David Gillett's post(clipped):-

<<<(5)Win bond PCI fast ethernet Adapter(generic W89c840)

  Why?  Does it connect to anything?>>>

NO it is just there in the pci slot and the only thing that can be connected is the RJ-45?  telephone jack (system is not mine but a friends which I am troubleshooting)

<<<> (6)ADSL modem connected to 2 port usb adapter card in a pci slot

  Okay.  I'm not a fan of USB-connected DSl modems -- you can get a USB
ethernet connector if necessary -- but so far as I know they do/can work.>>>

yes the USB connected ADSL modem works well in another system with win 98se


<<<  PPTP is a VPN protocol, useful only if you're connecting to a VPN server
on a remote network.  So I believe this "device" is showing up because you
have a VPN client connection defined amongst your Network Connections.  Do
you?  Why?>>>

well except for knowing PPTP= point to point transfer protocol, VPN=virtual private network my knowledge about networking is ZERO.

At my friends place the system was connected to a router via USB port.so possibly the "wan miniport" got installed there?

in case it helps the following are the devices listed in the device manager in MY system under "network adapters"

(1) dial up adapter (2)realek RTL 8139/810X Family fast NIC (which i installed from my ASUS mobo installation cd) (3)USB adsl modem (which i installed from the modem user cd)

the ISP'S tel. line jack is connected to the slot in the modem and the other cable from the modem is connected to one of the USB ports in my computer.
so i presume that i am connected to my ISP through a VPN server?

all the trouble in my friends computer started when I installed the SAME adsl modem (through the user cd) in my friends computer/ did the configuration with the help of the ISP and got on to the internet.at first it did get connected and i got the computer icon in my system tray but after sometime the system froze leading to my first post. the ISP said it was a system problem and they can not help. correctly so i think.

<<<< What if you just ping them?

  Can you run "ipconfig /all >foo.txt" and then paste the foo.txt file
contents into an email back here?  That might offer us a clue.>>>

well, as of the moment i took out both the USB adapter/win bond adapter and after a lot of trials got the system to boot only yesterday.( with both these present in the PCI slots the system simply will not boot.)

I left it overnight to see if it froze but no, it is ok. so now I will have to see a way to install the modem and see how it goes.

<<< What do you do to "get connected"?  If you can't go to any sites, what are
you seeing that makes you think you "are connected"?>>>

in my system with the same modem i just click "connect" (user id/password saved)

and i get connected.

my first priority is to eliminate the random freezing in my friends machine and then possibly install a new NIC and see how it works out.

will this approach work?

finally sorry for the delay in posting but the system will not boot at all.

TIA and good day----Venkat

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