Modem not cutting off?????????

I am having trouble with my modem not disconnecting from the internet
when I close Explorer or MSN. It does not do it all the time, but it
does it regularly. When I try to cut it off from the control panel it
may or may not cut off. When it does not cut off the only way I can
get control of the phone line is to cut the computer off. If I do
that and the computer is still connected I get a blue screen with the
message c000021a Fatal System Error. I then have to cut the computer
off and then cut it back on.

Can someone tell me what I need to do to fix this? I tried to go to
Google groups Comp.Modems but can not post there.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Windows XP 512 mb.........

Randy wrote:
> I am having trouble with my modem not disconnecting from the internet
> when I close Explorer or MSN. It does not do it all the time, but it
> does it regularly. When I try to cut it off from the control panel it
> may or may not cut off. When it does not cut off the only way I can
> get control of the phone line is to cut the computer off. If I do
> that and the computer is still connected I get a blue screen with the
> message c000021a Fatal System Error. I then have to cut the computer
> off and then cut it back on.
>
> Can someone tell me what I need to do to fix this? I tried to go to
> Google groups Comp.Modems but can not post there.
>
> Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> Windows XP 512 mb.........
>

I take it, when you attempt to disconnect the dialup session, you
are clicking "disconnect" here ? This is the dialog you get, after
clicking the "double computer" icon in the taskbar, for the current
dialup session.

http://www.sfsu.edu/~helpdesk/pics/...tion_status.gif

I didn't really think the disconnect command could be ignored. It
should not be like the way some other devices in the computer
behave. For example, on a disk drive, if a file is "busy", that
prevents the disk from being dismounted. But for networking, I've
never noticed any relationship between what you're doing, with
network connections, and the physical layer. For example, I could
be in the middle of a download, my link going full blast, and
on my ADSL, not have a problem disconnecting and killing the
download before it finishes. So I'm really surprised you are
having a problem like that.

One thing that comes to mind, would be a virus or trojan. Do you
have antivirus software, and are your definitions up to date ?

Killing the power to the computer, is a pretty extreme way to
stop the session. You could try unplugging the phone line that
leads to the dialup modem. The protocol the modem uses, should be
sensitive to the loss of the line, and the computer end should
terminate what it was doing, once the phone line is missing.
That will be easier on the computer, than corrupting it by
killing the power.

This web page describes how to enable PPP logging to a text file.
This will record the control aspects of the Point To Point Protocol.
I doubt this record will be able to determine that the "disconnect"
button was clicked, but maybe you can see an error message placed
in the log file, around the time that you tried to disconnect.

http://www.modemsite.com/56k/ppp.asp

*******
Windows 2000 and XP:
Win2k Pro and all versions of XP require using a command prompt to enable
logging. Open a command prompt with Start->Run and type in cmd

From the command prompt, type:

netsh
ras
set tracing PPP enable
exit

After you enable logging, all PPP activity is logged to a file named ppp.log
in the folder Tracing located in the Windows folder. [Open the file with
Notepad to read it...]

To disable PPP logging, use the command sequence above, except replace enable
with disable.
*******

There is an example of what a cmd window looks like here - a black window
with a command prompt, ready for text entry. That is where you'd type the
netsh command and the other commands that follow.

http://www.myplc.com/sony/images/i6comp_cmd_window.gif

Your problem is a bit of a switch, because most people have trouble making
a connection, and no trouble at all breaking a connection :-)

Paul

Paul wrote:
> Randy wrote:
>> I am having trouble with my modem not disconnecting from the internet
>> when I close Explorer or MSN. It does not do it all the time, but it
>> does it regularly. When I try to cut it off from the control panel it
>> may or may not cut off. When it does not cut off the only way I can
>> get control of the phone line is to cut the computer off. If I do
>> that and the computer is still connected I get a blue screen with the
>> message c000021a Fatal System Error. I then have to cut the computer
>> off and then cut it back on.
>>
>> Can someone tell me what I need to do to fix this? I tried to go to
>> Google groups Comp.Modems but can not post there.
>>
>> Any help would be much appreciated.
>>
>> Windows XP 512 mb.........
>>
>

Something I forgot to mention, is that the ppp.log file will likely
contain your dialup userid and password, so if you decide to copy
parts of that file in a future posting, remember to delete the
userid and password information before posting the text.

Paul

"Randy" wrote:
>I am having trouble with my modem not disconnecting from the internet
> when I close Explorer or MSN. It does not do it all the time, but it
> does it regularly. When I try to cut it off from the control panel it
> may or may not cut off. When it does not cut off the only way I can
> get control of the phone line is to cut the computer off. If I do
> that and the computer is still connected I get a blue screen with the
> message c000021a Fatal System Error. I then have to cut the computer
> off and then cut it back on.
>
> Can someone tell me what I need to do to fix this? I tried to go to
> Google groups Comp.Modems but can not post there.
>
> Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> Windows XP 512 mb.........

It could be that another application is using the modem, phoning home,
getting AV updates, et cetera. I would look to see if the connectivity
icon in the taskbar is showing activity.

Jon