Hi computer guys. I have a friend, yes really a friend, (every beginner I know asks me stuff about their computers all the time), they have a new Dell computer and last week they stopped being able to connect to websites. But there's more. I have been around lots of computers, but I am not really a hardware guy, I am into website stuff pretty much and software building things. This Dell is the loudest computer I have ever heard. Sounds like it is about to do a vertical takeoff! All of the operation noises are extremely loud. Anyway, it will log onto AOL and you can receive downloads from AOL only!!!

Her internet browser options are all now set to use AOL as the default, and like I said , the download from AOL came through just fine.

Also his computer is new, bigger and faster (supposed to be anyway, faster processor rating)
But it takes a long time to do anything. I ran the disk cleanup and the defrag, his system has 83% free space and no fragmented files on the master file table. But it is SLOOOOOOOOOW!

Anyway, (as I plugged answerpool to him) I told him that I am not really a hardware guy and the software was all doing it's thing and that I thought the slowness of the machine was what was making the browser display the "no site found error message", but that I know where to find the answer at.

So here I am. This person has vowed to log onto AnswerPool.com as soon as I get them access again, and join the site, and they have a large family of internet users they exchange emails with. So we could be seeing a bunch of new members soon.


I am posting this in the Internet Issues Forum as well as the Discussion Room and I will delete the Discussion Room thread and post the correctly answered thread in the Internet Isssues Forum.

So geek patrol, don't let me down!

With this issue you might want to get a hold of an AOL rep, Good luck on getting a straight answer. I need to ask how much RAM is on the new system. I also need to ask if there are a lot of things running in the background. You can determine this by looking at the task bar next to the time. Each one of those icons is actually a program that is constantly running in your background and is also always eating up your resources (RAM). I have seen many new computers from companies come from the factory with a whole lot of unneeded/unwanted software
As far as the noise is concerned, you might want to open the case and make sure there is nothing rubbing up on one of the fans.
Occasionally I have seen a power wire or cable that was being hit by the fan and it was causing noise.
I hope that this is somewhat helpful.
Good luck

KK:

It just so happens, I was talking to a customer at work today and he mentioned a problem with his AOL also; couldn't even get into his email.

My uncle recently had the same problems - no email, couldn't get on the web, password ceased working - he called/emailed AOL for 2 weeks then called me. I signed him up for AT&T and we cancelled AOL. I've been hearing more and more people who are having problems.

techman's right; good luck getting decent help from AOL. It's possible, it's a tech issue but it sounds more like an AOL issue.

The noise is the dialing and talking to network sounds that lots of computers make Techman, but it is really loud. Compaqs make this noise I have seen a lot. I run an Emachine which also makes the noises but they are very quiet.
And sonnet, the computer is slow even on it's own desktop so I don't think it is AOL it is doind what happens if your email is over full and your system has slowed up. and they have had only two emails since buying this system.

And I live in the same town and have the same version of AOL on my system. I never have had this trouble.

And I am aware of the limited scope of the tech service personel. Last year when they announced some new celebrity welcome sounds and how to install them they did not have XP instructions. The tech support person confidently fed me a load of hooey. I figured out how to do it myself, the heirarchy was not as they had outlined, and I sent AOL the proper instructions. But I first asked this second tech person if they knew how to do it, and they gave me a totally different line of hooey, which was also wrong. I proceeded to tell him then how it was really done and where the sound files were at on an XP system, and the guy acted like it was what he had just said and it wasn't even close.

I have no problem with AOL either (BYOA) Bring Your Own Access! I login to the CABLE first and then AOL! Maybe that's why!

ivnj

You can adjust the dial-up and "handshake" protocol volume in the Dial Networking folder. In WinXP, click the Start menu, then right click on the "Connect To" shortcut. Go to "Properties". In the "General Tab" look for the modem and click the "Configure" button. Drag the modem volume slider to the left to reduce the volume.

If you don't see a "connect to" shortcut on the Start menu, go to the control panel and then the networking applet.

I hope this will help!

Dwight

Aol Dialup (too loud?) How to reduce/mute the Volume?
Easily fixed!
I have mine muted altogether
Copy this page to a "new text document" before doing this job(can read the instructions as you progress)
Heres's how to do it:
1)click to start AOL
1a)On the "sign up" page click on the "Setup" button
2)on the next page "Edit AOL Setup",select:"Expert Setup"(bottom (left hand item
3)On the next page click on the Tab marked "Devices (modems ect.)"
3a)click the "Edit" button(right hand side) bottom
4) This next window has all the setting controls for your modem
4a) to reduce the racket your modem makes (or shut it up? ) move the setting in the "speaker volume window to "Low" or "Off" sounds like KKs friends modem has somehow defaulted to "Loud"
4b)While you are there check that the Port speed setting is set to 57600bps or 115200bps
5) Press the "OK" button to save the settings and exit

Total time to complete under 2 minutes
With practice? seconds

Note to Dwight : AOL does NOT (as far as I'm aware) use the Dialup Network capability on the XP(I tried it a few weeks ago to bypass the aol Dialup(when I had connection probs))...And got nothing
Apparently it uses its own customised set up for connections

Done that?: still no websites appearing?
Then read the next thread.....

Cannot get any websites if you have Aol installed?
This usually restores things to "Normal"
Right click on the Aol Icon (either on the desktop or next to the clock)
On the drop down menu locate and click on "System Information..."
Look along the Tabs on this "new" window Select "Utilities"(in center)
2 jobs to do here ...
1st Clear the "Browser Cache" by pressing the top button.
NOTE:The number in the topmost window will be reset to 0KB
Doing this will ease up any slowness in browsing for a while(But would need to go to other places on the computer to increase this setting(Number in Maximum Cache Size)) Number in bottom box will be about 1200000-1220000 KB?(If this is less than 10000000 KB there could be access problems to the Web?) If this is so post again and I'll show you how to increase the settings.
If the setting is too large then it will start slowing things down (over 1300000 KBs) eating into resources perhaps? It is a case of finding a "Happy Medium" OK?
2nd job:
Look at the middle of this same page for the "Uninstall AOL Adaptor" button (Do this offline) press this button.Then press the "RESET" button (important!) the computer ,Restart, log on to Aol and with all the jobs done in this thread you should be online in under a minute (without a peep from that modem )
Post Back KK to tell us How your friend gets on?

Yeah, we did that, I was aware of that potential remedy, but it did not help. I have nopt heard from my friend in a day or two but will talk to them tomorrow. Thanks for the good answers. I would like to point out again that the system on the computer is SLoooooooW without the internet issue. I personally think it is connecting so slow that the pages are simply timing out before it loads due to machine speed problems.I have the same version of XP. When I click a window to close it, it disappears NOW! When I close one of his windows, it slooooowly and gradually peels down and disappears. Thanks for the good tips. I'll check back in later...

KK
Couple more ideas to restore speed to your comp,
It sounds like its overdue for a defrag ,even if the resources are reporting on the High numbers side, My comp has just been defragged Despite having 96% resources Free!!
Click Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter.
Press the "Analyze" button to see if it needs to be defragged (take about a minute)If it does (gives message) then press the adjacent "Defragment" Button to start the process.
I recommend this tiny (Freeware)program(to paraphrase the TV advert(British):"It does exactly what it says on the label" Make a copy of it (fits on a floppy disk) and give it to your friend.
details here:http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/
This "weeds out" all those odd Temp files and Dead end files also useless Registry items and Deletes them if you want? (leave the Registry files WELL ALONE unless you are used to working in that area?)
I ran this on my machine and gained 500MBs of extra space (Processing speed was better) after Defragging(afterwards). My system resources were showing 98-99%! I think 100% is possible (Have seen it in my Aol System information box today 3rd April)
1 other job to do (In Internet Explorer) will post it shortly
Bottom line is this:Your machine will be back (after running these programs) to as near the speed as when it was new?

Here are the other tasks to perform,to regain speed & Breathing space on your(and your friends)computer
Open Internet Explorer locate tools>Internet Options.
In the box that open locate the box marked "Temporary Internet Files" 3 buttons here We are concerned with the Middle and Right hand buttons
Method: A)press the Middle Button:"Delete files..." to delete the Temporary Internet files (Web pages will Not have a reference point to start at for a while(Will load the pages slowly for the next visit then will run as "normal")
B) Press the right hand button marked "Settings" and on the next screen there are 2 things to do ..
1st:check the setting of the "check for newer versions of stored pages" is set to "Automatically"
and 2ndly look at the "slidebar" underneath(Temporary Internet Files Folder)
Move this to the left then 1 to 2 marks to the right, note the number in the small box to the right of the bar the number indicated will be about 1100-1300MBs?(can type in manually) to increased /decrease the folders size.
Press "Ok" to save and exit

I already defragged and did a disk cleanup back when I looked at the machine.Like I was saying, I am software savvy, not hardware savvy. I am pretty sure that my first post about this said that I had already defragged, but I am answering this from the email notice and haven't revisited this thread yet. thanks.

Been there, done that, on the internet options. I think this is infant mortality in a Dell, because no one has yet to suggest anything I haven't already tried. I am going to talk to the friend tonight and see if they have had a reply from Dell yet and I will keep you posted. Thanks for the suggestions.