computer not communicating with modem.

[Mhtml]

For some reason my computer (windows 98) will not communicate with my modem. After I get disconnected.

I am rushing to get this done even, for some reason I get disconnected and then windows will let me reconnect but will not send any messages to my modem.

Also there seems to be a lot of data transfer and recieving but I'm not even loading pages or anything. Is something or someone in my system doing this?

I'm not quite sure about people connecting to your computer and hacking it and stuff but I assume you can see them connected by using netstat -a? I tried that but it just hangs, everything I throw at my modem is ignored and it continues to transfer and recieve something(s)..

I think I may have to re-install windows even, slowly it seems to be having problems with different features. At the moment dial-up networking and my printer is gone haywire. Problem being that my windows cd fell on the floor and my chair which has wheels rolled over it breaking the case and cd.

:mad: I'm in such a mess here...

If I restart my computer I can connect and go for about 15 minutes but if I put to many requests through eg loading multiple webpages or even loading another site (leaving this one) I get disconnected and have to restart to use another 15 mins of online time.

This only started happening today.

[ionsurge]

omg! That is soooo strange, do you have a firewall? If not try downloading a freebie one, if you don't want to buy one, there are lots out there.

Then you can see what or who is coming in and out of your machine.

[scroots]

get up an ms dos prompt when your connection is going barmy and type netstat and that will tell you what server you are connected to.

scroorts

[Mhtml]

I have some firewalls on cd but have never installed them.
I think I have black ice defender and something else.

Nestat just hangs.

[oracleguy]

If it has been a while since you last re-installed Win98 then yeah you probably have to re-install. Were you able to salvage your CD Key from your broken CD case? If so you could just use a friend's CD and insert your CD key when it asks you.

Or maybe this is a good time to upgrade to Windows XP???

Also you could if, you can, try a diffrent modem and see if that fixes it... or move your modem to a diffrent PCI slot in your computer. Or try downloading newer or even older drivers for your modem....

[Mhtml]

I have the cd key so I should be able to install off a friends cd. YAY! I wish I could upgrade to XP though, but alas I'm running a PII 200mmx with only 64mb ram with no prospect of upgrading in the next year.

My modem is external also, reason being is that we get a lot of lightning in my area, being in the middle of nowhere and all. We get a lot of surges coming through the phone lines and have to be able to quickly take the line out incase the surge protector doesn't work.

Currently there are no newer or older drivers for win 98 for my modem which means I can't do any driver stuff except re-install the current drivers which I have done.

Now, since I have re-installed my drivers I don't seem to be getting disconnected :) but it still seems to be transfering data which I can confirm via my ISP which records the transfer and recieve amounts and other stuff for me to go over, which I can access when I'm online.

I am about to install a firewall, anything I should know first? Like common problems or best configurations for a 56k?

[Mhtml]

Can you believe that I can get software from a cornflakes box that has minimum requirements higher than my computer? I think the cornflakes box probably has more power than my computer even.

[Mhtml]

Ok, I just installed ZoneAlarm. It works really well, there is not constant traffic stream going in or out of my computer anymore.

EDIT: Thanks to ZoneAlarm (and ionsurge for suggesting a firewall) I have found that I have (had) the opaserv.worm.

It was messing with my conection a little I assume but mainly it was clogging up the transfer and recieve pipes with requests to a computer which I traced to a host in Canada.

[Majik_Dance]

Them damn Canucks !

:D

[Mhtml]

lol :D