[Ham-Computers] RE: Blind Man's CPU Down For The Count?

[Hsu, Aaron]

Duane,

My dial-up does that too once in a while (dials, connects, drops the line with an error).  I know for a fact what's causing my problem (flaky 230,000bps PC to modem DTE rate), but I doubt it's the problem you're having.

In Win98SE (don't remember if it's in the original release of '98), it keeps a log of the last session.  The log is saved in the \WINDOWS directory with the same name as the dial-up "connectoid", but with a .LOG appended to the end.  For example, if your dial-up icon is named "dialup", then the log is "dialup.log".

The log basically contains the "2-way" communications between Windows and the modem.  It may be a bit cryptic, especially if you're not familiar with the Hayes "AT" modem command set, but it can give you an idea of what might be causing the problem.

To make use of the log, attempt a dial-up.  After it fails, open the file and browse through the contents.  This info may be useful to your ISP if you call them and happen to fine someone knowlegdeable.  The log is over-written each time you start the dial-up session, so save the log if you need it for future reference.  You can also instruct Windows to append to the log.  To do this, goto Control Panels, Modems, highlight the modem in question and click Properties, Connection, Advanced.  There'll be a check box for "append to log" (at least in Win98SE).  There's also a button here to view the log.

Another suggestion...create a whole new dial-up "connectoid".  The dial-up information is stored in the Windows Registry, so it's unlikely that it's corrupted, but re-creating a new "connectoid" is not difficult and won't cause any harm.

Good luck!

  - Aaron Hsu
    [athsu]@unistudios.com
    [nn6o]@arrl.net


p.s.  "Connectoid" is the little known term that Microsoft created to describe the icon created for dial-up sessions.