Dial up networking on Windows XP Professional

U

User

I am trying to resolve an issue with a computer which currently has Windows XP
Professional installed, and has both a broadband connection and a dial up
connection set up for internet access. Normally, the broadband connection is
used, but when the broadband service is down, the intention is to use the dial
up internet service provider for temporary internet connection use. This
computer is connected through a regular Linksys router to the broadband
connection's network outlet.

The problem is that when the dial up connection successfully connects, for some
reason it is not possible to access the internet with it. Previously, in my
experience with a similar set up on Windows 98SE, I found that after the dial up
connection is established, I could use all web browsers installed on the system
to start browsing via dial up. After the dial up connection is terminated, the
web browsers would automatically revert to using the broadband connection.

In the case of this Win XP Pro computer, it seems that the system cannot find
the dial up connection for internet access after the DUN connects successfully.
Even more strangely, there is no problem using the DUN to send outgoing mail via
the dial up internet service provider's SMTP outgoing mail server, and this
proves that the connection is working. However, all internet browsing using all
the web browsers installed on this system under Win XP Pro fails, as if the
system was unable to get DNS for browsing.

Are there any specific settings or parameters in my networking settings that I
need to adjust so that it would be easy to flip back and forth between broadband
and dial up? I have even disabled the broadband connection and then connected
with dial up, but was still unable to web browse. Thanks for any help.
 
L

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]

In
User said:
I am trying to resolve an issue with a computer which currently has
Windows XP Professional installed, and has both a broadband
connection and a dial up connection set up for internet access.
Normally, the broadband connection is used, but when the broadband
service is down, the intention is to use the dial up internet service
provider for temporary internet connection use. This computer is
connected through a regular Linksys router to the broadband
connection's network outlet.
The problem is that when the dial up connection successfully
connects, for some reason it is not possible to access the internet
with it. Previously, in my experience with a similar set up on
Windows 98SE, I found that after the dial up connection is
established, I could use all web browsers installed on the system to
start browsing via dial up. After the dial up connection is
terminated, the web browsers would automatically revert to using the
broadband connection.
In the case of this Win XP Pro computer, it seems that the system
cannot find the dial up connection for internet access after the DUN
connects successfully. Even more strangely, there is no problem using
the DUN to send outgoing mail via the dial up internet service
provider's SMTP outgoing mail server, and this proves that the
connection is working. However, all internet browsing using all the
web browsers installed on this system under Win XP Pro fails, as if
the system was unable to get DNS for browsing.
Are there any specific settings or parameters in my networking
settings that I need to adjust so that it would be easy to flip back
and forth between broadband and dial up? I have even disabled the
broadband connection and then connected with dial up, but was still
unable to web browse. Thanks for any help.

When on dialup, do an ipconfig /all -
See whether you can ping the default gateway
See whether you can ping the DNS server(s) by IP
See whether you can ping www.google.com

Also - check your browser's connection settings, and make sure it isn't set
up to do *anything* other than use the network connection it already finds -
no proxy, no dialup.
 
U

User

Lanwench said:
In

When on dialup, do an ipconfig /all -
See whether you can ping the default gateway
See whether you can ping the DNS server(s) by IP
See whether you can ping www.google.com

Also - check your browser's connection settings, and make sure it isn't set
up to do *anything* other than use the network connection it already finds -
no proxy, no dialup.
Hello, thank you for your reply. None of the two browsers set up on this Win XP
Pro system, uses any proxy at all. Both use a direct internet connection for IE
and Mozilla browsers. I performed the 3 tests you suggested, and after DUN is
connected, I had no problems pinging the DEFAULT GATEWAY IP address and the DNS
SERVER IP address. However, pinging google.com failed, and I think whatever the
reason for that failure, is the reason why I cannot browse the WWW using any of
my browsers while DUN is connected. Any other suggestions for next step
diagnosis? Thanks for any help.
 
L

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]

In User <[email protected]> typed:

Hello, thank you for your reply. None of the two browsers set up on
this Win XP Pro system, uses any proxy at all. Both use a direct
internet connection for IE and Mozilla browsers. I performed the 3
tests you suggested, and after DUN is connected, I had no problems
pinging the DEFAULT GATEWAY IP address and the DNS SERVER IP address.
However, pinging google.com failed, and I think whatever the reason
for that failure, is the reason why I cannot browse the WWW using any
of my browsers while DUN is connected. Any other suggestions for next
step diagnosis? Thanks for any help.


DNS is the problem, yes. Try manually specifying a DNS server IP in your DUN
properties....try 4.2.2.2 as a test. If that works, call the ISP who hosts
the PPP server.

If changing the DNS server IP doesn't work, find & download WinSockFix (I
usually get it from majorgeeks.com) and run it.
 
U

User

Lanwench said:
In User <[email protected]> typed:




DNS is the problem, yes. Try manually specifying a DNS server IP in your DUN
properties....try 4.2.2.2 as a test. If that works, call the ISP who hosts
the PPP server.

If changing the DNS server IP doesn't work, find & download WinSockFix (I
usually get it from majorgeeks.com) and run it.

Hello, thanks for your reply. Actually, with this particular dial up provider,
the DNS servers ARE already manually specified, and the values are correct for
this ISP. I have already re-checked with their technical support. I have used
these DNS IP addresses for years and it was working fine until I moved from Win
98SE to Win XP Pro.
 
L

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]

In
User said:
Hello, thanks for your reply. Actually, with this particular dial up
provider, the DNS servers ARE already manually specified, and the
values are correct for this ISP. I have already re-checked with their
technical support. I have used these DNS IP addresses for years and
it was working fine until I moved from Win 98SE to Win XP Pro.

Well, clearly something isn't working fine now. Try changing it to the one I
suggested, to see if it helps....and either run ipconfig /flushdns or
reboot. If it doesn't work, try the winsockfix.
 
U

User

Lanwench said:
In

Well, clearly something isn't working fine now. Try changing it to the one I
suggested, to see if it helps....and either run ipconfig /flushdns or
reboot. If it doesn't work, try the winsockfix.

Hello, thank you for your reply. I will try your various suggestions shortly.
Can you tell me what server is 4.2.2.2 pointing to?
 
L

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]

User wrote:
Hello, thank you for your reply. I will try your various suggestions
shortly. Can you tell me what server is 4.2.2.2 pointing to?

Sorry; I'd have to kill you.

Of course, you could ping it using -a to get the reverse DNS info :)
 
U

User

Lanwench said:
User wrote:


Sorry; I'd have to kill you.

Of course, you could ping it using -a to get the reverse DNS info :)

Actually, I don't use these commands often, so I'm learning all the various
functions as I go along, and how they can be used to diagnose my problem. I'll
try your tests shortly. Thanks.
 

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