Tag Archives: broadband

telstra and new Thompson Speedtouch 536

Computer Aid Posted on by

I’m setting up a new ADSL connection for a customer (very standard setup… laptop and a speedtouch 536 modem).

I’ve done lots of these, so I didn’t think I’d have any problems.

I do the standard Bigpond CD install, but part way through, it tells me it cannot communicate with the modem.

Now this is just not true! I can ping the modem, and I can ping the DNS servers beyond the modem.

Anyway, I figure I’ll do it my usual way: web interface to the modem.

I go to the “broadband connection” menu, and the DSL connection icon shows a green tick, but the internet icon shows a red cross. Ok, I click on the connect button. and it seems to connect correctly.

But still no internet access. The modem has all 4 lights on (power, dsl, ethernet, internet)

I do a connectivity test, and it fails on the last test (internet).

Since the modem probably doesn’t have the correct username / password, I search the menus for a screen that allows me to enter the correct logon info.

But I cannot find it anywhere…

I call telstra technical support, and the technician deduces that the line must be locked by another ISP. I doubt it, but its not worth arguing, so I let him pass me to the activations department… But they run their tests and can see no locks, and the line is setup for telstra. So I get passed back to technical support.

A different technician now tries to guide me through setting up the modem, but what he sees on his instructions is slightly different to what I see…

We eventually decide to try hitting the internet disconnect button, then the connect button. This time, I’m presented with an adsl username and password prompt (woo hoo!).

I enter the details, and I’m finally on the net.

Outlook express doesn’t want to connect to the email server, but a laptop and modem restart soon fixes that problem.

Given the customer is an elderly lady, she asks that I increase the text size. So I change the appropriate settings in the display control panel, in IE, and in OE.

HP Pavilion zd8000 laptop (no LPT port!)

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer is referred to me via a department store. He needs his new laptop plugged in and setup… and if possible, setup his broadband connection.

This can end up being very simple, or quite complex. So I’ll see what happens when I get there.

Once there, I find (as expected) the laptop barely out of the box. However, the customer tells me that he bought it to replace the old system that got zapped by lightning.

So the good news it that the broadband connection should be quick to setup… since the modem is still working from the prior pc… just swap the the old usb cable with a proper utp network cable from laptop to modem.

I start the laptop & complete configuring win xp. Once complete, I connect the internet & start running updates. While this is happening, I notice Norton IS hasn’t started automatically (as it usually does), so I decide to avoid mucking around with norton & install antivir (http://www.free-av.com/), once the windows updates complete & the system is restarted (twice, since the winxp updates needed two rounds of updates), norton then decides to show up… grrr.

Customer prefers norton, so I disable antivir & let norton complete its VERY lengthy update process (one of the many reasons I don’t like norton).

While norton is busy choking the broadband connection, I also try to setup outlook xpress with minimal user information… A quick (ok then: slow due to norton) browse of the ISP website, and I find the pop & smtp server information that I need.

At this point, I decide to finish by connecting the laser printer & the parallel port zip drive (client uses the zip drive for backups, but doesn’t have any cardridges… Ben has them… Ben is the customers usual IT support guy, but he is away for a while, so it looks like i’m taking his place).

I must be going blind: I just cannot find the parallel port. This laptop has all the ports a computer could ask for, even firewire & a multi-flash card reader… but no LPT port!

This is the first time I have ever seen a pc without a LPT port. I can understand an ultralight ultraportable not having some port, in order to lose some weight, but this beast is a widescreen job, with 3 cooling fans underneath, and overall quite heavy.

It has an expansion port, which might plug into a docking station (with parallel port), so we call the dept store, only to be told by the salesman that there is no LPT port available for this model. I think: salesmen are not technicians, so he could be wrong.

I tell the client that I cannot do anymore at the moment, but I’ll research some options for him.

Overall, I managed to do most things. Its just the printer & zip drive that need some “fixing”.

After a lot of searching, I find that:

1) The zd8000 has no LPT port.
2) The expansion port plugs into a weird-looking docking station (also with no LPT port). Take a look at: http://reviews.cnet.com/HP_xb2000_notebook_expansion_base/4505-3019_7-31228661.html
3) It is possible to get a PCMCIA card with an LPT port attached, but its a lot more expensive than you might expect ($300 !)
4) The other alternative is to get a new printer, but thats even more expensive.
5) Another option would be to return the laptop & demand a different one (one that has an LPT port).

I have given these options to the customer. He will think about them & get back to me in a few days time.

Bad sound card ? no, just lots of spyware

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer calls, saying that the sound on her PC doesn’t work & she would like to fix it, as her son would like to play some of the games he got for christmas.

She’s got broadband & runs winXP, so this sound like an easy fix sound card drivers, or maybe install new card, & possibly download drivers from the net.

So I take some extra sound cards with me, & when I get there, I see that XP is running very slow, & I’m told the the internet connection stopped working a few days ago. A quick ctrl-alt-del shows that spyware is running rampant, & using 3 different login accounts (each with access permissions, so that each account cannot “spy” on the other) makes eradicating the malware more time-consuming.

I decide to take the PC home & I’m given another PC with a broken power button, & am asked if I can fix it too.

The power button is easy, it lost a spring, but rather than dismantle the button, I open up the PC & swap the power & reset buttons, so the the reset button is now “broken”. This PC Also has Malware, so I clean it up.

The first PC is another story: The son tried to re-install windows XP, but actually installed it onto the recovery partition (with only 5Gb of space, it was running out of space very quickly.).

So I decide to go back to the original XP partition & make that the default boot OS. I then clean up all the spyware, copy some settings from the “new” xp install, install Ewido, ad aware, antivir (http://www.free-av.com/), startup monitor, & do some tuning. I also spend some time explaining that they need to be carefull about what they download & install.

New HP Laptop

Computer Aid Posted on by

Client needs help setting up a brand new computer & multifunction printer/scanner

She doesn’t know much about computers, so I startup the laptop & go through the windows “configuration” screens, nothing unusual.

She wants to setup the internet… but has no broadband modem… So I ask her to call the ISP.

In the meantime I check the wireless connection, & it looks like someone nearby has an unsecured wireless connection to the internet… So I tell her she can use it occasionally, but needs to get her own internet connection.

I enable norton, since it was already installed with windows.

I then install the HP printer software.

The HP software take 30 minutes to install… wow is it slow.

I also notice that the wireless network is still visible, but I can’t browse anymore.

By the time the printer is fully running, I have used up my allotted time, so I leave. But later, I start thinking: enabling norton might start blocking the wireless internet access… I’ll need to investigate this Norton software some more… Lots of people out there are using it (perhaps they shouldn’t), but I need to become familiar with how it works. Looks like I’ll be spending some time “playing” with this monster.

Freezing win98 and broadband

Computer Aid Posted on by

Client calls, needs to have computer (a HP Pentium3) fixed urgently, it keeps locking up & runs very slowly. I think: sounds like another spyware problem.

Turns out the client already has spybot installed & running correctly, however, their virus checker had ended its free trial period, so they had installed another virus checker… Now this could be the problem… I’ve heard that its usually a very bad idea to run 2 virus checkers at the same time, so I eventually manage to disable all virus checkers (as well as usual startup crud from the registery). I also clean up the temp folders and install antivir.

I also installed a webcam for him.

The really weird thing is that the CDROM drive wouldn’t close, it would open at boot time & then stay open. I eventually figure that it must be broken. Client wants it fixed, so the next day, I quote him the cost of a new drive, plus installation & configuration (and a small amount of training on the DVD software).

Client agrees, I buy a DVD burner, & go to install it…

When I get there the second time, client say he is very pleased… He has had the computer since new, & since I fixed the lock-up problem, apparently the computer is faster than when it was new.

If more people realised that some fine-tuning can make a big difference to their computer speed, I reckon computer sales would drop.

Opening a name-brand PC is sometimes like a puzzle, & this HP was one of the trickier ones. but I eventually manage to swap over the optical drive, install the software & do a test burn of a DVD.

Client loves, the new drive & has lots of questions, & wants to know how to copy CD music to the PC, how to download movies, etc, etc. Since some of this is getting uncomfortably towards illegal downloads, etc, I politely say I cannot install that stuff, but I can give him some pointers… & he can decide what to do. I make sure he knows that downloading music & movies without paying for them is illegal.

All the extra questions & demonstrations take an extra 40 minutes (and the previous visit also went about 40 minutes over, so I tell hime I need to charge for an extra hour.

He writes a check, but says he wasn’t expecting to pay so much. I counter with: he is actually getting great value, as he has gotten a lot of extra help & information, which few other “computer repairers”. would have been able/willing to deliver in such a short period of time. He certainly got his money’s worth.

Strange ADSL problem (Switching / churning ADSL)

Computer Aid Posted on by

Went to see a client that was having problems connecting her ADSL modem (to her laptop).

It was a new connection & she was looking to move away from dialup.

I had just started getting some flu symptoms, so I wasn’t feeling to good (which might be why I didn’t fix this problem as quickly as I would have liked).

The carrier is Optus & while running the standard modem install utility, I’d get an error message about not being able to complete the modem setup.

The client had already spent a few hours on the phone to Optus, to try to get ADSL working, but was told that there must be something wrong with her laptop, or the ADSL connection is outside of the allowable range.

Any web site would give the “IE is unable to link to the web page requested”

After some poking around, I managed to ping google.com.au, so it looked like I was onto the net… but web pages would still not work… and a short while after that, the ping would also stop working… very peculiar.

Event viewer didn’t show anything wrong, but the system seemed a bit slow…

I eventually decided that the best thing to do would be to take the laptop home & try it with my ADSL connection.

Once home, I still couldn’t get the laptop to load web pages, but the ping results were more consistent: ping would always work.

So now I focused on IE & why it wouldn’t work. The answer ended up being trivial: internet options -> connections -> lan setting -> proxy server: had some weird settings. I just disabled proxy server, & everything just worked. I reckon Optus should had been able to fix this, since they deal with ADSL customers day-in, day-out)

I did some defrag, & disabled useless “utilities” from startup, then took it back.

Now things were working better: ping worked all the time (but the modem seems to have a dodgy power connector… touching it sometimes caused it to go “offline”).

Opening any web page caused a Telstra page to appear (basically saying “I don’t recognise your username & password, so I won’t let you look at the page you want).

It turns out that the client tried to get broadband thru Telstra, but couldn’t get it to work, so she switched to Optus, with the same symptoms, so then she called me.

I rang Optus on her behalf, & found out that Telstra had not “released” the ADSL service (they were meant to do it 2 day prior, but hadn’t). Optus escalated the issue.

Rang the client a few days later & she was very happy, as the connection was fixed the day after I was there.