Spurious attempts to dial

I have cable Internet access, so in
Start Settings Control panel Internet Options Connections
I select "Never dial a connection"

Some of the time, the computer attempts to dial a connection anyhow. It
spontaneously changes my selection to "Dial whenever a network connection
is not present." (Even with this setting, though, it shouldn't attempt to
dial because the cable Internet connection is always present.)

Getting out of this "problem mode" is possible but flaky: sometimes just
changing the setting back and restarting the browser works; sometimes one
or more reboots are needed.

Recently, the problem happens more and more often. I'm concerned that it
might become impossible to get out of problem mode.

Is there some way to get rid of the problem for good?

Configuration:
Windows 98
MSIE 5.5 and Mozilla 1.0
ZoneAlarm 3.7
McAfee or AVG (problem happens with either)

Thanks!

Start Settings Control panel Internet Options Connections
In the white box headed "Dial-Up and VPN Settings", is there anything listed?
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

"Jay" wrote in message
.16...
I have cable Internet access, so in
Start Settings Control panel Internet Options Connections
I select "Never dial a connection"

Some of the time, the computer attempts to dial a connection anyhow. It
spontaneously changes my selection to "Dial whenever a network connection
is not present." (Even with this setting, though, it shouldn't attempt to
dial because the cable Internet connection is always present.)

Getting out of this "problem mode" is possible but flaky: sometimes just
changing the setting back and restarting the browser works; sometimes one
or more reboots are needed.

Recently, the problem happens more and more often. I'm concerned that it
might become impossible to get out of problem mode.

Is there some way to get rid of the problem for good?

Configuration:
Windows 98
MSIE 5.5 and Mozilla 1.0
ZoneAlarm 3.7
McAfee or AVG (problem happens with either)

Thanks!

Start Settings Control panel Internet Options Connections
In the white box headed "Dial-Up and VPN Settings", is there anything
listed?

Yes, there are two entries for free Juno service. This is what I'd use if
the cable Internet had an outage.

Are you suggesting that the presence of these entries could override "Never
dial"?

When exactly does the computer try to dial up? Is it when you start a particular
program?

Juno should not be changing the setting, but yes, it is possible. My significant
other (SO) has a Juno mail account and as you know, Juno has its own dialer, but
uses an existing connection if it is live. Every time she starts the Juno software,
the dial-up prompt for our ISP comes up, although it did not used to do that until
recently, even though 'Dial whenever a network connection is not present' was
selected for years. So, Juno being the cause is a possibility.

BTW, please note that at the end of December, there will be no FREE Juno service
anymore, except for webmail. You will no longer be able to send or receive email
through their software unless you upgrade to Juno MegaMail for a cost of $9.95 per
year (0.83 per month, roughly). AFAIK, you will not be able to connect to the
Internet through MegaMail either....it will only do email....unless you use your own
ISP to connect.

So, if you do not plan to upgrade and pay for MegaMail, you will not need the
dial-up entries for Juno after the end of December.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Jay" wrote in message
8.16...
Start Settings Control panel Internet Options Connections
In the white box headed "Dial-Up and VPN Settings", is there anything
listed?

Yes, there are two entries for free Juno service. This is what I'd use if
the cable Internet had an outage.

Are you suggesting that the presence of these entries could override "Never
dial"?

When exactly does the computer try to dial up? Is it when you start a
particular program?

Juno should not be changing the setting, but yes, it is possible. ...

Thanks for the info.

I haven't used Juno's application software for a while, so it shouldn't be
the culprit.

Mostly, the spurious dial-up attempt happens when starting MSIE 5.5. A
dialog box appears asking me to choose a dial-up connection (or "work
offline").

Mostly, the spurious dial-up attempt happens when starting MSIE 5.5. A
dialog box appears asking me to choose a dial-up connection (or "work
offline").

I updated to MSIE v6 but it didn't help.

Have you tried removing Juno's entries from Dial-Up Networking?
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

"Jay" wrote in message
8.16...
Mostly, the spurious dial-up attempt happens when starting MSIE 5.5. A
dialog box appears asking me to choose a dial-up connection (or "work
offline").

I updated to MSIE v6 but it didn't help.

Have you tried removing Juno's entries from Dial-Up Networking?

Not yet, but I think the problem is deeper; namely, that the PC just stops
being able to access the Internet, or never starts after reboot.

After getting more experience, I notice that different applications are
affected, but different applications show it in different ways. MSIE
attempts to dial (as originally described). TurboTax also attempts to dial
but with its own less harsh user interface. Outlook reports inability to
connect. AIM reverts to not-logged-in state. Mozilla just times out.

Once the PC enters the failure mode, all Internet applications stop
working. And dialing attempts aren't always the symptom.

Again, the configuration is:
Windows 98
MSIE 5.5 and Mozilla 1.0
ZoneAlarm 3.7
McAfee or AVG (problem happens with either)

Thanks for the response.

Here are some troubleshooting results about this problem. Most likely...

....it's not an expired DHCP IP address because:
- IPconfig shows several days left on the lease during failure.

....it's not a DNS server failure because:
- access to just my cable modem at 192.168.100.1 stops working
during failure.

....it's not loss of Internet connectivity because:
- the cable modem lights appear normal during failure.
- rebooting the PC seems to be required to get back on line.
- the cable modem's log shows no events for several days.
(Log is viewed after rebooting.)

I can't help thinking that different software components are tripping over
each other in such a way that Internet access is blocked. Since the problem
often (but not always) happens on a re-boot, maybe the start-up programs by
themselves are to blame. For reference, my startup folder contains:
Internet Sharing Server
Iomega Watch
Iomega Startup Options
Iomega Disk Icons
Microsoft Find Fast
Office Startup
Sharing and Mapping Software
UMAX VistaAccess

Also, I use ZoneAlarm 3.7. I've tried both McAfee and AVG, and the problem
happens with either one.

Thanks for any insights you might be willing to share.

You didn't mention earlier that you could not access the Internet when this
happened, only that you were getting prompts to connect. So, you are saying that
when this occurs you can no longer access the Internet, and you also cannot connect
to your modem using 192.168.100.1 in the browser address bar.

At this point, I suggest you bring this problem to the networking group:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof...n98.networking
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Jay" wrote in message
8.16...
Here are some troubleshooting results about this problem. Most likely...

...it's not an expired DHCP IP address because:
- IPconfig shows several days left on the lease during failure.

...it's not a DNS server failure because:
- access to just my cable modem at 192.168.100.1 stops working
during failure.

...it's not loss of Internet connectivity because:
- the cable modem lights appear normal during failure.
- rebooting the PC seems to be required to get back on line.
- the cable modem's log shows no events for several days.
(Log is viewed after rebooting.)

I can't help thinking that different software components are tripping over
each other in such a way that Internet access is blocked. Since the problem
often (but not always) happens on a re-boot, maybe the start-up programs by
themselves are to blame. For reference, my startup folder contains:
Internet Sharing Server
Iomega Watch
Iomega Startup Options
Iomega Disk Icons
Microsoft Find Fast
Office Startup
Sharing and Mapping Software
UMAX VistaAccess

Also, I use ZoneAlarm 3.7. I've tried both McAfee and AVG, and the problem
happens with either one.

Thanks for any insights you might be willing to share.