New modem doesn't work right

[brook]

My cp was hit by lightening and took out my modem which was a chip. I installed a new external modem and it worked fine till I shut off the computer and tried to sign on the next morning when I got an error message that there was no modem found. I hauled it out to the only repair place in town and it worked fine. I brought it home and hooked it up and it worked fine till I shut it off and tried to sign on the next morning.

I took out the modem and reloaded it and it worked till I shut it off and tried to get back on the next morning. I don't know what to do. I am a computer moron.

[johnwill]

Please supply the following info, exact models of the equipment please.

The name of your ISP and country of residence.
Make/model of the broadband modem. If dial-up, please specify.
Make/model of the router (if any).
Connection type, wired, wireless.
Make/model of network card or wireless adapter.
Make/model of your computer (motherboard if home-built).
Version and patch level of Windows, i.e. XP-Home SP2.

[brook]

My ISP is AOL. I'm in the USA.

My new modem is Creative Blaster V.92. It's dial-up.

I'm dial-up and wired.

My computer is Gateway and I'm Windows XP.

[johnwill]

After rebooting and being unable to connect, let's see this.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following command:

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[brook]

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner.OWNER-887WUUQQY.000>IPCONFIG/ALL

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : owner-887wuuqqy
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connecti
on
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-F1-83-B8-0E

PPP adapter {3A5D910A-FBDD-499D-BAA7-954992D84371}:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.145.76.185
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 172.145.76.185
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 205.188.146.145
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner.OWNER-887WUUQQY.000>

[johnwill]

Why do you have DHCP disabled on your connection?

[brook]

What is a DHCP?

[johnwill]

You have manually configured the TCP/IP properties on your connection, which is a bit unusual.

Did you try removing the connection for the modem and reinstalling it?

[brook]

I never go in and change things around because I have no idea what I am doing. Would it be better if the DHCP (whatever that is) is enabled? If so how do you do that?

[johnwill]

With dial-up, the properties are determined by the DUN that establishes the connection. If the modem works correctly, I'd re-install the software that you use to connect to your ISP.

[brook]

Originally, if I shut my computer off I would not be able to reconnect unless I re-installed the software. Then after one re-installation I could shut it off and still reconnect. But if I unplug the machine, which I do every time there is a chance of storm since I've been hit by lightening twice in 10 months, I can't reconnect unless I uninstall and re-install.

[johnwill]

Not sure what to tell you. It's been a long time since I tinkered with dial-up connections.

[brook]

Do you think the modem could be bad? I originally had a chip. Do you think it might do better if I got another one instead of an external?

[johnwill]

Obviously, the modem could be bad, that's difficult to say. Have you run the modem diagnostics from Device Manager? Select the modem properties, and one of the tabs will allow you to query the modem.

[brook]

The last time I took my machine into the repair shop the "geek" set something so it would only respond to my current modem. Will that have to be readjusted if I put in a different modem and how do I go about it?

[johnwill]

You could just redo the dial-up configuration from scratch, create a new connection. You could also go slap the "geek" silly for screwing it up.

[brook]

How do I redo?

[johnwill]

Create a new dial-up connection with the wizard in Network Connections.

[brook]

I've e-mailed Creative and they tell me that every time you unplug the modem it has to be reinstalled. Would you know if all external modems are like that?

[johnwill]

Creative is full of it. I've had external modems on machines and disconnected them, they are remembered just fine.