Checking & Reinstalling Dial-Up Networking
Unlike TCP/IP and the other protocols found in the Network
Control Panel, Dial-Up Networking rarely becomes corrupted. With that in mind,
we suggest that you first check the settings under your connection icon. Finding
the problem there will eliminate the need for a more complicated procedure later
on.
- Close any programs that happen to be open, so that your desktop is showing.
- Double-click My Computer. Within the new window, double-click
Dial-Up Networking.
- Here you will likely see an icon called "Spectranet" (it may also
be called "My Connection" or "Connection to [phone#]").
Click that icon with the right mouse button, and select Properties.
- On the first screen, check the following:
- the phone number (DUN has been known to spontaneously change the number
to 999-9999).
- the "Dial using area code and..." check-box is empty.
- the correct modem is showing under "Connect using".
- Then click on Server Types. It may be a tab at the top, or a button
towards the bottom of the window. Check the following:
- "Type of Dial-Up Server" begins with PPP.
- that only "Enable Software Compression" and "TCP/IP" are
checked. Having "Log on to network" checked will drastically increase
authorization time (up to 45 seconds longer, in some cases).
- Click on the TCP/IP Settings button. In the new window, check the following:
- "Server assigned IP address" is selected.
- "Specify name server addresses" is selected.
- Primary DNS: 204.187.59.1
- Secondary DNS: 204.187.59.2
- Primary WINS and Secondary WINS addresses are all zeroes.
- both check-boxes at the bottom are selected.
- Click OK on each screen until you are back to the Dial-Up Networking window.
Double-click the connection icon which you've just edited to try the connection again.
- Click here for screenshots of the windows involved
in the steps above.
If connection problems continue, the issue may reside with the modem
settings within Dial-Up Networking. To check these settings, enter into the properties
of your Spectranet connection as per the first three steps of the procedure above, and
follow the steps below.
- Click on the Configure button at the bottom.
- In the new window, check the "Maximum speed" setting. Choose the value
which is nearest-to but above the speed of your modem. Choosing a higher setting
will not make your modem run faster (and can cause port communication lags), but
having a lower speed selected will lessen the speed of your connection.
- Click on the Connection tab.
- Under "Connection preferences", the following should be set:
- Data bits: 8
- Parity: None
- Stop bits: 1
- Under "Call preferences", only "Wait for dial tone before dialing"
needs to be checked; the other two are a matter of personal preference.
- Click on Port Settings.... The checkbox should be marked. You can experiment
with the placement of the sliders to better your connection, according to the information
given on-screen. Click OK when you're done.
- Click on Advanced.... For a standard, hardware-controlled modem, use the following
settings:
- "Use error control" and "Compress data" should be checked, if
they are available.
- "Use flow control" should be checked.
- "Hardware (RTS/CTS) should be selected.
- "Modulation type" should be set to "Standard".
- In the extra settings box, type in the following, without quotation marks:
"at&f&c1&d2". This is an initialization string which may help the modem
make its initial connection.
- If you're using an LT or USR Winmodem, an HSP modem, an AOpen FM56, Motorola SM56,
or any other sort of software-based modem, try using the changes below.
- Use "Software (XON/XOFF)" instead of Hardware (RTS/CTS).
- In the extra settings box, use the init string "at&fx"
- Click OK on each screen until you are back to the Dial-Up Networking window.
Double-click the connection for another attempt.
If nothing else helps, including reinstalling TCP/IP,
then you may need to reinstall the Dial-Up Networking programs. To do this, go into the
Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, and follow the steps below.
- Select the Windows Setup tab from the top.
- Double-click on Communications.
- In the window that pops up, remove the checkmark from Dial-Up Networking, and
then press OK. Then click Apply. This will remove the DUN program files
from the computer, and get you ready for a clean installation.
- Double-click on Communications again.
- Place a check-mark back beside Dial-Up Networking, and click OK.
Click OK once more in the Windows Setup screen to begin the installation.
- Windows may request the installation disk(s) so it can copy files. The progress
indicator will reach 100%, and then go through a second run. Once that run is
finished, Dial-Up Networking will be reinstalled. You will be prompted to restart
the computer once you've finished with Add/Remove Programs. Do not restart immediately.
- Removing Dial-Up Networking also removes TCP/IP from the Network control panel,
so you'll have to reinstall that as well. Click here for
a guide to reinstalling the protocol. In this case, you will only need to follow
the last three steps of the process.
- Click here for screenshots of the windows involved
in the steps above.