Voyager "sticking"

[Mr C Price]

Has anyone else had this problem?

Recently I've been trying to load up Voyager only to find that it "sticks"
regularly at 11 seconds (always 11 seconds) and needs rebooting.

On about the 3rd or 4th reboot I manage to log on successfully.

Help anyone??

Chris.

[Colin Matthews]

Post by Mr C Price
Has anyone else had this problem?
Recently I've been trying to load up Voyager only to find that it
"sticks" regularly at 11 seconds (always 11 seconds) and needs
rebooting.
On about the 3rd or 4th reboot I manage to log on successfully.

As Paul V posted recently, Voyager is 'not very good'. I hang on to it
because it's what I'm comfortable with, but have alternatives for when
it just won't work, which is getting to be rather too often. This
sticking problem can resolves itself after 45 seconds or more; or alt
break will ask you to quit fetching or sending which (if you're not
using quick fetch) may get things going again when you press the
buttons. Alternatively right click on disable mail and news usage in
Preferences>User, and enable them again once Voyager is up and
running. This sometimes works . . .

[Tennant Stuart]

Post by Colin Matthews

Post by Mr C Price
Has anyone else had this problem?
Recently I've been trying to load up Voyager only to find that it
"sticks" regularly at 11 seconds (always 11 seconds) and needs
rebooting.
On about the 3rd or 4th reboot I manage to log on successfully.

As Paul V posted recently, Voyager is 'not very good'. I hang on to it
because it's what I'm comfortable with, but have alternatives for when
it just won't work, which is getting to be rather too often. This
sticking problem can resolves itself after 45 seconds or more; or alt
break will ask you to quit fetching or sending which (if you're not
using quick fetch) may get things going again when you press the
buttons. Alternatively right click on disable mail and news usage in
Preferences>User, and enable them again once Voyager is up and
running. This sometimes works . . .

If it really were Voyager that's at fault, how come you can just turn
the modem off, wait a few moments, then log in quite successfully?

And on the other occasions where the email or news fetcher goes wrong,
if it really were Voyager that's at fault, how come you get a window
appearing with a message from the server saying the fetch failed?

Plus if it really were Voyager that's at fault, how come I'm having
problems (about 1/3 of logins) at the same time that other users are
having problems, and until recently we didn't have these problems?



Tennant Stuart

[pv]

In article <***@orpheusmail.co.uk>,
Tennant Stuart <***@orpheus.co.uk> wrote:

[Snip]

If it really were Voyager that's at fault, how come you can just turn the
modem off, wait a few moments, then log in quite successfully?

That implies your modem or line.....

What modem are you using, and I assume you have the Voyager driver to
"Generic Hayes (1)"?

[Colin Matthews]

Post by pv
What modem are you using, and I assume you have the Voyager driver
to "Generic Hayes (1)"?

I have a US Robotics modem and the driver is set to USR Sportster
28800 because 'Disable modem speaker' is greyed out with Generic
Hayes, and I don't like the noise!

[pv]

I have a US Robotics modem and the driver is set to USR Sportster 28800
because 'Disable modem speaker' is greyed out with Generic Hayes, and I
don't like the noise!

Actually, you should be ok there because USR modems are about the best, and
the drivers actually work properly. :-)

In your case, I'd leave it set to Sportster 28800.

Paul

[Russell Hafter News]

Post by pv

Post by Colin Matthews
I have a US Robotics modem and the driver is set to USR
Sportster 28800 because 'Disable modem speaker' is
greyed out with Generic Hayes, and I don't like the
noise!

Actually, you should be ok there because USR modems are
about the best, and the drivers actually work properly.
:-)

They certainly were *not* always the best. Many years ago
now I wasted £120 on one where the fax part (at that time by
far and away the most important part of the modem, as its
top speed otherwise was 2400 and I had no internet access
anyway) never worked. USR did exchange it, but that made no
difference at all. I have refused to touch USR equipment
since, after spending another £45 on a neat little Pace
modem which still works beautifully, either for the
occasional dial-up I need to do, as well as for faxes.

[Lionel Smith]

Post by Russell Hafter News
They certainly were *not* always the best. Many years ago
now I wasted £120 on one where the fax part (at that time by
far and away the most important part of the modem, as its
top speed otherwise was 2400 and I had no internet access
anyway) never worked. USR did exchange it, but that made no
difference at all. I have refused to touch USR equipment
since, after spending another £45 on a neat little Pace
modem which still works beautifully, either for the
occasional dial-up I need to do, as well as for faxes.

Well that was not my experience. I used the 28k8 Sportster's supplied Win
3.1 FAX software with Win installed on a 5000 and a PC podule type card
(with 8Mb of SIM RAM on it (which I took to 16Mb after doing the
underboard jumper-wire mod - later Podule cards were OK). The docs sent
included images. This also going out through the Serial Port podule card.

Lionel

[Russell Hafter News]

Post by Lionel Smith

Post by Russell Hafter News
They certainly were *not* always the best. Many years
ago now I wasted £120 on one where the fax part (at
that time by far and away the most important part of
the modem, as its top speed otherwise was 2400 and I
had no internet access anyway) never worked. USR did
exchange it, but that made no difference at all. I have
refused to touch USR equipment since, after spending
another £45 on a neat little Pace modem which still
works beautifully, either for the occasional dial-up I
need to do, as well as for faxes.

Well that was not my experience. I used the 28k8
Sportster's supplied Win 3.1 FAX software with Win
installed on a 5000 and a PC podule type card (with 8Mb
of SIM RAM on it (which I took to 16Mb after doing the
underboard jumper-wire mod - later Podule cards were OK).
The docs sent included images. This also going out
through the Serial Port podule card.

I was trying to use it with David Pilling's ArcFax, which I
still use regularly, together with the Pace Modem, again on
an A500 at first, then on an RPC.

The feeling of relief when I got something that worked as
promised and straight out of the box!

[Lionel Smith]

Post by pv
Actually, you should be ok there because USR modems are about the best,
and the drivers actually work properly. :-)

A view with which I concur and is the reason why I have stuck so long
with the 28k8 even when somebody at Argonet as long ago as 1999 expressed
surprise that I had not gone quicker by buying a more up-to-date (for
that time) modem.

It has worked acceptably aided by the properly buffered Serial Port added
into first an A5000 and then transferred to a RPC so that the M/B port
could be used for a graphics tablet. Yes it did improve speeds on the RPC
as I tried the 28k8 for awhile to get a feel of things.

Lionel

[G Robin Edwards]

Post by Colin Matthews

Post by pv
What modem are you using, and I assume you have the Voyager driver
to "Generic Hayes (1)"?

I have a US Robotics modem and the driver is set to USR Sportster
28800 because 'Disable modem speaker' is greyed out with Generic
Hayes, and I don't like the noise!

I have the same problem as Colin Matthews - though only of recent date -
and the problem is erratic. I have the same modem exactly, though it
thinks it is a 33.6 speed one! I do not use Generic Hayes also for
exactly the same reason. Tried it only a few days ago after reading
Paul's advice, and switched back immediately. I have used this modem,
and Voyager, since 1996. Never any problems with line or modem, which
is on 365/365, and has been since new apart from vacations.

I'm pretty sure that something happened to "the system" a few weeks ago.
I don't mess about with my system, because I don't know how :-((

Robin Bromsgrove B60

[Tennant Stuart]

Post by pv
[Snip]

Post by Tennant Stuart
If it really were Voyager that's at fault, how come you can just turn
the modem off, wait a few moments, then log in quite successfully?

That implies your modem or line.....
What modem are you using,

The one you put in my hands at the racecourse.

Post by pv
and I assume you have the Voyager driver to "Generic Hayes (1)"?

I have it, but I'm using the "MagicExpress 56K" driver.

We've been through all this before Paul, don't you remember? When Orpheus
started up, some people including myself had a lot of problems logging in.

Then the problem suddenly went away, as some unknown person finally did
their job properly, and all has been well until a few weeks ago - with the
same software, the same modem, and the same driver all the way through.

And if the line is at fault, how come authentification works okay?


Tennant

[Lionel Smith]

Post by Tennant Stuart
And if the line is at fault, how come authentification works okay?

Because not all transactions during your session will use the same comm's
routes.

Lionel

[Russell Hafter News]

Post by Tennant Stuart
Plus if it really were Voyager that's at fault, how come
I'm having problems (about 1/3 of logins) at the same
time that other users are having problems, and until
recently we didn't have these problems?

We are not having problems, as I have said earlier.

Problems (minor) with other ISPs, none with Orpheus for
months now.

So it is either the software or the phone line.

[Tennant Stuart]

Post by Russell Hafter News

Post by Tennant Stuart
Plus if it really were Voyager that's at fault, how come
I'm having problems (about 1/3 of logins) at the same
time that other users are having problems, and until
recently we didn't have these problems?

We are not having problems, as I have said earlier.

Russell, do you not read the complaints from other users???


Tennant

[Russell Hafter News]

Post by Tennant Stuart

Post by pv
In article

Post by Tennant Stuart
Plus if it really were Voyager that's at fault, how
come I'm having problems (about 1/3 of logins) at the
same time that other users are having problems, and
until recently we didn't have these problems?

We are not having problems, as I have said earlier.

Russell, do you not read the complaints from other
users???

Yes. Somewhere between 6 and 10 people, it would appear. I
do not know how many accounts Orpheus has, but for Paul's
sake I sincerely hope that the number is well into three
figures, in which case it is reasonable to assume that well
over 90% do not have any problems at all.

You say elsewhere that you can authenticate and then browse
OK. So you /are/ connecting to Orpheus OK.

Paul has suggested to you that the software is not that
good. Have you tied any other software? You can integrate
both POPStar and Newshound into Voyager if you want.

[martyn]

Post by Russell Hafter News

Post by Tennant Stuart

Post by pv
In article

Post by Tennant Stuart
Plus if it really were Voyager that's at fault, how
come I'm having problems (about 1/3 of logins) at the
same time that other users are having problems, and
until recently we didn't have these problems?

We are not having problems, as I have said earlier.

Russell, do you not read the complaints from other
users???

Yes. Somewhere between 6 and 10 people, it would appear. I
do not know how many accounts Orpheus has, but for Paul's
sake I sincerely hope that the number is well into three
figures, in which case it is reasonable to assume that well
over 90% do not have any problems at all.

Make that somewhere between 7 and 11 as I too have had recent problems not
dissimilar to those reported. In my case when the problem occurs and I
unfreeze the machine by alt-break and quitting news and mail fetch, I
usually find I cannot access the net. I also once found that when
connecting via my windows-only laptap that after completeing
authentication I was unable to connect to any site (I don't use the laptop
for mail or news). The only reasonable assumption is that there is at
least a small number of people affected - you cannot know how many people
have decided that a 'me too' posting would add nothing useful to the
discussion.

What is reasonable to assume is that if a problem simultaneously hits a
few or more people after an extended period in which they have had no such
problem then either their machines have picked up some unknown viral
infection (I'd guess that the probability of that in this case is on the
small side of negligible) or that the problem is not at their end.

Paul has indicated that he is trying to track down anything that might be
going wrong between his end and ours. Since there is some suggestion that
it could be a geographical problem it might be useful for him to know that
one of the afflicted (i.e. me) lurks in North Staffordshire.

[Russell Hafter News]

Post by martyn
Make that somewhere between 7 and 11 as I too have had
recent problems not dissimilar to those reported. In my
case when the problem occurs and I unfreeze the machine
by alt-break and quitting news and mail fetch, I usually
find I cannot access the net. I also once found that when
connecting via my windows-only laptap that after
completeing authentication I was unable to connect to any
site (I don't use the laptop for mail or news). The only
reasonable assumption is that there is at least a small
number of people affected - you cannot know how many
people have decided that a 'me too' posting would add
nothing useful to the discussion.

Well, there was a brief problem with connecting to the
Orpheus smtp server from here at 1840 on 20 April.

Twice I got

20 Apr 18:40:52 020 Socket error when receiving data from
server: Operation would block (35)
20 Apr 18:40:52 020 Server failed to issue welcome prompt:
Operation would block (35)

and I aborted.

2 minutes later all was fine again. Perhaps the server was
temporarily overloaded with a number of others uploading
bike e-mails?

[Paul Vigay]

Well, there was a brief problem with connecting to the Orpheus smtp
server from here at 1840 on 20 April.
Twice I got

[Snip]

What software are you using? I use POPstar on an Iyonix and I've been
connected to Orpheus all evening (albeit not sending emails continuously,
but I have been answering a load of emails, approx 200) and I've not had
any problems connecting to either pop or smtp.

Did you have any web browsers loaded at the time? Especially an unpatched
version of O2 (which expires all spare sockets over the space of a few
hours if you leave it loaded on the iconbar).

[Russell Hafter News]

Post by pv

Post by Russell Hafter News
Well, there was a brief problem with connecting to the
Orpheus smtp server from here at 1840 on 20 April.
Twice I got

[Snip]
What software are you using? I use POPstar on an Iyonix

Same as you - POPStar 2.06-ds.5 RISC OS 3.70

Post by pv
and I've been connected to Orpheus all evening

as have I, though not sending anything since that particular
e-mail which did not send at 1840:52, and some 10s
previously. Just checking for e-mail and news to download.

Post by pv
(albeit not sending emails continuously, but I have been
answering a load of emails, approx 200) and I've not had
any problems connecting to either pop or smtp.

As I said, it was for no longer than 2 minutes at the most,
probably less. The log has been overwritten now. But unless
you had tried to send something at exactly the same moment,
I suspect that you would never have seen it.

Post by pv
Did you have any web browsers loaded at the time?

No.

Post by pv
Especially an unpatched version of O2 (which expires all
spare sockets over the space of a few hours if you leave
it loaded on the iconbar).

I only have Fresco and that was not loaded.

[k***@argonet.co.uk]

In article <***@orpheusmail.co.uk>,
martyn <***@orpheusmail.co.uk> wrote:

<snip>

Post by martyn
Paul has indicated that he is trying to track down anything that
might be going wrong between his end and ours. Since there is
some suggestion that it could be a geographical problem it might
be useful for him to know that one of the afflicted (i.e. me)
lurks in North Staffordshire.

I'm in Fife and use Voyager on dial-up. No problems here.
Ken

[John Spurrier-Davies]

Post by k***@argonet.co.uk

Post by martyn
Paul has indicated that he is trying to track down anything that
might be going wrong between his end and ours. Since there is
some suggestion that it could be a geographical problem it might
be useful for him to know that one of the afflicted (i.e. me)
lurks in North Staffordshire.

I'm in Fife and use Voyager on dial-up. No problems here.

I'm in South Wales and also using Voyager on dial-up. No problems here
either.

John Spurrier-Davies