Problem installing Tiscali broadband modem software

Has anyone had problems installing the software for the Tiscali USB
broadband modem (I think the device is called SAMS)?

I have a customer who has successfully installed the software and modem in
the past, but then made various config changes that resulted in him trying
to remove and reinstall the drivers and associated software. I cannot get
the software to install now.

The OS is XP Home.

The symptoms are:

- (un)installation program TISCALI.EXE hangs (no CD or hard disk activity
for at least two minutes) at 0% way through removal of software, when run in
normal Windows mode, but apparently succeeds in uninstalling when in Windows
safe mode

- having apparently removed the software (in safe mode), the TISCALI.EXE
program hangs part-way through installation (somewhere beyond 0%, but I
can't remember how far) - I've only tried this in normal Windows mode; I've
not yet tried installing in safe mode

Both these operations are carried out with the USB modem unplugged, as
instructed on the CD.

Also, I noticed that I cannot create a dial-up connection - I was going to
do this for the customer as a backup mechanism in case of broadband
problems. If I do:

Add new connection | Connection type = Connect to Internet | Setup
connection manually

the option "Dial-up modem" is greyed-out. Is it normal that having set up an
ADSL connection object, you can no longer set up a dial-up connection
object?

On Mon, 10 May 2004 22:25:57 +0000, Martin Underwood wrote:

> Has anyone had problems installing the software for the Tiscali USB
> broadband modem (I think the device is called SAMS)?
>
> I have a customer who has successfully installed the software and modem in
> the past, but then made various config changes that resulted in him trying
> to remove and reinstall the drivers and associated software. I cannot get
> the software to install now.
>
> The OS is XP Home.
>

Why don't you get them a cheap router. I just did this for a friend last
night who is on Ticali and it saves a lot of hassle with USB. And you get
a bit more security with a router.

HTH

Dave

Dave

One possible cause:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=329441

The fix is to reinstall SP1.

--
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## PH, London
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"Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) s.com...
> Has anyone had problems installing the software for the Tiscali USB
> broadband modem (I think the device is called SAMS)?
>
> I have a customer who has successfully installed the software and modem in
> the past, but then made various config changes that resulted in him trying
> to remove and reinstall the drivers and associated software. I cannot get
> the software to install now.
>
> The OS is XP Home.
>
> The symptoms are:
>
> - (un)installation program TISCALI.EXE hangs (no CD or hard disk activity
> for at least two minutes) at 0% way through removal of software, when run
in
> normal Windows mode, but apparently succeeds in uninstalling when in
Windows
> safe mode
>
> - having apparently removed the software (in safe mode), the TISCALI.EXE
> program hangs part-way through installation (somewhere beyond 0%, but I
> can't remember how far) - I've only tried this in normal Windows mode;
I've
> not yet tried installing in safe mode
>
> Both these operations are carried out with the USB modem unplugged, as
> instructed on the CD.
>
> Also, I noticed that I cannot create a dial-up connection - I was going to
> do this for the customer as a backup mechanism in case of broadband
> problems. If I do:
>
> Add new connection | Connection type = Connect to Internet | Setup
> connection manually
>
> the option "Dial-up modem" is greyed-out. Is it normal that having set up
an
> ADSL connection object, you can no longer set up a dial-up connection
> object?
>
>
>
>

"Philip Herlihy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c7qqkr$26n$(E-Mail Removed)...
> One possible cause:
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=329441
>
> The fix is to reinstall SP1.

I didn't actually check whether SP1 was installed or not.

On further investigation, the PC seemed to be very sick. It often would not
run Control Panel | System | Properties (clicking had no effect) and it
would not run Control Panel | Admin Tools | Event Viewer (error running MMC)
or Control Panel | Modems (no effect).

The Tiscali modem installation app, which did appear to run to completion
from Safe Mode (but hung in normal mode), did not create a Network
Connection object.

Eventually the customer and I decided to cut our losses and do a clean
installation of Windows (an upgrade installation did not solve the problem).
Unfortunately I cocked-up the partitioning of the disk (I decided to
separate OS from apps and user data) and made the OS partition too small
("only" 3GB), so I had to redo the installation with the disk partitioned as
10 GB OS + 20 GB apps/data.

What a palaver!

Hi Martin
i had a very similar problem when first installing tiscali usb modem
and it worked out that because i was using an older pc my computers
power unit was not strong enough to run my system plus the added
burden of tiscali's modem which draws its juice from the usb ports.
That was my excuse to go and buy a new pc

If you can beg/borrow or steal an adsl modem with its own power source
or a router as recomended by the previous poster then can find out if
this is the problem,,,,,,i would just go and get that router.

Please could you post when you solve your problem as i'm interested to
find out what was causing it.

Goood luck

Baldiloxx

"Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed) ws.com>...
> "Philip Herlihy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:c7qqkr$26n$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > One possible cause:
> > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=329441
> >
> > The fix is to reinstall SP1.
>
> I didn't actually check whether SP1 was installed or not.
>
> On further investigation, the PC seemed to be very sick. It often would not
> run Control Panel | System | Properties (clicking had no effect) and it
> would not run Control Panel | Admin Tools | Event Viewer (error running MMC)
> or Control Panel | Modems (no effect).
>
> The Tiscali modem installation app, which did appear to run to completion
> from Safe Mode (but hung in normal mode), did not create a Network
> Connection object.
>
> Eventually the customer and I decided to cut our losses and do a clean
> installation of Windows (an upgrade installation did not solve the problem).
> Unfortunately I cocked-up the partitioning of the disk (I decided to
> separate OS from apps and user data) and made the OS partition too small
> ("only" 3GB), so I had to redo the installation with the disk partitioned as
> 10 GB OS + 20 GB apps/data.
>
> What a palaver!

"DC" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> Hi Martin
> i had a very similar problem when first installing tiscali usb modem
> and it worked out that because i was using an older pc my computers
> power unit was not strong enough to run my system plus the added
> burden of tiscali's modem which draws its juice from the usb ports.
> That was my excuse to go and buy a new pc
>
> If you can beg/borrow or steal an adsl modem with its own power source
> or a router as recomended by the previous poster then can find out if
> this is the problem,,,,,,i would just go and get that router.
>
> Please could you post when you solve your problem as i'm interested to
> find out what was causing it.

Unfortunately I never did find out what was causing the problem. After
faffing around for ages trying to install and/or remove the modem software
(which invariably hung in normal mode and would only complete in safe mode)
I came to the conclusion that Windows XP was seriously knackered on the PC:
so many Control Panel applets failed to do anything at all or produced
incomplete screens. I took the decision that the best solution was to wipe
the disk and start again: an upgrade/repair of Windows didn't solve the
problem.

Luckily I had a spare disk that I could add as a temporary repository for
all the user files, which saved the problem of backing up about 3 GB of data
piecemeal to CD!

I decided to partition the system disk so that all the apps and user data
could be put in a separate partition where they would be safe even if it was
ever necessary to format the OS partition in the future. First time round I
cocked up the partition sizes: 3 GB is too small for a system partition and
causes Windows Update to report "not enough disk space" :-( However I
established that the Tiscali drivers installed and ran perfectly - so
perfectly that the PC became infected with Sasser while I was installing the
very Windows patch that would have blocked it :-( However I was able to
download the patch and save it to CD.

When I rebuilt the PC for the second time (this time with a 10 GB system
partition) I installed the Sasser patch fom CD before going online at all.
Everything worked perfectly and the PC was restored to sanity.


By the way, is there a way of getting Windows to put the users' profiles
(the \Documents and Settings directories) on a partition other than the C
drive? It was frustrating that the only user files that I had to put on the
C drive were the contents of each user's My Documents which live below
\Documents and Settings. I couldn't see a way from Control Panel | User
Accounts of specifying where the home directory would go - remember this is
XP Home, not Pro.

Had a similar problem with a printer which was attempting to draw more power
from the PC than it could muster. The solution was a powered USB hub.

--
####################
## PH, London
####################
"DC" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> Hi Martin
> i had a very similar problem when first installing tiscali usb modem
> and it worked out that because i was using an older pc my computers
> power unit was not strong enough to run my system plus the added
> burden of tiscali's modem which draws its juice from the usb ports.
> That was my excuse to go and buy a new pc
>
> If you can beg/borrow or steal an adsl modem with its own power source
> or a router as recomended by the previous poster then can find out if
> this is the problem,,,,,,i would just go and get that router.
>

1) Activating the inbuilt XP firewall before connection would have prevented
the Sasser infection.

2) In XP Pro, if you're part of an Active Directory you can use Group Policy
to set up "Folder Redirection" to relocate key user folders, usually to a
server. That's not an option with XP Home.

You may be able to use the Linkd.exe utility (Resource Kit: See:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en)

to create "junction points", which create a folder which acts like a
"hyperlink" to another physical location on the same machine. These are
transparent, and are much more flexible than the (still useful) DOS "SUBST"
command - you can put a Junction Point anywhere, and point it to anywhere on
the local machine. I don't have an XP Home machine available so I can't
check. See: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;205524

For the My Documents folder, there is a "Target" path (right-click My
Documents and pick "Properties") which you can alter to any arbitrary path.
Again, I can't check if this is available on the Home edition, but if it is,
that sounds like your answer.

--
####################
## PH, London
####################
"Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) s.com...
> ...I
> established that the Tiscali drivers installed and ran perfectly - so
> perfectly that the PC became infected with Sasser while I was installing
the
> very Windows patch that would have blocked it :-( However I was able to
> download the patch and save it to CD.
>
....

>
> By the way, is there a way of getting Windows to put the users' profiles
> (the \Documents and Settings directories) on a partition other than the C
> drive? It was frustrating that the only user files that I had to put on
the
> C drive were the contents of each user's My Documents which live below
> \Documents and Settings. I couldn't see a way from Control Panel | User
> Accounts of specifying where the home directory would go - remember this
is
> XP Home, not Pro.
>
>

"Philip Herlihy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c7tn41$sli$(E-Mail Removed)...
> 1) Activating the inbuilt XP firewall before connection would have
prevented
> the Sasser infection.

The customer completed the installation of the OS and installed the ADSL
software the first time I rebuilt the PC (when it became infected) because I
was called away, so I don't for certain how it happened. However I noticed
when I rebuilt the second time (with a large enough system partition this
time) that the built-in firewall was automatically enabled. If this was the
case the first time, then Sasser got through the firewall :-( However the
second time I installed the Sasser patch (Update 835732) from CD, having
previously downloaded it, before going online, so as to be sure that I'd be
protected.

> 2) In XP Pro, if you're part of an Active Directory you can use Group
Policy
> to set up "Folder Redirection" to relocate key user folders, usually to a
> server. That's not an option with XP Home.
>
> You may be able to use the Linkd.exe utility (Resource Kit: See:
>
>
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en)
>
> to create "junction points", which create a folder which acts like a
> "hyperlink" to another physical location on the same machine. These are
> transparent, and are much more flexible than the (still useful) DOS
"SUBST"
> command - you can put a Junction Point anywhere, and point it to anywhere
on
> the local machine. I don't have an XP Home machine available so I can't
> check. See:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;205524
>
> For the My Documents folder, there is a "Target" path (right-click My
> Documents and pick "Properties") which you can alter to any arbitrary
path.
> Again, I can't check if this is available on the Home edition, but if it
is,
> that sounds like your answer.

Excellent: I'd not heard of Linkd and I'd clean forgotten about Subst. I
should have thought back to my Unix days and remembered hard and soft links.
I'll give Linkd a try.

I've just checked the Target Path for My Documents. It *does* exist for
Windows XP. I'll suggest it to the customer: it makes for a nice simple
setup where everything (including user data in My Documents) is held on the
second, non-system partition.

"Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) s.com...
>
> Excellent: I'd not heard of Linkd and I'd clean forgotten about Subst. I
> should have thought back to my Unix days and remembered hard and soft
links.
> I'll give Linkd a try.

Linkd creates the equivalent of a Unix symbolic link, as I understand it, so
that if you delete the target the link is left dangling. With a hard link,
the data remains until the last one is "unlinked" (synonym for deleted, of
course).

> I've just checked the Target Path for My Documents. It *does* exist for
> Windows XP. I'll suggest it to the customer: it makes for a nice simple
> setup where everything (including user data in My Documents) is held on
the
> second, non-system partition.
>

Not quite everything, alas. Desktop and user Application-Data and
Local-Settings will still be held locally. Of these the Desktop is likely
to be the largest folder, but remember the Outlook and Outlook Express data
stores too.

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## PH, London
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