Houston, we have a problem...

[User58]

Hello to all and to all a pleasant day. I am taking this to the resident
experts in desparation and frustration. All seem clueless on this, the
panel is stumped. Hopefully there is someone who isn't This is a last
resort. :-0
When I boot up my machine and attempt to connect via PPPoE,
it is not always immediatly available to me. I will get the dialogue box
saying "Connecting through WAN Miniport PPPoE" This will linger
indefenitely. I alternately will continue to try to connect/cancel untill I
get past this and finally get to the "verify username and password" woindow.
My network connections show the following:

1394 NET Adaptor, Local Area Connection 2 (which is my NIC) and the icon for
SBC which is a PPPoE connection. All of these are using TCPIP only. I was
told to get rid of everything else and it did help a bit at first but the
problem still appears occasionally.
Another problem, which I am unsure if it is related is when starting Outlook
Express 6.0 2800 1123 the system will occasionally freeze when attempted too
soon after connection to internet is up. I may have too much info here but
too much is better than not enough.

System info: Windows XP Pro (5.1.2600 SP1 Retail)

CPU: Athlon 2600+ (333 FSB)
MOBO: A7V333
RAM: 512M PC 2100 333MHz Crucial
HD: Maxtor Plus 9 7200 RPM 80G
Graphics: ATI 9800 Pro 128MB
Sound: Audigy2
DX version: 9.0
Award BIOS: 6.0 (revision 1016 Beta 001)


Some BIOS settings just in case:

CPU speed: 2083 MHz
CPU Freq Multiple: 12.5x
CPU/PCI Freq (MHz) 166/33
CPU Vcore Setting 1.650v

Is there some setting I should have in the CPU/Memory Freq Ratio that should
be set manually?


Should I be looking at my SDRAM settings also?


Thanks in advance. The future of the Western World is in your hands...

[kinada423]

It has nothing to do with your pc settings it has to do with your dsl provider. My suggestion as it seems you are using a DSL connection would be to switch to cable (if it is an alternative.) I used to work for a tech support company providing services for Bellsouth DSL service. PPPoE has lots of issues with authentication, u might be seeing an error 650 a lot. DSL just isnt a feasible option when going over PPPoE. If applicable try getting a traditional ethernet DSL modem to bypass all the login crap if you are stuck with DSL. Contact your DSL tech support and see if their network still supports standard ethernet modems so you never have to login to get the access you have been promised. Good luck! Switch to cable if you can to relieve yourself from future problems. I worked for Chart communications and Comcast Cablevision and DOCSIS cable networks are much more stable than DSL despite bandwidth being shared. Most cable internet providers have upped the bandwidth tremendously. Comcast in my area just recently out of the blue upgraded all users settings to 3.3mbps down with the standard 256kbit upstream. Hope this helps. Keep us posted and yell at ur friendly DSL tech support man or woman and make them feel stupid if they aren't knowledgable and don't deserve their job. BTW, what service provider are you currently using?

[User58]

SBC Yahoo! is the ISP. I have had it for over a year. It was advertised as 768/128 and my actual is 635/136 and has been rock stable, I mean that number hasn't budged in over a year. (I'm 11209 ft from the CO.)

They recently decreased their price so I called and asked for a bandwidth upgrade and was perfectly willing to keep paying what I had been paying.
They not only upgraded me to 1.5Mb/256, they gave me the discount to boot. They are also moving to RADSL which should increase speeds even more. I can't justify switching after that sweet deal.

Actually the error message I get on when posting to UseNet is 502, but it's still an authentication error. Right now I think I'm using XPPPPoE. My modem is a SpeedStream 5360 which is an Ethernet ADSL Modem.

How can I tell if Im using XP PPPoE? I think that's the case. Perhaps I could switch to Enternet 300?

[kinada423]

Not quite sure about that. A traditional ethernet dsl modem completely bypasses the login. It holds that information in the mac address so you should never have to type in a login again and most any DSL ISP should offer this as this is what DSL was originally designed to operate at. The deal sounds pretty good for what your saying however authentication error has to do with their network and how they are managing it. Call tech supports and see if they are having any problems and give them the medial information they ask for and hopefully than can give you a halfway decent explanation. They could have a server getting overloaded by login requests by the recent expansions of users on their network from their "convenient" deal they might be offering. Basically call tech support and try to get a competent person maybe ask for a supervisor cause the way they are setup they deal with either really technical questions with the network, have greater access to resources and deal with really pissed off customers. Explain your frustration stay right to the point and bombard them with all the information to prevent them from running through a stupid checklist. You sound very proficient so you shouldn't have any problem. Keep us posted

[User58]

I'm thinking of gettin' a LinkSys 4 port router and maybe that will take the PC out of the mix. I'll just have to do some permissions in the router's setup screen. Someone told me it may be that my machine is seeking a connection before I ask it to do so and there's the problem. With the Router, the computer won't have anyone to talk to (or try to talk to) unless I say it can talk, right? What's happening supports this because while the computer is seeking this non existant conection, it's trying to connect through the WAN miniport and get's held up on that when it finds no Wide Area Network to connect to. I'm thinking the Router will stop it from looking. For some reason the computer thinks the connection should always be there which of course it ain't till' I connect it up.

[kinada423]

Yes. With most all routers u can select the PPPoE option and simply put in your login information etc. and it will keep you logged in provided the network doesnt kick your behind off. It will continue to try and log on if that does happen. So between both ur threads it seems like a router is becoming a feasible purchase now doesn't it
I still think its best to bypass the whole pppoe thing and get a different dsl modem

[User58]

Originally posted by kinada423
Yes. With most all routers u can select the PPPoE option and simply put in your login information etc. and it will keep you logged in provided the network doesnt kick your behind off. It will continue to try and log on if that does happen. So between both ur threads it seems like a router is becoming a feasible purchase now doesn't it
I still think its best to bypass the whole pppoe thing and get a different dsl modem

I have heard that I should get a Ethernet Modem. I already have an Ethernet Modem. I will not be getting a different modem.

[beet]

User58 - which motherboard revision do you have?
Asus only officially supports Athlon XP+ Thoroughbred core CPU's with a FSB of 333MHz from revision 2.0 of the A7V333 motherboard. Your system freezes could be caused by the fact that the older revisions only officially support 266MHz FSB settings.

Get the full list of supported cpu's here:
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusu...pusupport.aspx

Otherwise it runs ok? I have the same MB and am considering risking a 333MHz FSB cpu with it to make the most of my PC2700 ram.

[NoSurrender]

beet the motherboard would just run his CPU at the standard 166 bus. now user i have a linksys router and my slow as hell SBC yahoo DSL (im 4 blocks from switchin station) and i do have a probelm with connection every so often when they work on routers also i find that if you unplug your modem for a bit and plug it back in and try that tends to work also.