DSL crashes

I am a novice to DSL so please bear with me. I have a friend who has verizon DSL and says it crashes every time he attempts to go to the internet. I was going to reload the software for him as a first step then found that the verizon software must have the signal to install properly. So I am back to basics. The verizon on line help I have found so far has not helped me much.
Please specific questions:
Is there any constructive troubleshooting I can do off line?
When I can get a signal at his house what is the recommended trouble shooting steps?

 

First we need to know what crashes, the computer or the connection?
Exactly what do you mean by this.

In reality, you do not need their software to setup and connect to the internet. You can do it with a router and just type the username and password into the PPPOE entries.
So again,, what is crashing, the installer program? The modem? The computer?

Another thing to consider, often they ship the modem before they activate the DSL on the line. It may arrive up to a week before the account is active and you cannot connect until then. Have you confirmed the account was activated? If you lift a phone without one of the filters connected, do you hear a high pitched squeal?

 

Hi and thanks for the response. As I said I am novice to DSL so bear with me. It is the computer that locks up when trying to access the internet. I am not familiar with the pppoe entries you refered to. Can you please step me through doing that? I am going to verify the NIC card is good this evening, anything else I can do offline would be appreciated. I currently have the computer at my house which does not have DSL so will do all off-line stuff there then do the testing requiring the DSL at his house.
Thanks very much for all advice.

 

Thanks for the response. I was concerned about spyware and viruses I loaded adaware, spybot and AVG and ran them all, got the usual hundreds of spyware instances. I also gave him a little more ram he had only 64K on a w98 machine. Verison says 64 is enough but even for the limited use he does with the machine I thought it inadequate. I plan to reload only the verizon software and will do that at his house but was looking for any other testing I could do at my house before returning the machine. I do plan to pull his NIC card and put it in one of the machines on my network to make sure it is working.
If there is a verizon tech support number for phone support I have not been able to find it. Does anyone here have that number?

 

Reinstall the software you got from the ISP. Often the DSL configuration and feedback agent will be seen as spyware and removed. While unnecessary after you have configured everything, it is needed to set things up unless you are using a router.

I agree that 64 is adequate for a win98 machine, but more is good.

 

Verizon DSL Tech Support

The phone number is 1-800-567-6789

 

How to set up WinPoet

per Verizon DSL Tech Support: With the Verizon DSL setup CD in CD-ROM :

Start/Run/E:\bin\Apps\WinPoet\Seup.exe

*You have to substitute your friend's CD-ROM drive Letter for E: (mine) *

Your friend should have been given a username & password. If he wasn't, he should have gotten that once he was on the Account Activation screen, on the Verizon DSL setup CD. On mine, that screen was blank, which led me to contact tech support, & receive a temporary username & password & the
above instructions.

You can use sort of like a dial-up connection, by using connect & disconnect buttons, or set it to stay connected.

 

DSL Line Activation

Verizon DSL should have called your friend when the DSL line's been activated, & there should be signal for the DSL to function once called.
I got a voice message from James Earl Jones when mine was supposedly ready. Mine didn't sync up right, which is a whole other story, but like oshwyn5 said, you can get the hardware hookup delivered: modem, cables, filters, CD, manual, etc., maybe a week or more before the line's been activated. You can hook up all the hardware but should wait until the lights are steady green on the DSL modem, before attempting to load any software.
You have to also make sure you put a DSL filter on every phone jack NOT connected to the DSL modem. For the jack that's going to connect to the DSL modem, you should plug direct from the jack to the modem, unless you
also want a phone or dial-up modem & phone connected to that jack. In that case, you should have received a 2-1 jack to plug into the wall jack. You then plug the cable from the DSL modem into 1 side, --- a DSL filter, then the cable from the phone or dial-up modem into the other side.

 

What is the make and model of the modem??

 

DSL Modem

Mine's a Westell Versalink 327W Gateway, which is a modem/router/firewall.
It was supplied by Verizon with the rest of the self-install kit.

 

If that's the case no software whatsoever is required.

 

Thanks all. I will use all this when I put the unit back in in his house. I verified last night that his NIC was bad so this may not be a software issue at all. But if I don't link with the new nic then I will do a verizon software reinstall. Thanks again I will let you know at the next step or if this was successful.

 

Correction?

Scott Smith: I could be wrong but I think you meant robwhite's friend's modem, not mine. I, like you, are just trying to help robwhite help his friend.
I got an e-mail from this board's admin saying you replied to a thread i posted to, so I thought you were replying to me, & not robwhite.

robwhite: perhaps Scott Smith's question, if directed at you, would still be helpful to have an answer to., so...What is your friend's DSL modem?

 

yea we got our wires crossed.

Carry on!