Need help -- Dial-up problems with zv5000z

I bought a zv5000z, and it arrived on Feb. 18. I ordered the following direct from HP:
Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
512MB RAM (one stick)
5400rpm HD
DVD/CD-RW combo
Internal floppy
Non-BrightView display
XP home

I use 56K dial-up at the moment, due to no DSL where I live and unreliable cable service. I'm actually content with this, since I mainly use my laptops at home. If I need to do high-speed research, I can do it at work.

Anyway, I like this zv5000z a lot, BUT I've had nothing but trouble with it in terms of trying to connect to the Internet. I'm a very experienced user, so I believe I know what I'm doing. The software modem installed in the zv5000z never connects at the same speed twice, but that's typical for soft modems, and I expected that. So, I bought a hardware PC card modem, and it arrived today. I could never get it to work properly. I also tried the hardware modem in a friend's HP zx5000 (P4C-based laptop), and it wouldn't work right with my ISP. HOWEVER, when I put the hardware modem in an old Sony laptop that still runs Windows 98SE -- no problem. It worked fine. So, the PC card modem isn't at fault.

Anyway, I called HP tech support. They couldn't figure it out and told me to call my ISP. They couldn't figure out what was going on either. (I'd rather not give out the name of my ISP -- I'll just say it's not AOL or MSN.)

If I went into all the details, it would put you all to sleep. I do strongly suspect that the problem is the software for my ISP, and the modems aren't getting configured correctly to work with it.

I can get the software modem to work OK, but I'd much prefer getting the hardware modem to work so I could get a better connection.

Basically, no matter which modem I try to use, the following happens:
1) I have trouble disconnecting; many times this freezes the laptop completely, and I have to reboot by using the power button;
2) The connection gets dropped frequently (mainly with the hardware modem);
3) I have my ISP software configured to automatically launch my browser (Opera). Sometimes this works. When it doesn't, everything freezes again. I reconfigured the ISP software to launch Firefox, but that didn't work at all. I reconfigured it to launch IE. Again, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
4) When I reconfigure my ISP software to NOT launch any sort of browser upon connection, I'm unable to manually launch any browser, and the laptop freezes.

I think the next thing I'll do is try to use a different ISP with the laptop. If that ISP works fine, then I'll know for sure that my ISP software is the culprit. The problem is, I don't want to change ISPs just to use this laptop!!

Also, I tinkered around with XP's firewall, AV software, etc. trying to see if that made a difference -- it didn't.

I realize most of you are using broadband and wireless, but if anyone has any ideas on how to get my modems working properly with my ISP software, please reply. Thanks!

 

Hi Karsten,
No doubt you've alot of things going on all at once here, but let's work from the mundane and establish some baseline criteria, ok?

- Have you disabled your built-in modem (as you refer to it, the 'soft modem') both in your system's BIOS and Device Manager? Failure to do so may result in IRQ and other systemic conflicts. Be sure to check that out.
- Have you checked the status of your PCMCIA slot using a different card in the slot? Do that right away, especially if you are experiencing intermittent issues with another card - it's likely you may need an updated driver for that interface, so verify that slot is ok by using some other card there. At the very least we can try to pinpoint if that slot is 'acting up' on you.
- Have you tried to dial out to any other service with this PC Card modem on your new laptop? I'd try to dial out to AOL, NetZero, local BBS, etc., just to make sure the thing is doing what it's supposed to do in the first place.

Have a look at these items and post back, ok?

Good Luck!

 

You might try finding a USB modem? Creative used to make a nice one, not sure if they still do. Check eBay if you can't find anything locally.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by net2000man

 

Hi!
I realize this is a very old thread, but I thought some people might be interested in how this problem was solved.

I had installed Norton AV 2005 on the zv5000z. In contrast, the friend I mentioned who had no trouble with her modem/dial-up service with her HP laptop, had Norton AV 2004.

At any rate, I uninstalled Norton AV 2005, installed the freeware version of AVG and presto! All problems resolved.

Ultimately, I ended up returning the zv5000z and buying a laptop from another company. I encountered the same trouble/conflicts with Norton AV 2005 and my AT&T dial-up software. Uninstalling Norton solved the problem. I reported this to Norton, and it's possible that with program updates that they've fixed the problem, but my guess would be that it'd be low on their list of priorities.