Not able to connect to internet - Vista/C521

Just purchased a C521 with Vista. 

 

I use AOL 9.0 VR.  Here's the steps I use to connect to the Internet:

 

1. I click on "Connect to the Internet"

 

2.  "Do you want to use a connection that you already have?"  I click "No" to set up the first connection.

 

3.  "How do you want to connect?"  I choose dial-up.

 

4.  "Type the information from your ISP".  I enter the phone number used to connect to the AOL server; my AOL user ID; and my AOL password.  I click "Connect"

 

5.  "Error 691 - invalid user ID or password".

 

I tried this several times to no avail.  YET....when I attempt to connect by using the AOL software - - no problem! 

 

But it seems that I need to be able to connect using the Vista program because there are certain software features that automatically attempt to connect using Vista's internet connection software.  For example, I purchased the TV tuner and going through the setup it attempts to download the "guide", which it is not able to do since it can't successfully connect to the internet.

 

Very frustating but I'm sure someone has experienced it before and has an answer.

 

Sidenote - when I access the Internet Properties window, then Dial-Up Settings, I notice the password is, like, 16 characters long even though it's actually only 7.  When I change it to the 7-character password and click "OK", it still reverts back to the 16 black dots.

 

Thanks.