Strange AOL and Internet problem, this has me stumped.

[kcrispin3]

Hey all,

I built a computer for a client, and the client requested that I install AOL 7 on the computer, which I did. However because I did not use AOL, i couldnt really test it, but getting on the Internet using my LAN setup worked fine. The entire computer worked fine. So the client gets it and tries to sign onto AOL. AOL works fine and all functions within AOL works, however no external program, such as a separate instance of Internet Explorer, ICQ, even ping commands works. They dont seem to be able to see the AOL net connection.

So far we tried to uninstall AOL 7, clean out all the protocols, so the only thing installed was just the entry in the NIC adaptor, then reinstall AOL 7 (computer restarts in between each of those steps), and the problem remains. We checked ot make sure that the firewall software was not interfering by disabling it and testing the connection. No effect, so the firewall is not interfering.

So the problem isnt solved yet, and with that in mind, we then proceeded to wipe out that partition, and restore from a ghost disk image the state of the computer right before i shipped it, and did the same above process, except instead of reinstalling AOL 7, we did AOL 6 instead. No dice.

Currently, we plan to go ahead and remove AOL, then our firewall software (Norton Internet Security 2002), then clean out the protocols, and reinstall AOL and see if that works, thinking that somehow NIS2k2 was interfering with the process.

Otherwise I am pretty much at a loss for any more ideas to try.
Any ideas you guys can think up with, as well as any known issues I should know about? Thanks a lot in advance!



Here is the system information:

-AMD Athlon XP 1500+
-256mb DDR RAM
-MSI K7T266 Pro RU Motherboard w/ latest BIOS
-Sony 16x DVD connected to Primary Master on ide controller
-Sony 8/4/32 CDRW connected to Secondary Master on ide ctrller
-IBM UA100 20gb HDD connected to Primary master on RAID controller
-GeForce2 MX-400 64mb
-3com 3c905c-tx NIC
-3com USR 56k internal PCI modem
-WIndows 98SE
-Latest Via 4in1 driver set
-All latest drivers
-Norton Internet Security 2002
-AOL 7.0 Internet download version (originally), then later AOL 6 (platinum cd edition)

[kcrispin3]

Oh, forgot one piece of information

The client is using AOL dialup. The NIC was installed for any future ISP considerations.

[storm2k]

tcp/ip is most likely bound to the nic rather than to aol's dialer. i think aol uses it's own thing, so the internal aol app would work fine.

might wanna check that...

[kcrispin3]

Hmm, in other words, I should be seeing an TCP/IP - AOL Adaptor entry under Network properties.. I need to let the client know to check that (Unfortunately i live about 500 miles away from the client)

still open to more suggestions and ideas!

[storm2k]

i THINK so. even if they are through aol, programs like ie and ftp still need to use tcp/ip to work properly.

[kcrispin3]

i got the problem solved.. and this is definitely true to my saying:

The harder the problem, the stupider the solution.


The solution: THe client was using a Mature Teen AOL account, and under the parental control thing, this does not let you use any external internet enabled applications, aside from just plain AOL.

So naturally, we modified the parental control setting on that account a bit.