Just took a look at one of my user's computer and found a very strange problem. For some odd reason, he must sign into AOL in order to use his internet. I would understand if this is required if he is using AOL as his main connection, but he is using a dedicated cable service line. The same thing is happening to his other computer (requires him to sign onto AOL first before he can connect).

After playing around with it for a while, Internet Explorer connected without AOHell's assistance. I made sure AOL was completely signed off and tried a few more websites and both computers seem to have full access to the internet now.

Why is this happening when he has his own cable internet line? I could ping sites like Yahoo and it even says in the system tray that it's connected to the network 100% connectivity. I know it can't be the cable service going up and down either because once we connect to AOL everything kicks in normally. Both of these computers are plugged into the router directly using a ethernet cable. I tried releasing and renewing the IPs for both computers to no avail.

I'm going to take a look at his computers again next week to see if he still has access to the internet without signing onto AOL. Was working without AOL when I left.

I'm hoping someone has encountered a similar situation before. Any ideas suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks.

It's probably a conflict with his modems drivers, sometimes it will work sometimes it wont. Have you tried uninstalling aol then trying to go online?
I doubt that it is something on the isp end because as you said it only sometimes works with aol signed out
Otherwise i'm not too sure but it definately sounds like some sort of conflicting programs or drivers to me

-HellFire

You can check the proxy setting also. It could be that the software supplied by the ISP (not sure bout AOL, cause i don't live in US), could have configured the proxy setting to proxy through their server, this is usually done as a security measure to prevent attack from outside. If so, then without loggin in, you won't be able to go through the proxy server, thus, you can't access the internet

I'm assuming you're using windows. Check under Settings\ControlPanel\Internet Property. Under Connections tabs, LAN Settings. See if "Use proxy server for you LAN ......" is ticked. Untick it then try again.

If not, you can also check the DNS setting of your Network Adaptor. Either set it to the one provided by your ISP (not AOL in this case) or put it to auto detect.

Other than that, i can't think of anything else.

Good Luck

Yeah, that was actually the first thing I checked. No proxy was set and I even tried checking to automatically detect. Makes no difference either way.

If the cable service is using a proxy, will it be shown once I connect through AOL (and check Internet Explorer proxy settings)?

I have actually thought about removing AOL, but hesitated. I will download the setup file for AOL first since he uses AOL. Then uninstall it....

Any other suggestions? Will be returning to work on this computer early next week.

Thanks.

Welcome. I only know of the proxy since our local ISP also provided such service.

You mean you can ping Yahoo before login into AOL or after?

Maybe you can try some site which doesn't need domain name. As in skipping the DNS, to find out if it has to do with the DNS server or it's configuration. http://72.14.235.104/ This is google's direct IP.

Probably you can also check if there's any diff in various configuration before and after logging into AOL. Also look under Administrators Tools/Services, maybe AOL installed a service that trap such connection before login. You can also try to browse in Safe Mode (with Networking). That you can narrow down the possibility. If you can try on another pc/notebook(using the same configuration minus AOL) even better.

Good luck

Yeah, I tried it without using AOL and it could ping Yahoo, which I found to be strange. I will definitely take a look at the proxy settings after I connect back to AOL...still doesn't make sense why it will connect now without AOL though.

Will also try a laptop to see if it can connect without AOL. Tried that Safe Mode with Networking already and the same problem occurs.

Hmm, that's really wierd. Don't tell me the modem is controlled by AOL? What browser are you using? Maybe you can also try a diff browser.

I'm hoping not. I try to tell all my users to avoid using AOHell as much as possible, but most say they want to keep it. If it's controlled by AOL, then there must be some way to unhook it

I'll post some update on this next week when I will continue working on his computers.

Look at the machine's default gateway via the route command. Most likely that's getting screwed with when you are dialing aol when connected via ethernet. I wouldn't be suprised if AOL fux up the routing table every time it connects.

I still didn't go back yet, but if the gateway is different, what can I do to fix the issue so AOL is not required to be connected to go online?