Dimension 4700 Hangs when connecting to the Internet

Question

I have a Dimension 4700 connecting to the internet using broadband. What happens is intermittently my machine will hang after connecting. It can hang for a couple of seconds, or up to 30 minutes. By that time I have turned off the power and rebooted. I have checked for viruses, spyware, and all appears to be clean.I am running Zone alarm firewall as well.  I originally though it could be windows update, but even turning that off does not help. My Isp has checked their side, and my modem, cables etc have been replaced. I have tried a different USB port as well. No change. Any ideas to try and sort this out would be appreciated, as some days it can take me nearly an hour to connect decently. Thanks.

volcano11 · Answer

Try disabling Zone Alarm and just use the Windows XP built in firewall and see if the problem goes away.  If it does, you know where to look to solve the problem permantently. Steve

tjshep · Answer

I have tried with a 'clean' system. no firewall running, no windows update, no virus scanning, and I still have the same problem. If I am able to shutdown the link, which is rare that I can, all programs such as Internet explorer, Outlook express then start up.

volcano11 · Answer

Does your broadband modem have the option to connect with ethernet?  If so,  does the same problem occur when you connect by etherent?   Steve

tjshep · Answer

No, I cannot connect using ethernet.

volcano11 · Answer

Please clarify your answer.  Does this mean that you do not have an ethernet port on the modem or that when you plug the computer into the ethernet port on your modem you still cannot connect? Steve

tjshep · Answer

Hi Steve,   I do not have an ethernet port on my modem.

volcano11 · Answer

Try unistalling the software for the USB connection, unplugging the cable to the modem, rebooting, then reinstalling the software and then reconnecting the modem. Steve

tjshep · Answer

Hi, I have already done that, but I have changed ports since, so maybe an idea to do that once again. I will give that a try this evening.

tjshep · Answer

I have re-installed everything and it still intermittently hangs on connection. On Friday, 5 attempts to connect, Saturday 3 attempts to connect. Sunday, connected first time. Today, Monday, first time.

volcano11 · Answer

Do you have another computer that you can temporarily connect to the modem to eliminate the modem as being the problem? Steve

tjshep · Answer

Hi Steve / All,   I have tried the modem on another machine and the modem is fine. I am also getting this problem using the 56k internal modem.   Regards,   Tim

volcano11 · Answer

Try rebuilding the winsock stack as follows:

Click the Start button, and then click Run.
The Run window appears.
Type cmd in the Run window, and then press the key or click OK.
The command DOS box appears.
At the prompt, type netsh winsock reset, and then press the key.
The message Successfully reset the Winsock Catalog appears.
Close the command window and reboot the system.

Steve

tjshep · Answer

Hi Steve,   Thanks for the info, unfortunately this did not work. It froze immediately once I had rebooted and reconnected. I had to turn off the machine and try again. The second time, I was just about to turn the machine off and then everything started running. I notice from some of the other topics, at least 4 other people are having this exact problem. Maybe it is a hardware error somewhere in the machine. I can find no reference to this problem on the Microsoft site. This is getting to be very irritating as I can take nearly an hour to get a workable connection the internet. The average is 3 reboots to be able to connect.   Today I have gone on to the net 4 times.   First time - 5 reboots. Second time - 3 reboots. Third time - Connected first time. Fourth time - 3 reboots.   And 1 reboot for the current connection.     Thanks,   Regards,   Tim

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Dimension 4700 Hangs when connecting to the Internet

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