Dial up connected but not

[BoB Brazie]

My father (long distance call) called to tell me he can not retrieve\send
e-mail. It's his primary use of a computer.

The symptoms that he describes indicate that he is not connected to his ISP
dial up account.

However he says the little modem lights in the system tray are there and
indicate he is connected at a certain speed.

He has only one phone line for voice and internet. He said that even though
the lights indicate he is connected he can receive and make phone calls.
This should not be the case.

I don't know what has changed on his system as I live several hundred mails
away and am trying to either convince him to move closer or trouble shoot
his on the phone.

He is running XP home with only SP1 installed.

Any ideas?

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Ask him to go to a command prompt and type

ipconfig /all <enter>

Presuming he has a valid IP address on his dialup connection, try having him
ping his router/default gateway - then try pinging his DNS server(s).

Not sure why the fact that he called you long-distance is relevant to anyone
but him, and his phone bill

 

[BoB Brazie]

I will try that but first I have to explain to him what command prompt is.
That might take awhile.

Have you ever heard of the modem lights in the system try being active even
though the connection is not there in XP?

The distance IS what makes this so hard. <g>

Thanks.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

 

[Guest]

I'm no expert, but did you have him click right on his icon and disconnect,
then reboot?
maybe his connection was interrupted during log-in
Sometimes when I try to stop a dial-up connection attempt in progress, it
ties up my modem, then it says that it is in use when it's not, and the only
way to free-up the modem for a new connection is to reboot.
mine has never shown a live connection when there wasn't one, though
good luck

I will try that but first I have to explain to him what command prompt is.
That might take awhile.

Have you ever heard of the modem lights in the system try being active even
though the connection is not there in XP?

The distance IS what makes this so hard. <g>

Thanks.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

Ask him to go to a command prompt and type

ipconfig /all <enter>

Presuming he has a valid IP address on his dialup connection, try having him
ping his router/default gateway - then try pinging his DNS server(s).

Not sure why the fact that he called you long-distance is relevant to anyone
but him, and his phone bill

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I will try that but first I have to explain to him what command
prompt is. That might take awhile.

Easy -

Start, run.
Type "cmd", no quotes.
Press Enter.

Etc.

Have you ever heard of the modem lights in the system try being
active even though the connection is not there in XP?

The distance IS what makes this so hard. <g>

Oh, yes, I got that -

Thanks.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

Ask him to go to a command prompt and type

ipconfig /all <enter>

Presuming he has a valid IP address on his dialup connection, try
having him ping his router/default gateway - then try pinging his
DNS server(s).

Not sure why the fact that he called you long-distance is relevant
to anyone but him, and his phone bill