Having Major Problems Staying Connected To Internet With Laptop!

[ThreeD]

I bought my Mom a Laptop this past Christmas.  It is a Dell Inspiron 1501 with Vista Home Basic.  The computer works fine, but it WILL NOT stay connected to the Internet.  We have Dial-Up and I also have a Desktop that is connected and the Desktop stays connected to the Internet.  But, the Laptop usually disconnects after a few minutes.  Sometimes it will stay connected for an hour or two, but 95% of the time, it only stays connected for a few minutes.  I have contacted my ISP, however they don't offer Tech Support for Vista.  Would that have something to do with it?  Could it be possible that since they don't have support for Vista, that Vista is causing problems with the ISP?  I have also checked the modem and it says that it is working properly.  I also contacted Dell and downloaded the updates for the modem, but it doesn't seem like they were installed.  Can anyone help me with this problem? 

Also, I have downloaded the updated drivers twice, but the date is still the date of the old ones.  It is like they aren't downloading.  Will uninstalling the existing ones and THEN downloading the updated ones make them install correctly?  Thanks in advance!

[JJ 3000]

Is it still under warranty? If it is, Dell should help you with this. They have their own forum for help with Dell products http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/?~ck=ln&lnki=0&nav=true
Does this machine have any antivirus programs installed?

[programming_pat]

1. Is the laptop connecting to the net by a phone line, or a network cable connected to the desktop?

[programming_pat]

oops... just figured out what u meant.

it may be a problem with the modem or ms vista.

[patio]

MS Article

Or This Little Ditty

[ThreeD]

Is it still under warranty? If it is, Dell should help you with this. They have their own forum for help with Dell products http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/?~ck=ln&lnki=0&nav=true
Does this machine have any antivirus programs installed?

Yes, the Laptop is under warranty until December.  I have called Dell several times and have done everything they have told me to do, but it still hasn't helped.  My Mom is still having problems with it.  And, now she has came across some more problems:  She can't get FireFox to work correctly and has uninstalled and re-installed it, but it just keeps loading the page and doesn't get finished.  Also, when she gets e-mails that are in notepad, some of them are unreadable.  They just have mixed characters everywhere.

I called Dell a while back about the Laptop and told them I just wanted a new one, because it is under warranty until December of this year.  However, they told me that it has to be within the first 21 days (I think) to be eligible for a refund.  I have done everything they said, including downloading updates, etc., but NOTHING is working!  Is there ANYTHING I can do?  My Mom is having online classes and needs her Laptop working.  If Dell can't fix it, would they be required to replace it, even if we have had it longer than the 21 days?  Please, if anyone can help, I would totally appreciate it.  Thanks!

[DaveLembke]

If you both live at 2 different locations, bring the laptop to your location and try it on your dial up. If it behaves, then its likely a bad connection.

If you live in teh same house hold, then plug the laptop in to your dial-up cable that normally is connected to your desktop and see if you have better connectivity.

Bad phone cords, bad (old copper lines ) can cause problems if the lines are from the 70's or 80's or even older. A good indicator of poor lines is a lower than normal sync speed  in which the ISP is hosting a 56k service and you are connected at only 33k, 26k, 19k, or even worse 14k.

My house has old 1970's telephone poles leading to it and up until broadband came to my area, my maximum connection was 26k on a good day, but usually 19k .... and boy was that painfull!!!!! ISP was hostinga 56k service and I was not able to get full bandwidth, and it would disconnect a lot since the lines were poor and noisy.

[ThreeD]

If you both live at 2 different locations, bring the laptop to your location and try it on your dial up. If it behaves, then its likely a bad connection.

If you live in teh same house hold, then plug the laptop in to your dial-up cable that normally is connected to your desktop and see if you have better connectivity.

Bad phone cords, bad (old copper lines ) can cause problems if the lines are from the 70's or 80's or even older. A good indicator of poor lines is a lower than normal sync speed  in which the ISP is hosting a 56k service and you are connected at only 33k, 26k, 19k, or even worse 14k.

My house has old 1970's telephone poles leading to it and up until broadband came to my area, my maximum connection was 26k on a good day, but usually 19k .... and boy was that painfull!!!!! ISP was hostinga 56k service and I was not able to get full bandwidth, and it would disconnect a lot since the lines were poor and noisy.

I have hooked it up to the phone jack that the desktop is hooked up to and it still disconnects.  Thanks for the reply.