Can anyone suggest anything?

My boss has a problem with his PC and his whining about it is getting on my nerves.

He's just bought a new NEC desktop running Win XP SP2 (not sure if it's XP Home or Pro).

Every few minutes the machine throws up an error message about a LAN connection being disconnected and then the machine freezes totally. He's using AOL 9 on a broadband BT line.

Anyone got any ideas?

Just one word of that would make me keep well clear of it - AOL!!

Is he using wireless or wired internet? Modem or router?

More info needed!

Phil

AOL - Always Off Line - Nuff Said, sign up with a proper ISP

Is he using wireless or wired internet? Modem or router?

More info needed!

Phil

Just a regular Broadband wired modem via a USB port. NO router or anything.

Sadly he's convinced that AOL is the best thing since sliced bread, despite my best protestations.

Does it only freeze up after a few minutes he's been connected to AOL, or does it ever happen with him being disconnected and it's the LAN connection that goes (does he have a home network with other PCs) ?

I mean when you say LAN connection, do you mean the AOL one? I thought even AOL's broadband being ADSL based is still on a dialup connection :confused:

I *think* it happens even if the AOL program isn't running, so I'm not sure AOL can be blamed.

He's gonna phone me later so I'll get some more information about when it happens and the exact error message.

Just a regular Broadband wired modem via a USB port. NO router or anything.

Sadly he's convinced that AOL is the best thing since sliced bread' date=' despite my best protestations.[/quote']

Not sure if this is any help but my NTL cable modem never worked via USB. It's a bit slow and disconnected everytime any other USB device was accessed eg flash drive, ext hdd, printer, scanner etc.

I had a laptop sharing the connection through the pc and the network between the 2 machines was never accessible when the USB Modem disconnected.

Fortunately it also has an RJ45 socket which I used and never looked back. Could be a similar issue in your case. USB Modems are crap in my opinion. The USB bus just chokes the broadband connection.

Not sure if this is any help but my NTL cable modem never worked via USB. It's a bit slow and disconnected everytime any other USB device was accessed eg flash drive' date=' ext hdd, printer, scanner etc.

I had a laptop sharing the connection through the pc and the network between the 2 machines was never accessible when the USB Modem disconnected.

Fortunately it also has an RJ45 socket which I used and never looked back. Could be a similar issue in your case. USB Modems are crap in my opinion. The USB bus just chokes the broadband connection.[/quote']

Thanks for the input. Monday is the day for sorting it out apparently.

I think it sounds like a USB problem...

There can be issues with USB broadband modems "overloading" the USB ports on a computer.. this can either throw up a error in windows, or sometimes crash the machine completely.

If i were him, id buy a cheap POWERED usb hub and plug it into that..

i had the same problem with the original "frog" modem.. the usb ports couldnt provide enough voltage, and if the cpu load was high, the voltage fluctuated and the ports would shut off, or the computer would crash.

if you go into the system properties (right click "my computer" icon then go to properties) then select the hardware tab and then device manager.

then go down to "universal serial bus controllers" at the bottom and expand that section. there will be a few items in there... double click one ones that seem to be hubs... then you can use the power tab to check what the power useage of the connected devices are.. usually "USB root hub" are the computers in-built ones. and any others are external... i can see from looking at mine, that my mouse is using 50mA out of a maximum of 500mA per port.

if the useage is over 300 i would definately advise a external powered hub

I think it sounds like a USB problem...

There can be issues with USB broadband modems "overloading" the USB ports on a computer.. this can either throw up a error in windows' date=' or sometimes crash the machine completely.

If i were him, id buy a cheap [b']POWERED[/b] usb hub and plug it into that..

i had the same problem with the original "frog" modem.. the usb ports couldnt provide enough voltage, and if the cpu load was high, the voltage fluctuated and the ports would shut off, or the computer would crash.

if you go into the system properties (right click "my computer" icon then go to properties) then select the hardware tab and then device manager.

then go down to "universal serial bus controllers" at the bottom and expand that section. there will be a few items in there... double click one ones that seem to be hubs... then you can use the power tab to check what the power useage of the connected devices are.. usually "USB root hub" are the computers in-built ones. and any others are external... i can see from looking at mine, that my mouse is using 50mA out of a maximum of 500mA per port.

if the useage is over 300 i would definately advise a external powered hub

I agree it's most likely the usb modem causing the problem. A few solutions, as already mentioned a USB POWERED hub that plugs into the mains. Also could buy a router with build in modem or complain to NEC for putting such a crap power supply in the pc, that probably isnt powerfull enough for the stuff theyve put in it let alone you wanting to plug more stuff in.

Thats the problem with prebuilt off the shelf in shops like pc world. Corners are cut to bring the price down.

He's just bought a new NEC desktop running Win XP SP2 (not sure if it's XP Home or Pro).

Anyone got any ideas?

I would agree with what everyone else has said about modems, USB & AOL. I would suggest eliminating these completely to start with, remove the internet access completely and see if the machine still freezes.

Reason I say this, is at work we supply PCs to businesses and have used NEC machines for years without problems. The most recent batches from them which have the VL7 and VL8 software builds have been absolute rubbish! They come with Windows XP (Pro) SP2 and pre-installed Norton antivirus software.

Despite following their 'technical support' advice on how to completely remove Norton - parts of it still remains on the machine. The corperate based antivirus products we use have all suffered incompatibility problems with the latest NECs. We've seen everything from hanging at startup / while using them / while logging on, the computer name changing but it still remembers its old name, software not installing / uninstalling.

Basically its been a bit of nightmare with our last three installs using NEC PCs and I would avoid them like the plague in future.

Cheers

Ross