Here are some of the
most frequent login problems:
Forgot to restart computer.
If you installed the software you have to restart the computer, otherwise
it won't work.
Check for wrong password,
wrong username, no username, misspelled username, mis-capitalized
username or password. Maybe your caps lock key is active. Make sure
that your username and password is all lowercases and no spaces in-between.
If your modem dials and you hear it connect but you can't do anything,
this is likely the problem. These are the most frequent reasons for
people calling technical support!
Wrong telephone number
(you don't need 310 if you are in the 310 area code) Try dialing the
telephone number using a standard telephone. Does a computer answer?
If not, you may have a wrong number. Click
here for a listing of all the L A Bridge numbers.
You may need 9 to dial
out if you are in an office. Again, you can test this by using a telephone
and dialing the same number your computer is trying to dial. Usually
you can add this by adding a 9 and then a comma to the phone number.
(ie. 9, 8730286)
Do you have call waiting?
This will cause problems by interrupting your connection. You can
temporarily disable your call waiting by adding *70, before your dialup
number, but your phone line has to support turning off call waiting
(ie. *70, 8730286). If not, you can call your local phone company
and request for this service. Or you can get a second phone line specifically
for your modem and fax.
Wrong modem port selected.
Make sure everything is cabled up and working. Use another program
to test the modem. Make sure you know which port it is connected to.
Make sure the software knows too.
Check the password again,
you'll feel awful dumb if you call for tech support and this is the
problem.
You may have some other
modem software that has taken over the modem and won't let go. This
kind of problem is hard to figure out. The best thing to do is to
look and see if you have other programs that use the modem, and make
sure they are deactivated. Fax managers and unneeded internet dialers
are the most common culprits. If you have two internet dialers you
are sure to get conflicts. You *MUST* delete one of them! If you have
two copies of the dialer software your internet connection WILL NOT
WORK! This is a very frequent problem. If you see too much Internet
Software delete it all and start over.
You may have a computer
or modem that isn't working correctly. See if the modem can call anyone
else besides L A Bridge. Try AOL or a regular phone number and see
if it works.
Sometimes it is worth
checking the modem initialization string. This is a command to put
your modem into "ready" mode. With the new microsoft system
it is unusual to have to play with this. If you really want to, you
can access this by going into the properties and perhaps try one of
the following:
at&f1
or check with your modem
manufacturer and see what they suggest.
If you only have 4 MB
of ram, it isn't enough. You at least 8 to16 MB. If you don't have
enough memory, the Internet programs will sort of work but they will
flake out and crash all the time. It will be unusable. You absolutely
*must* have at least 8 MB of ram. Note also that if you have utility
programs running in the background or even things like Microsoft Word
or Photoshop running they may tie up memory. Close all programs that
you don't need to free up the memory and see if this helps.
If you receive an error
message stating that your computer could not negotiate a compatible
set of network protocols, refer back to the set of instructions under
the section "Configuring a New
Connection." Follow the instructions once more to make sure
that your computer is configured properly.
The dialer does not always
tell you if you are logged off. If you suspect that your connection
has died, try closing it, then open the connection again.
If you are having trouble,
often turning things off and restarting the computer can work wonders.