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"WE MADE YOU!!!" - Maximum Overdrive
AOL, for all the trashing it's gotten over the years, has been surprisingly straightforward to deal with, from a tech's point of view. Most of the problems with it have been related to software configuration, which is generally cured by a quick reinstall of the AOL client software.
Some problems I had recently (05/01) prompted me to look into an issue further. We had a string of eMachines running Windows ME come back to the store with AOL connection problems. Most of them would connect to the AOL service and then refuse to deliver service from the AOL Winsock proxy, which effectively prevents use of anything besides the AOL client itself (can't even browse a web page in AOL's built-in browser).
A small few were having issues with random connection drops. For all the hell eMachines catches, their machines have been pretty solid. Sometimes, the factory preload is a little flakey, but that gets quickly solved with a bare OEM install and latest drivers generally. I wasn't inclined to believe that this was a hardware problem. The modems were Mac Systems model MW560CLI, Rockwell-based PCI HSP modems.
I explored with the AOL software on a target machine, installing AOL 5.0 (instead of 6.0) on a clean WinME install. Same thing, no Winsock. Um, what?
The machines that dropped connections were even more annoying. I was *REALLY* thinking it was a hardware problem there. I first tried changing the Mac Systems modem with a generic Lucent model (we all know how Conexant drivers can be), and the problem still existed. In final futility, I tried a Cirrus Logic ISA hardware modem, and the problem went away. At least I'd narrowed it down, but I didn't want to cry victory just yet.
At this point, I started poking around on the Net. After sifting through the usual tirade of AOL customers ranting about their poor service and problems (um, HELLO?!? there ARE other ISPs out there...), I came across two MS Knowledgebase articles that were very helpful in closing this case.
The article about AOL connection problems says that the problem only exists in AOL 5.0. I can vouch that it's still around in 6.0. I'm not sure exactly what configuration triggers the problem, but if it happened on a clean ME install with nothing but drivers, Windows Update, and AOL, it has to be something relatively common.
Finding the above information pretty much clinched it. The solution? We suggested other ISPs to the customers who wanted to stay with WinME, and we traded and loaded Win98SE for the customers who wanted to stay with AOL. None of the machines had any problems after that point.
Shame on AOL and shame on Microsoft. That's all I have to say about that.