UNSOLVED
No Interner Connection
I posted this message as of last Thursday, the 26th and received no responses. I'm going to try again. I need help.
I have a brand new Inspiron 8600 Laptop with a BCM V.92 56k modem and it won't connect to the internet through my ISP which is AT&T. I get an error message "678" - loosely defined as "No Connection". It dials fine and makes all sorts of noises and eventually disconnects and tries the backup number with the same results. I downloaded the newest AT&T software on my regular home computer and ported it over to the laptop. It took several tries after installing it for it to get through to AT&T and complete the account registration process on a new computer. At the beginning of the whole process, I was able to download Dell's list of ISP providers. AT&T is our ISP for two other computers in our house and runs as fine as dial-up is going to in a rural area. Our connect speed is between 19.2 and 24 kbps on a good day. I've been all over Dell's and AT&T's help pages but to no avail. I've reduced the "Max Port Speed" to 57600 and tried such recommended strings as "AT+MS=V90" to no avail. Quite frustrating. The modem driver is version 3.5.25.0, dated August '03 and my operating system is XP Home Edition. Any help would be most appreciated. In addition, I have completed the Hyper Terminal and Networking checks on the Forum and Technical Support pages and still No Connection.
An Update as of Aug 31st. I have been in touch with Tech Support with a person I could hardly understand and he quickly came to the conclusion that the computer was broken. His attempt to fix the problem over the phone was negligible. However, today, I took the computer to a friends house in town with a 28.8 kbps connect speed and it connected immediately. So the modem is probably OK, but if it can't connect at a lower speed the computer is no good to me. Please help!!
I have a brand new Inspiron 8600 Laptop with a BCM V.92 56k modem and it won't connect to the internet through my ISP which is AT&T. I get an error message "678" - loosely defined as "No Connection". It dials fine and makes all sorts of noises and eventually disconnects and tries the backup number with the same results. I downloaded the newest AT&T software on my regular home computer and ported it over to the laptop. It took several tries after installing it for it to get through to AT&T and complete the account registration process on a new computer. At the beginning of the whole process, I was able to download Dell's list of ISP providers. AT&T is our ISP for two other computers in our house and runs as fine as dial-up is going to in a rural area. Our connect speed is between 19.2 and 24 kbps on a good day. I've been all over Dell's and AT&T's help pages but to no avail. I've reduced the "Max Port Speed" to 57600 and tried such recommended strings as "AT+MS=V90" to no avail. Quite frustrating. The modem driver is version 3.5.25.0, dated August '03 and my operating system is XP Home Edition. Any help would be most appreciated. In addition, I have completed the Hyper Terminal and Networking checks on the Forum and Technical Support pages and still No Connection.
An Update as of Aug 31st. I have been in touch with Tech Support with a person I could hardly understand and he quickly came to the conclusion that the computer was broken. His attempt to fix the problem over the phone was negligible. However, today, I took the computer to a friends house in town with a 28.8 kbps connect speed and it connected immediately. So the modem is probably OK, but if it can't connect at a lower speed the computer is no good to me. Please help!!
johnallg
2 Intern
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7280 Posts
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Posted August 31st, 2004 23:00
Since it connects fine at another place, you know the modem is good, the software is set up correctly, AT&T likes your computer's login, and you can cruise the internet. So that points to your home location as the culprit. One thing to remember, is that these notebooks use Winmodems, or software modems, and they do not "drive" the phoneline very hard so don't like line loads (other modems, phones, FAX machines, caller id boxes, etc. plugged to the line), and are also thus very suceptable to line noise.
I would first address the load on your line - try with only the notebook connected - that will prove/disprove load as a factor. Then look at the quality of the wiring inside your house - back in my modem days I actually took CAT5 ethernet wire and used one twisted pair as the red/green phone line pair and ran it to the outlet I used for my notebook. Lastly is those things didn't solve it, is to work with your phone company to eliminate the noise on their lines, but you need to relate to them the above steps you've tried to first aleviate the connect problem.
Lastly, with your rural location and the company delivering service, you may not get the internal modem to work and may need to get a hardware-based PCMCIA PC Card modem.
Good Luck!