View Full Version : "Choose a Network Connection"
My machine has just started the infuriating habit of deciding it doesn't like the connection to the router, and wants to connect direct to the Internet. Up pops the pane with "Choose a Network Connection" and a suggestion that it should use the old Alcatel Frog which was the first link to the outside world it ever knew about. The Frog has long gone to the great pond in the sky.
If I shut down the pane (one click), we are back to the normal connection and all is well. But if I'm NOT here, then the machine sits fat dumb and happy doing nothing, until I get back and give it a slap.
If I change the suggested connection (eg to the Bluetooth link to my cellphone), it will use that instead of the frog - but it still does it.
Does anyone know how to tell Win XP Pro that it's the router, the whole router, and nothing but the router, and don't even ask?
Not sure if I'm on the correct frequency, Keef, but I have to select 'never dial a connection' to use wifi or it digs up my internet history too!
Yes, I've got "never dial a connection" set in all the many places where it appears. But still the "Request for Frog" pops up from time to time. Mutter curse grr etc.
When is your frog popping up, as they say?:) Is it when you open IE/Firefox/Outlook or what? Is there setting somewhere that longs to hark back to pre-historic amphibians? Virus database update, etc etc?
Saab Dastard
5th Jun 2007, 16:25
What is in your "network connections" "properties"?
Where is this old Alcatel frog being referenced?
In IE I have NO dial-up or VPN connections specified - none needed, as it is a LAN connection to the wifi router.
Similarly for Firefox - direct connection selected.
SD
frostbite
5th Jun 2007, 17:00
"Request for Frog" pops up from time to time"
I blame the French.
Can you right-click and subsequently delete the item?
gizmocat
5th Jun 2007, 17:01
Are your tcp/ip settings DHCP or static ? Is your default gateway set to the routers IP addy ?
The Nr Fairy
5th Jun 2007, 20:18
You're probably ahead of me, but have you considered an infection ? This sort of thing went around years ago, but I get the impression you're more than technically savvy enough to avoid this.
Good thoughts there.
I did some looking up of stuff in the machine in response to those. I didn't find anything untoward.
I'm pretty sure it's not an infection - the check routines run often, and haven't reported as much as a sniff in a very long time.
The PC has a fixed address from the router (192.168.8.110) - that's so that I can access it remotely down the VPN. It's been that for a lot longer than the "request for frog" has been popping up. The router's IP address, set in the PC as default gateway and DNS server, is 192.168.8.1
Firefox and Thunderbird know that the Internet is a direct connection. I don't use IE or OE. The only software that doesn't say that is BOINC, which is set to "Internet Connection (Fall Back)". The other options are stuff like the Frog, "Bluetooth Connection" and "PCI Modem Dial-Up" - the same list as appears in the "Start - Connect To" list.
The "request for frog" seems to pop up at almost random times. Sometimes I'll leave the machine doing nothing, and come back after ten minutes and it's there. Other times, it won't do it for hours.
I wondered if it might be Firefox getting impatient when I've got several tabs open, and the stuff it's trying to get isn't coming fast enough for it. It popped up the window once this evening as I was refreshing several pages, but that may have been a coincidence: it doesn't really tally with the thing popping up the request when I'm not even using the machine.
I wondered about deleting all the connection options (including the Frog) so that the machine wouldn't have the option - but once in a while the ADSL goes down, and then I play round with dial-up to check the ISP status.
Hmmm...
Saab Dastard
5th Jun 2007, 23:12
I wondered about deleting all the connection options (including the Frog) so that the machine wouldn't have the option.
Go for it - you know you want to!
but once in a while the ADSL goes down, and then I play round with dial-up to check the ISP status
So you re-install your modem when you need to...
If the frog pops up more often than the ADSL goes down, then it's an obvious answer.
SD
Ah - so logical!
Now, who wants to take bets about how long it will be before I delete all the connection options?
The new ISP is very reliable. Maybe I just have to be a little bolder!
frostbite
6th Jun 2007, 11:45
I find Thunderbird is always very keen for me to connect when I'm typing a draft.
I type away, watching the keyboard like any good two finger plonker, and when I look up, find the connection pane has popped up and blocked half what I thought I'd typed.
OK, SD, you win!
I got heartily sick of it doing it last night, so I deleted all the entries under connection options (the main tag disappeared too, at that point).
It's not done it since.
If I want to use the Frog, or the dial-up modem, I will have to create a new entry for them. I'll live with that!
Saab Dastard
10th Jun 2007, 23:04
Keef - :ok:
If only getting rid of ALL frogs were so simple!
OK, so I'll wager that your internet connection will now go down and you'll need to revert to dial-up within oohh ... 1 week ;)
Just kidding.
SD
Feline
11th Jun 2007, 06:35
Funny - I have been having the same problem with unwanted dialler continually popping up. I wonder whether it isn't Firefox (my default browser). I do have Thunderbird installed, but use Eudora as my default e-mail client - so don't think it's down to Thunderbird.
My solution has been somewhat more radical - took HDD out and passed entire system to youngest son ...