Win98SE and Comcast Hi Speed Internet (cable)?

OK, I finally got the Comcast Cable Internet connection set up and working,
by using the USB port. (I tried installing several a few PCI network cards
as suggested, and couldn't get any of them to work (even had a few blue
screens along the way, relating to some VFAT issues, and perhaps some IRQ
conflicts, but I'm very OK with just using the USB method to get hi speed
access, at least for now).

But - I have a slightly annoying residual problem here on my Win98SE
computer (and only on that one), which I haven't been able to resolve:

I have both Comcast Cable (for hi-speed) AND dial-up as a fallback (using
Earthlink, since my email account is with Earthlink, and is a POP3 email
account), without any major problems. (I have an account with Earthlink,
which is noth my email and Usenet provider).

However, whenever I'm connected using Comcast on the Win98SE computer, and
initially try to read email in OE (clicking Send and Receive), it always
*initiates* a dial-up connection, even though the USB Comcast cable
connection is connected and is working for IE, which is a bit annoying.

I've checked all my connection settings in OE and IE, and can't find
anything wrong in my settings. This problem doesn't happen with the XP
computer and Comcast, which has similar settings (although it uses an
Ethernet card, not USB).

Interestingly enough, after OE *initially* connects via dial-up and reads
the mail, OE promptly disconnects the dial-up connection afterwards, and
everything is fine from that point onward (meaning, if I click Send and
Receive again, it does not reconnect via dial-up, which is good!). But
when I close OE, and then reopen OE again, I have to go through this whole
thing again (always initially connects through the dial-up modem to read the
mail the first time).

Does anybody have a clue as to why it does this?

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
OK, I finally got the Comcast Cable Internet connection set up and
working, by using the USB port. (I tried installing several a few
PCI network cards as suggested, and couldn't get any of them to work
(even had a few blue screens along the way, relating to some VFAT
issues, and perhaps some IRQ conflicts, but I'm very OK with just
using the USB method to get hi speed access, at least for now).

But - I have a slightly annoying residual problem here on my Win98SE
computer (and only on that one), which I haven't been able to resolve:

I have both Comcast Cable (for hi-speed) AND dial-up as a fallback
(using Earthlink, since my email account is with Earthlink, and is a
POP3 email account), without any major problems. (I have an account
with Earthlink, which is noth my email and Usenet provider).

However, whenever I'm connected using Comcast on the Win98SE computer,
and initially try to read email in OE (clicking Send and Receive), it
always *initiates* a dial-up connection, even though the USB Comcast
cable connection is connected and is working for IE, which is a bit
annoying.

I've checked all my connection settings in OE and IE, and can't find
anything wrong in my settings. This problem doesn't happen with the
XP computer and Comcast, which has similar settings (although it uses
an Ethernet card, not USB).

Interestingly enough, after OE *initially* connects via dial-up and
reads the mail, OE promptly disconnects the dial-up connection
afterwards, and everything is fine from that point onward (meaning, if
I click Send and Receive again, it does not reconnect via dial-up,
which is good!). But when I close OE, and then reopen OE again, I
have to go through this whole thing again (always initially connects
through the dial-up modem to read the mail the first time).

Does anybody have a clue as to why it does this?

IIRC somewhere in your dial-up networking settings is a box to uncheck
about dialing up when no other network is detected.

Been so long since I used Win98.

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
OK, I finally got the Comcast Cable Internet connection set up and
working, by using the USB port. (I tried installing several a few
PCI network cards as suggested, and couldn't get any of them to work
(even had a few blue screens along the way, relating to some VFAT
issues, and perhaps some IRQ conflicts, but I'm very OK with just
using the USB method to get hi speed access, at least for now).

But - I have a slightly annoying residual problem here on my Win98SE
computer (and only on that one), which I haven't been able to resolve:

I have both Comcast Cable (for hi-speed) AND dial-up as a fallback
(using Earthlink, since my email account is with Earthlink, and is a
POP3 email account), without any major problems. (I have an account
with Earthlink, which is noth my email and Usenet provider).

However, whenever I'm connected using Comcast on the Win98SE computer,
and initially try to read email in OE (clicking Send and Receive), it
always *initiates* a dial-up connection, even though the USB Comcast
cable connection is connected and is working for IE, which is a bit
annoying.

I've checked all my connection settings in OE and IE, and can't find
anything wrong in my settings. This problem doesn't happen with the
XP computer and Comcast, which has similar settings (although it uses
an Ethernet card, not USB).

Interestingly enough, after OE *initially* connects via dial-up and
reads the mail, OE promptly disconnects the dial-up connection
afterwards, and everything is fine from that point onward (meaning, if
I click Send and Receive again, it does not reconnect via dial-up,
which is good!). But when I close OE, and then reopen OE again, I
have to go through this whole thing again (always initially connects
through the dial-up modem to read the mail the first time).

Does anybody have a clue as to why it does this?

IIRC somewhere in your dial-up networking settings is a box to uncheck
about dialing up when no other network is detected.

Been so long since I used Win98.

On 6/24/2010 17:20, FromTheRafters wrote:
"Bill in wrote in message
...
OK, I finally got the Comcast Cable Internet connection set up and
working, by using the USB port. (I tried installing several a few
PCI network cards as suggested, and couldn't get any of them to work
(even had a few blue screens along the way, relating to some VFAT
issues, and perhaps some IRQ conflicts, but I'm very OK with just
using the USB method to get hi speed access, at least for now).

But - I have a slightly annoying residual problem here on my Win98SE
computer (and only on that one), which I haven't been able to resolve:

I have both Comcast Cable (for hi-speed) AND dial-up as a fallback
(using Earthlink, since my email account is with Earthlink, and is a
POP3 email account), without any major problems. (I have an account
with Earthlink, which is noth my email and Usenet provider).

However, whenever I'm connected using Comcast on the Win98SE computer,
and initially try to read email in OE (clicking Send and Receive), it
always *initiates* a dial-up connection, even though the USB Comcast
cable connection is connected and is working for IE, which is a bit
annoying.

I've checked all my connection settings in OE and IE, and can't find
anything wrong in my settings. This problem doesn't happen with the
XP computer and Comcast, which has similar settings (although it uses
an Ethernet card, not USB).

Interestingly enough, after OE *initially* connects via dial-up and
reads the mail, OE promptly disconnects the dial-up connection
afterwards, and everything is fine from that point onward (meaning, if
I click Send and Receive again, it does not reconnect via dial-up,
which is good!). But when I close OE, and then reopen OE again, I
have to go through this whole thing again (always initially connects
through the dial-up modem to read the mail the first time).

Does anybody have a clue as to why it does this?

IIRC somewhere in your dial-up networking settings is a box to uncheck
about dialing up when no other network is detected.

Been so long since I used Win98.

Or possibly the connection setting under OE for the specific account.
Account Properties Connection (tab). Uncheck "Always connect using"

On 6/24/2010 17:20, FromTheRafters wrote:
"Bill in wrote in message
...
OK, I finally got the Comcast Cable Internet connection set up and
working, by using the USB port. (I tried installing several a few
PCI network cards as suggested, and couldn't get any of them to work
(even had a few blue screens along the way, relating to some VFAT
issues, and perhaps some IRQ conflicts, but I'm very OK with just
using the USB method to get hi speed access, at least for now).

But - I have a slightly annoying residual problem here on my Win98SE
computer (and only on that one), which I haven't been able to resolve:

I have both Comcast Cable (for hi-speed) AND dial-up as a fallback
(using Earthlink, since my email account is with Earthlink, and is a
POP3 email account), without any major problems. (I have an account
with Earthlink, which is noth my email and Usenet provider).

However, whenever I'm connected using Comcast on the Win98SE computer,
and initially try to read email in OE (clicking Send and Receive), it
always *initiates* a dial-up connection, even though the USB Comcast
cable connection is connected and is working for IE, which is a bit
annoying.

I've checked all my connection settings in OE and IE, and can't find
anything wrong in my settings. This problem doesn't happen with the
XP computer and Comcast, which has similar settings (although it uses
an Ethernet card, not USB).

Interestingly enough, after OE *initially* connects via dial-up and
reads the mail, OE promptly disconnects the dial-up connection
afterwards, and everything is fine from that point onward (meaning, if
I click Send and Receive again, it does not reconnect via dial-up,
which is good!). But when I close OE, and then reopen OE again, I
have to go through this whole thing again (always initially connects
through the dial-up modem to read the mail the first time).

Does anybody have a clue as to why it does this?

IIRC somewhere in your dial-up networking settings is a box to uncheck
about dialing up when no other network is detected.

Been so long since I used Win98.

Or possibly the connection setting under OE for the specific account.
Account Properties Connection (tab). Uncheck "Always connect using"

"Bill in Co." wrote:

I tried installing several a few PCI network cards as suggested,
and couldn't get any of them to work (even had a few blue
screens along the way, relating to some VFAT issues, and
perhaps some IRQ conflicts

I've always found that setting up a PCI ethernet card on a win-98
machine is as easy as falling off a log.

Using USB is extraordinarily, well, dumb.

"Bill in Co." wrote:

I tried installing several a few PCI network cards as suggested,
and couldn't get any of them to work (even had a few blue
screens along the way, relating to some VFAT issues, and
perhaps some IRQ conflicts

I've always found that setting up a PCI ethernet card on a win-98
machine is as easy as falling off a log.

Using USB is extraordinarily, well, dumb.

FromTheRafters wrote:

Been so long since I used Win98.

Then why are you reading and posting to this group?

FromTheRafters wrote:

Been so long since I used Win98.

Then why are you reading and posting to this group?

Bill Blanton wrote:
On 6/24/2010 17:20, FromTheRafters wrote:
"Bill in wrote in message
...
OK, I finally got the Comcast Cable Internet connection set up and
working, by using the USB port. (I tried installing several a few
PCI network cards as suggested, and couldn't get any of them to work
(even had a few blue screens along the way, relating to some VFAT
issues, and perhaps some IRQ conflicts, but I'm very OK with just
using the USB method to get hi speed access, at least for now).

But - I have a slightly annoying residual problem here on my Win98SE
computer (and only on that one), which I haven't been able to resolve:

I have both Comcast Cable (for hi-speed) AND dial-up as a fallback
(using Earthlink, since my email account is with Earthlink, and is a
POP3 email account), without any major problems. (I have an account
with Earthlink, which is noth my email and Usenet provider).

However, whenever I'm connected using Comcast on the Win98SE computer,
and initially try to read email in OE (clicking Send and Receive), it
always *initiates* a dial-up connection, even though the USB Comcast
cable connection is connected and is working for IE, which is a bit
annoying.

I've checked all my connection settings in OE and IE, and can't find
anything wrong in my settings. This problem doesn't happen with the
XP computer and Comcast, which has similar settings (although it uses
an Ethernet card, not USB).

Interestingly enough, after OE *initially* connects via dial-up and
reads the mail, OE promptly disconnects the dial-up connection
afterwards, and everything is fine from that point onward (meaning, if
I click Send and Receive again, it does not reconnect via dial-up,
which is good!). But when I close OE, and then reopen OE again, I
have to go through this whole thing again (always initially connects
through the dial-up modem to read the mail the first time).

Does anybody have a clue as to why it does this?

IIRC somewhere in your dial-up networking settings is a box to uncheck
about dialing up when no other network is detected.

Settings are ok there. (I've tried it both ways ("never dial a
connection", or "dial whenever a network connection is not required" -
didn't solve it).

Been so long since I used Win98.

Or possibly the connection setting under OE for the specific account.
Account Properties Connection (tab). Uncheck "Always connect using"

No, those settings are ok (checked those before).

Maybe it has something to do with using a USB pseudo LAN connection, and OE
isn't smart enough to recognize it's already connected when first invoked,
even though it's sharing settings with IE.

Although that doesn't really explain it, either, since after the initial
connection, it never dials-up again, unless - and until - I close OE, and
start OE again. (again, all of this is happening while I am connected to
cable internet)