PC says I'm connected, but in reality, I'm not

[Guest]

Over the past several weeks I began having a very annoying connection
problem. The little monitors in the task bar say I'm connected, but I cannot
send or receive e-mail, open a web page, and my yahoo and msn messengers go
off-line. I have to manually disconnect and then reconnect to get back
on-line.

Some days I can stay connected for hours at a time, but that is the
exception rather than the rule. Most days I am disconnected every 10 minutes
or less. It makes it very difficult to get anything done on-line when you
keep losing your connection, but don't realize it until you notice your page
is not loading, etc.

I do know it is not my modem. A repairman checked that, and it's working
just fine. I also had a line test done, and that was clear. I've also
checked it myself and found it clear. My computer has a private phone line
(dial-up) and that line is used for nothing else. I only have one computer,
so the problem is not being caused by home networking. My ISP allows
unlimited access. My connection is set up that when the connection is lost,
to automatically dial up again to connect. But it needs to know it's
disconnected first. It is sending data, but not able to receive data. And I
have also made sure that I am never to disconnect when idle for any amount of
time. I have reported the problem to my ISP and they have told me there is
nothing they can do to help me because the problem is with my computer.

Any suggestions?

 

[Andrew]

Over the past several weeks I began having a very annoying connection
problem. The little monitors in the task bar say I'm connected, but I
cannot
send or receive e-mail, open a web page, and my yahoo and msn messengers
go
off-line. I have to manually disconnect and then reconnect to get back
on-line.

Some days I can stay connected for hours at a time, but that is the
exception rather than the rule. Most days I am disconnected every 10
minutes
or less. It makes it very difficult to get anything done on-line when you
keep losing your connection, but don't realize it until you notice your
page
is not loading, etc.

I do know it is not my modem. A repairman checked that, and it's working
just fine. I also had a line test done, and that was clear. I've also
checked it myself and found it clear. My computer has a private phone
line
(dial-up) and that line is used for nothing else. I only have one
computer,
so the problem is not being caused by home networking. My ISP allows
unlimited access. My connection is set up that when the connection is
lost,
to automatically dial up again to connect. But it needs to know it's
disconnected first. It is sending data, but not able to receive data.
And I
have also made sure that I am never to disconnect when idle for any amount
of
time. I have reported the problem to my ISP and they have told me there
is
nothing they can do to help me because the problem is with my computer.

Any suggestions?

This could be a BIOS problem; if you have a VIA chipset based motherboard .
The modem needs to be able to access the PCI bus but another device is
hogging it so the mdoem disconnects. Enter the BIOS and look through the
options (particularly PCI / PNP Settings) until you find Delayed PCI
Transaction - change this to enabled, if there is a PCI Latency Timer then
reduce this to 16 (if possible).

Andy

 

[Malke]

Over the past several weeks I began having a very annoying connection
problem. The little monitors in the task bar say I'm connected, but I
cannot send or receive e-mail, open a web page, and my yahoo and msn
messengers go
off-line. I have to manually disconnect and then reconnect to get
back on-line.

Some days I can stay connected for hours at a time, but that is the
exception rather than the rule. Most days I am disconnected every 10
minutes
or less. It makes it very difficult to get anything done on-line when
you keep losing your connection, but don't realize it until you notice
your page is not loading, etc.

I do know it is not my modem. A repairman checked that, and it's
working
just fine. I also had a line test done, and that was clear. I've
also
checked it myself and found it clear. My computer has a private phone
line
(dial-up) and that line is used for nothing else. I only have one
computer,
so the problem is not being caused by home networking. My ISP allows
unlimited access. My connection is set up that when the connection is
lost,
to automatically dial up again to connect. But it needs to know it's
disconnected first. It is sending data, but not able to receive data.
And I have also made sure that I am never to disconnect when idle for
any amount of
time. I have reported the problem to my ISP and they have told me
there is nothing they can do to help me because the problem is with my
computer.

Any suggestions?

What is the virus/malware status of the computer? If you think it is
clean, what did you do to determine that? Be sure:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Malke

 

[Plato]

Have you run updated anti-virus/anti-spywar apps in safe mode?

 

[Guest]

When this problem first became I ran my anti-virus program, then went to PC
Pitstop and had them check for viruses, and also went to Trend Micro's
Housecall. No virus was found after the 3 checkups.

Next I ran Spybot Search and Destroy, and Adaware, Yahoo anti-spyware.
Removed all spyware and malware (there were very few minor ones).

The problem persists.

 

[MCR]

When this problem first became I ran my anti-virus program, then went to PC
Pitstop and had them check for viruses, and also went to Trend Micro's
Housecall. No virus was found after the 3 checkups.

Next I ran Spybot Search and Destroy, and Adaware, Yahoo anti-spyware.
Removed all spyware and malware (there were very few minor ones).

The problem persists.

Try TCP/IP fix from www.snapfiles.com

http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/XP_TCP-IP_Repair/xptcpiprepair.html

It could be you had malware, and in cleaning it, it left your system
corrupted. I have used this freeware tool to repair friends infected
systems after cleaning their system will AVG, Spybot and Adaware.

Hope this helps

 

[Rock]

Over the past several weeks I began having a very annoying connection
problem. The little monitors in the task bar say I'm connected, but I cannot
send or receive e-mail, open a web page, and my yahoo and msn messengers go
off-line. I have to manually disconnect and then reconnect to get back
on-line.

Some days I can stay connected for hours at a time, but that is the
exception rather than the rule. Most days I am disconnected every 10 minutes
or less. It makes it very difficult to get anything done on-line when you
keep losing your connection, but don't realize it until you notice your page
is not loading, etc.

I do know it is not my modem. A repairman checked that, and it's working
just fine. I also had a line test done, and that was clear. I've also
checked it myself and found it clear. My computer has a private phone line
(dial-up) and that line is used for nothing else. I only have one computer,
so the problem is not being caused by home networking. My ISP allows
unlimited access. My connection is set up that when the connection is lost,
to automatically dial up again to connect. But it needs to know it's
disconnected first. It is sending data, but not able to receive data. And I
have also made sure that I am never to disconnect when idle for any amount of
time. I have reported the problem to my ISP and they have told me there is
nothing they can do to help me because the problem is with my computer.

Any suggestions?

To repair Winsock if you have Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed,
type netsh winsock reset at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

If not SP2, see this link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259/#XSLTH4156121123120121120120

 

[Shelly F]

To repair Winsock if you have Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed,
type netsh winsock reset at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

If not SP2, see this link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259/#XSLTH4156121123120121120120

I came to this thread late, this might have been commented on
already:
If y'all are sending to ISP ok, then SMTP setup is okay, and y'all are
in fact connected to the ISP.
Double check the POP (receive) setup account, including the exact
e-mail address spelling.
If the ISP has web mail, see if y'all can receive mail in that
fashion.
hth

 

[Guest]

Hello Malke,

I did a complete virus scan using Avast, I also went to Housecall and ran
their program, and PC Pitstop and ran their program, all came up clean for
viruses.

I have Spybot Search & Destroy, and Adaware, and I ran both of them, and
cleaned up the few files they said were questionable.

 

[Guest]

Hello Andy,

I might be willing to try this if I could get into BIOS. I know I need to
hit either F8 or F10, but not sure which. And also a bit nervous about
making a mistake in this area and really messing things up. Could you be a
little more explicit in your instruction, and I will at least check into it
and see if the information listed in my BIOS is wrong, as you suspect.

 

[Guest]

Hello MCR,

I downloaded and ran your little program, but it did not solve the problem.
Sorry. I was really hoping that would do it.

 

[Guest]

Hello Rock,

I did as you suggested, but it did not solve the problem.
Thank you for helping just the same.

 

[Guest]

Hello Shelly,

Yes, according to the computer I am connected, it's just that nothing is
happening. It won't send or receive e-mail. It won't open a web page, and
the instant messenger programs go off-line without me turning them off. In
other words, the signal, or whatever it is, is too low to be detected by any
of those programs, but the modem knows it's still connected, however slightly.

My pop mail program is set up fine. When the connection is strong I am able
to get and send e-mail. Just not when it's acting up. I want to find out
what is causing it to act up, and stop that from happening any longer.

Thank you for responding.