in is correct.

I have had her search for *.pwl password files - none
found.

Incidentally, her machine has also been suffering from
the "password not saved" problem. I have found the
articles discussing the registry hack to fix that. Is
there a similar registry setting that could be causing my
problems?

Sorry for the long intro, but I wanted to have as much
detail out as possible.

Thanks in advance.

this indicates she is not typing something right:
> then says it is confirming account information, then says
> account or password invalid and severes the connection.

the kb articles for password problems apply to OE as well- but when you
delete the registry entry, it deletes all of your stored passwords. That
might not be a good idea at this point...

Is she typing her username or the full email address as the username? I only
access my EarthLink count on the web interface so I'm not sure how it'
supposed to be in a client.
Can you change the password so it's one simple enough that you know it's not
a mistyped password? No 1, I or l in it... O and 0 are bad too.


--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Outlook Tips: http://www.outlook-tips.net/

http://www.poremsky.com - http://www.cdolive.com
Expert Zone http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

Search for answers: http://groups.google.com
Most recent posts to the Outlook newsgroups:
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_...utlook.*&num=30


"dchendrickson" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0bbb01c39cd7$21e0d3f0$a001280a@phx.gbl...
> A friend gave me a used Compaq DeskPro. I formatted the
> harddrive and rebuilt it for my mother. The machine has a
> very basic Windows 98SE OS with Office2000 and
> IE6/Outlook Express 6. The only "additional" software is
> a current version of Norton AntiVirus and Quicken2000.
>
> I took the machine to her this past summer and configured
> it to get her email from her existing account (a small
> local ISP).
>
> So I know that the hardware/software was all working. The
> service of this local ISP was dismal, so we set her up
> with a new account Earthlink a few months later.
>
> Although my mother is your typical end user, I knew I
> could walk her through the simple steps of setting up the
> new account... Well, I have been working on it for over a
> month and it still doesn't work. Keep in mind I am doing
> this from 1200 miles away over the phone - and she only
> has one phone line.
>
> I discussed with a friend and he thought he recalled a
> similar discussion in the Knowledge base but I couldn't
> track it down.
>
> Here it is in a nut shell:
>
> New Earthlink Account.
>
> I can access the account through the internet from my PC.
> So account is functioning propperly.
>
> I can dial up the local dialup number my mother is using
> and access the account through Outlook Express 6 on my
> machine.
>
> From her machine, she launches OE6, the dialup connection
> box appears, her account name is shown, she types in
> password, the modem detects dialtone, dials, handshakes,
> then says it is confirming account information, then says
> account or password invalid and severes the connection.
>
> I cannot confirm that she is typing everything correctly,
> but I have had her completely delete the account and
> start over from scratch countless times; I have faxed her
> the exact text to type in; I have had her read back to me
> all entries character by character.... to the point I am
> confident the information going in is correct.
>
> I have had her search for *.pwl password files - none
> found.
>
> Incidentally, her machine has also been suffering from
> the "password not saved" problem. I have found the
> articles discussing the registry hack to fix that. Is
> there a similar registry setting that could be causing my
> problems?
>
> Sorry for the long intro, but I wanted to have as much
> detail out as possible.
>
> Thanks in advance.

She doesn't have other saved passwords on her system, so
that should not be a problem.

The password she is currently using is very simple.

I have faxed to her a sheet with the exact text I type in
to access her account via dialup to the dailup number she
uses in her state. I have confirmed that it is not
something simple like "caps lock". We have even typed the
password into a blank document so that she can see the
text, then copied and pasted.

Believe me, my first assumption was mistyped info as
well. But I have been through it so many times from
scratch I now suspect otherwise.

I will try the registry edit for the password, but I'll
ask again if there are any other registry edits I should
try that may be causing my ills.

Thanks.

-dc

p.s. Sorry for misposting here - I realized too late that
the OE postings belonged under the IE section...
>-----Original Message-----
>this indicates she is not typing something right:
>> then says it is confirming account information, then
says
>> account or password invalid and severes the connection.
>
>the kb articles for password problems apply to OE as
well- but when you
>delete the registry entry, it deletes all of your stored
passwords. That
>might not be a good idea at this point...
>
>Is she typing her username or the full email address as
the username? I only
>access my EarthLink count on the web interface so I'm
not sure how it'
>supposed to be in a client.
>Can you change the password so it's one simple enough
that you know it's not
>a mistyped password? No 1, I or l in it... O and 0 are
bad too.
>
>
>--
>Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
>Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
>Outlook Tips: http://www.outlook-tips.net/
>
>http://www.poremsky.com - http://www.cdolive.com
>Expert Zone http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>
>Search for answers: http://groups.google.com
>Most recent posts to the Outlook newsgroups:
>http://groups.google.com/groups?
as_ugroup=microsoft.public.outlook.*&num=30
>
>
>"dchendrickson" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote in message
>news:0bbb01c39cd7$21e0d3f0$a001280a@phx.gbl...
>> A friend gave me a used Compaq DeskPro. I formatted the
>> harddrive and rebuilt it for my mother. The machine
has a
>> very basic Windows 98SE OS with Office2000 and
>> IE6/Outlook Express 6. The only "additional" software
is
>> a current version of Norton AntiVirus and Quicken2000.
>>
>> I took the machine to her this past summer and
configured
>> it to get her email from her existing account (a small
>> local ISP).
>>
>> So I know that the hardware/software was all working.
The
>> service of this local ISP was dismal, so we set her up
>> with a new account Earthlink a few months later.
>>
>> Although my mother is your typical end user, I knew I
>> could walk her through the simple steps of setting up
the
>> new account... Well, I have been working on it for
over a
>> month and it still doesn't work. Keep in mind I am
doing
>> this from 1200 miles away over the phone - and she only
>> has one phone line.
>>
>> I discussed with a friend and he thought he recalled a
>> similar discussion in the Knowledge base but I couldn't
>> track it down.
>>
>> Here it is in a nut shell:
>>
>> New Earthlink Account.
>>
>> I can access the account through the internet from my
PC.
>> So account is functioning propperly.
>>
>> I can dial up the local dialup number my mother is
using
>> and access the account through Outlook Express 6 on my
>> machine.
>>
>> From her machine, she launches OE6, the dialup
connection
>> box appears, her account name is shown, she types in
>> password, the modem detects dialtone, dials,
handshakes,
>> then says it is confirming account information, then
says
>> account or password invalid and severes the connection.
>>
>> I cannot confirm that she is typing everything
correctly,
>> but I have had her completely delete the account and
>> start over from scratch countless times; I have faxed
her
>> the exact text to type in; I have had her read back to
me
>> all entries character by character.... to the point I
am
>> confident the information going in is correct.
>>
>> I have had her search for *.pwl password files - none
>> found.
>>
>> Incidentally, her machine has also been suffering from
>> the "password not saved" problem. I have found the
>> articles discussing the registry hack to fix that. Is
>> there a similar registry setting that could be causing
my
>> problems?
>>
>> Sorry for the long intro, but I wanted to have as much
>> detail out as possible.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>.
>