Computer help please.

[Stewards enquiry]

My Daughter has a Toshiba laptop computer. Dial up trying to dial up BT Yahoo. Every time she tries to dial up she gets the message ' Error 633. The modem (or other connection device) is already in use or not configured properly.' She has tried everything she can think of. Unplug, press this, press that, but no joy. It had been running properly until the other day when this happened. Any advice please. If any, in simple terms please as neither of us understands computers.

Thanks.

[Fadetoblack]

Turn on the glos signal and point it skywards...

[GlosRFC]

Error 633 is usually easy to fix. I'd recommend the following:

1. Check if something else is using the modem. Pick up the phone and listen for the squeaks and squawks that tells you a modem is operating. If you can, or can't hear anything, check what programs are running - your daughter might've downloaded something that's trying to use the modem. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to see a list of the applications that are running. If there's anything you don't recognise in that list try ending the task and check your modem. If you can connect then it means that program was the culprit and we can deal with that.

2. If she's using Win98 then the telephon.ini file might be corrupt. It normally sits in your windows/system directory. Rename it to telephone.old and reboot. Then look for another file in your windows/system directory called tapiini.exe. Run that program and it will recreate your telephon.ini file so try dialling.

3. Another check is that the name of your modem matches the one that you've created in the Dial-Up Networking DUN. Look in Start, Control Panel, Modems to check this.

4. You can also delete the old DUN and create a new one.There are different ways to do this - in Win98 you click on My Computer, double-click Dial-Up Networking and then double-click Make New Connection. In Win XP you click My Computer and then select Network Places on the lefthand side of the window, followed by View Network Connections and then click Create A New Connection. In both cases you'll need to provide the telephone number and account details of your ISP so write them down from the original DUN (you can see that in the window when you click on Dial-Up Networking or View Network Places)

5. If she's installed a new firewall that might also interfere with the DUN software. Try disabling that and see if she can connect.

6. Reboot. Most of the time that will solve mysterious Error 633 messages.

If none of these solutions work, shout again :)

[Stewards enquiry]

Glos
Thanks I will print this off and give it her tonight.