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System Freezes duing Dial-Up
My entire computer systems freezes during dial-up connections. There is no pattern to this. It does not freeze everytime, but often enough to be a big pain...several times a week. I cannot predict when it will freeze. This has been a problem. The only thing I can do is turn off the computer with the power button and start over. I have consulted tech support close to 10 times about this problem. They talked me through a Windows file protection w/ system utility changes, something about msconfig, a disk check for corruptions, system restores, a dirty reinstall, and then wiped out the hard drive and a clean reinstall, all to no avail. Finally, this week, they had the hard drive replaced. (So now, twice I have had to reinstall EVERYTHING!) All seemed to work fine last night and today until after I ran Windows update throughout the night and today. Later the system froze during dial up (I won't mention the other strange stuff that happened, one battle at a time) When I called tech support, they suggested that I do a systems restore to yesterday. That restore made things worse overall, so I did a restore to this morning and finally was able to get back online. Experience tells me that it is not over with. Any suggestions as to what the problem might be and a solution? Is it a modem problem? Is it a hard drive problem? Is it an ISP problem (though in Oct., they could tell it wasn't from their end)? Is it a phone line problem (we have a dedicated line from the junction box to the computer)? There are no high speed service providers for my area so a switch to that is not an option (satellite is still too pricey for that yet). And I am experiencting the connection speeds of 26.4 like all the other postings on the forum...Is it possible to solve 2 problems (system freezing and slow connectivity) with one solution. I'd appreciate any help. Grad classes start back up soon.
Thanks for all input.
DELL-Stephen S
1.4K Posts
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January 2nd, 2004 19:00
walgred,
Thank you for visiting the Dell Community Forum.
I would usually attribute the type of freezing problem you described to a software issue but if you have reinstalled Windows twice and still have the same issue, it is probably not a software issue (unless there is something else being installed on the system that is causing the same conflict each time); also since the hard drive has been replaced, it is not likely to be a hard drive problem. This could be caused by several possibilities such as the modem itself being bad, a bad phone lines or another component could be failing (though this is not as common). One way to isolate if the phone lines are causing the issue is to move the system to another location and try to connect and see if you have the same issue, though this may not be the most convenient thing to try. Also to minimize the chance of wiring causing a problem, make sure that the modem is connected directly to phone wall socket with a short cord; recommended length is about 6 foot. If none of this helps isolate what is causing this, you may want to contact Support again and see about specifically trouble-shooting the modem itself.
rgilder
36 Posts
0
January 5th, 2004 09:00
This sounds like the problem I had. Dell had me reinstall and replace the modem and motherboard. Nothing worked. The system has been stable for the past two weeks. I suspect that the problem was a driver conflict between my Conexant Modem and the drivers that intercepted the scanner buttons. My Scanner, A Canoscan 5000F has three 4 buttons on the scaner itself that activate resident software to scan, copy directly to the printer, create a file, and attach to email. With that software removed, the system SEEMS to work fine. I can still scan, just not use those buttons.
I was getting a blue screen crash with a ...D1 code - which is ususally as in my case a driver problem.
Good Luck,
Bob
walgred
2 Posts
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January 5th, 2004 21:00
rgilder
36 Posts
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January 6th, 2004 21:00
I doubt that it is the phone line. I just had another crash a day after I re-installed Quicken 2000 and with my scanner buttons still disabled. Dell has a document that associates that program with modem problems so I have uninstalled Quicken. These things are very frustrating. If any program or hardware was added just before the problem began, that could be the source. I never suspected Quicken, but right now, that's my best guess.