Weird Dropped Dial-up Connections

For the last month or so I've been getting a lot of dropped connections on my 56k dial-up (I have a 7hr cut-off) - sometimes it would last for hours sometimes I'd get drops one after another. I checked with my isp (Karoo) and they told me their logs show a disconnection request from software on my Pc.

So I've been systematically removing software to source the problem causing application, and, it seems to be my anti-virus - which was F-Secure but I've also now tried 2 or 3 and they seem to cause the drop outs aswell.

I never would have expected an AVP to cause the problem (although someone else has now said it happened to them with F-Secure) so I just wanted to find out if anyone has had a similar problem.

I'm using XP Pro (SP-1) - but I've also checked it with Win2000 on the same machine, Diamond SupraExpress 56i Pro Modem (with the most Up-to-date drivers).

tef

have you asked bt to incease the line gain / attenuation yet???

that usually sorts a lot of disconnection problems out with analogue modems..

It's not BT Aido - but yeh I've had the line checked 3 times and the gain increased - if it was a line fault they reckon their logs would show a lost carrier signal or similar - it does seem to be being caused by my AVP.

is that modem a software dsp one?

i gave up on these in the end and stuck to external hardware ones as they seemed to be more reliable..

have your isp mentioned if they have changed the hardware used in the racks since you sometimes get hardware incompatibilities etc between different firmware versions in their racks..

may be worth seeing if they can give you this info - clara were always very good in this respect..

what actually happens if you completely remove the AVP software? do you still get the dropouts??

i use the symantec avp stuff here, just installed corp edition v8 which seems alright...

It's a good quality Supra Hardware modem - when I remove the AVP software the drop outs stop. Also I've tried various Symantec AVP products and never liked them with XP - there's always been way too much slow down and freezes for my liking - as I say I've tried a few and they all have the same issue.

cant u just let outlook or someother prog redial when ur connection is dropped... i have 2hr cutoffs (bt.. grrr) but i have outlook set to check for mail every 3 mins or sommat and it just dials me back in... i know its not a solution, but at least if ur d/ling sommat and ur out, the pc will reconnect without ur intervention, so for the time being u could do that... or have u tried that already?

Yeh I already have windows reconnect when it drops, that's not really my problem Marco, it's just when I'm working using then net it's a real pain when it keeps dropping every few minutes - whether it be 10 or 30 - if I'm d/ling something in the hub or sometimes you lose your slot etc. Sometimes I get a good few hours but when there's a lot of traffic from my pc - say I have a couple of auto-refresh pages / spamkiller and messenger going etc' the line will drop more often - but say like now I've had no AVP running and it's been connected for over 3 hrs.

here mate have you got a soundblaster card??

having a dig about and it says that some modem problems are caused by the liveware sftware and a reinstall should fix these..

long shot..

only got an old awe64 so it uses the built in XP drivers Aido - thanks tho ;)

UPDATE:-

It now looks like it wasn't my AVP - my latest suspicion is on a chat page I'd used - had 4 disconnections 1 after the other this morning when I started using it ;)

tef

that's what you get in those lonely heart chat rooms mate :)

it's not trying to download one of those 0891 dialers is it?

:D No it's a chat room on a board I mod at ;)