Cable Internet Connection Requires Aol To Go Online?

[WeaponX 0]

Just took a look at one of my user's computer and found a very strange problem. For some odd reason, he must sign into AOL in order to use his internet. I would understand if this is required if he is using AOL as his main connection, but he is using a dedicated cable service line. The same thing is happening to his other computer (requires him to sign onto AOL first before he can connect).After playing around with it for a while, Internet Explorer connected without AOHell's assistance. I made sure AOL was completely signed off and tried a few more websites and both computers seem to have full access to the internet now.Why is this happening when he has his own cable internet line? I could ping sites like Yahoo and it even says in the system tray that it's connected to the network 100% connectivity. I know it can't be the cable service going up and down either because once we connect to AOL everything kicks in normally. Both of these computers are plugged into the router directly using a ethernet cable. I tried releasing and renewing the IPs for both computers to no avail.I'm going to take a look at his computers again next week to see if he still has access to the internet without signing onto AOL. Was working without AOL when I left.I'm hoping someone has encountered a similar situation before. Any ideas suggestions are welcomed.Thanks.

[HellFire121 0]

It's probably a conflict with his modems drivers, sometimes it will work sometimes it wont. Have you tried uninstalling aol then trying to go online?I doubt that it is something on the isp end because as you said it only sometimes works with aol signed outOtherwise i'm not too sure but it definately sounds like some sort of conflicting programs or drivers to me-HellFire

[faulty.lee 0]

You can check the proxy setting also. It could be that the software supplied by the ISP (not sure bout AOL, cause i don't live in US), could have configured the proxy setting to proxy through their server, this is usually done as a security measure to prevent attack from outside. If so, then without loggin in, you won't be able to go through the proxy server, thus, you can't access the internetI'm assuming you're using windows. Check under Settings\ControlPanel\Internet Property. Under Connections tabs, LAN Settings. See if "Use proxy server for you LAN ......" is ticked. Untick it then try again.If not, you can also check the DNS setting of your Network Adaptor. Either set it to the one provided by your ISP (not AOL in this case) or put it to auto detect.Other than that, i can't think of anything else.Good Luck

[WeaponX 0]

Yeah, that was actually the first thing I checked. No proxy was set and I even tried checking to automatically detect. Makes no difference either way.If the cable service is using a proxy, will it be shown once I connect through AOL (and check Internet Explorer proxy settings)?I have actually thought about removing AOL, but hesitated. I will download the setup file for AOL first since he uses AOL. Then uninstall it....Any other suggestions? Will be returning to work on this computer early next week.Thanks.

[faulty.lee 0]

Welcome. I only know of the proxy since our local ISP also provided such service.

You mean you can ping Yahoo before login into AOL or after?

Maybe you can try some site which doesn't need domain name. As in skipping the DNS, to find out if it has to do with the DNS server or it's configuration. http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ This is google's direct IP.

Probably you can also check if there's any diff in various configuration before and after logging into AOL. Also look under Administrators Tools/Services, maybe AOL installed a service that trap such connection before login. You can also try to browse in Safe Mode (with Networking). That you can narrow down the possibility. If you can try on another pc/notebook(using the same configuration minus AOL) even better.

Good luck

[WeaponX 0]

Yeah, I tried it without using AOL and it could ping Yahoo, which I found to be strange. I will definitely take a look at the proxy settings after I connect back to AOL...still doesn't make sense why it will connect now without AOL though.Will also try a laptop to see if it can connect without AOL. Tried that Safe Mode with Networking already and the same problem occurs.

[faulty.lee 0]

Hmm, that's really wierd. Don't tell me the modem is controlled by AOL? What browser are you using? Maybe you can also try a diff browser.

[WeaponX 0]

I'm hoping not. I try to tell all my users to avoid using AOHell as much as possible, but most say they want to keep it. If it's controlled by AOL, then there must be some way to unhook it I'll post some update on this next week when I will continue working on his computers.

[ethergeek 0]

Look at the machine's default gateway via the route command. Most likely that's getting screwed with when you are dialing aol when connected via ethernet. I wouldn't be suprised if AOL fux up the routing table every time it connects.

[WeaponX 0]

I still didn't go back yet, but if the gateway is different, what can I do to fix the issue so AOL is not required to be connected to go online?

[WeaponX 0]

OK, I got some update on this issue. There seems to be another connection involved in one time or another. They still have to use AOL to connect at first before getting internet access. I connected and saw that there is a new connection under the Direct category (instead of under LAN where it normally is). Both say connected. The LAN is at 100Mbps and the Direct connection is at 10Mbps. I think that direct connection is related to AOL. It says something about a Mini WAN port or similar.What's even stranger now is that even if he closed AOL (presumably signs off?), we can access the internet using Internet Explorer. I checked the connections window again and this time that direct connection is gone. ALL the computers in the network immediately has internet access also (even with AOL closed/signed off now). I did an ipconfig before and after the AOL fiasco. Only thing I see different is an extra PPP adapter setting with an IP address, gateway and DNS server filled out. When we closed AOL (still has internet at this stage even with AOL gone in the picture), I did another ipconfig. Doesn't show PPP adapter anymore but still online.This is really puzzling the heck out of me. I had to work on two other computers in this guy's office and they both needed Windows to be reinstalled. I thought this would be a good test to really see if AOL was required. So after reinstalling Windows XP on both of them and all the necessary drivers, I tried going online. Nothing I connect to AOL on that other (third) computer, boom....everything is running. Even closing AOL at this stage doesn't interfere with the connection.I really don't see how AOL could be affecting the cable connection at this stage.Any other ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.Thanks.

[faulty.lee 0]

But then, if i don't recall wrongly, their ISP is not AOL right?Maybe you can explain a bit more on the external connection from the ISP to the LAN. We don't use cable service here, so don't know how it was configured. We only have ADSL via copper line, running on PPPoE

[ethergeek 0]

I still didn't go back yet, but if the gateway is different, what can I do to fix the issue so AOL is not required to be connected to go online?

Make sure AOL doesn't dial the modem. What I think is happening is this:

1) Cable comes up, gets IP 1.2.3.4 from DHCP, default gw is 1.2.3.1. Right here, everything is fine.
2) AOL comes up, gets IP 2.3.4.5 from DHCP, default gw is changed to 2.3.4.1. Still fine, though AOL is handling your traffic.
3) AOL goes down, forgetting to restore the default gateway. 2.3.4.1 is not reachable from 1.2.3.4 so packets go nowhere fast.

This is a classic problem with windows and multiple connections.

[vujsa 0]

Well, here is my guess...The user obviously used AOL in the past and may have signed up for their AOL Broadband service. The AOL Broadband service allows people used to the AOL system to continue using AOL with a broadband connection. AOL has for a long time been manipulating the computers of its users to hide the true internet from them. At one point in time, AOL had a software version that would allow it's members to fully interact with non-AOL email addresses. Really irritated a lot of people!My point is, the AOL software on the system has probably made changes that are causing the problems. Since many AOL users don't fully understand the internet, AOL has managed to continue getting monthly service fees without any real service! What is really funny is that their are many AOL users that have never made it beyond the AOL network and into the true internet.So the AOL software sets the computer up so that when a user tries to use the internet, the AOL login screen is shown so that the user can gain access to his or her account. The settings are such so that if you choose not to login or you logoff, the browser is closed. Again, this is AOL assuming that the user is only using the AOL interface. And, this also propagates the idea that you can only connect to the internet with AOL. AOL wants it's users to believe that the only way to use the internet is with their serve so they designed their software to make that dream a reality.You should be able to use the internet by opening a seperate browser without logging in first. My suggestion is to uninstall any AOL software on the systems you are inspecting.vujsa

[WeaponX 0]

That's correct. His ISP is Cablevision and it connected fine a few days before he called me in to take a look at the problem. They have a cable wire coming down from the roof to his office room. That's connected to a cable modem which is in turn connected to a router. All the computers are connected to this router using a CAT5 network cable.The problem is that it will NOT even connect without logging into AOL first. If we try to go online directly using Internet Explorer, it will give us a connection error or page not found message. I tried Google, Yahoo and other common sites that should come up easily. So what he has to do is open up AOL and sign in from there first. Then the internet access kicks in.The other two computers are having the same issues though. I thought it was AOL causing some conflict so I reinstalled Windows XP on two of his three computers (they needed to be reinstalled anyway ). Now he has a clean install of Windows without any AOL garbage ... but no internet access.This is why I'm stuck on this issue. It looks like once he's signed onto AOL, he can log off from it and still have the internet working after that. I have no idea why, but all the other computers (the other two with new Windows installation) will work perfectly fine after this.I don't see any reason why these two ISP's would be connected to each other as they are totally different companies as far as I know. I even took a look at the computers and they don't have a phone line plugged in. Even if he does use AOL dial up, I assume that the cable connection will take over if no other connection is found.