after being connected to the internet on my 56k dial up modem for a while, the connection just stops working. the internet connection remains "connected" but nothing works (eg web browsers, IM clients like MSN, anything that uses the internet) the little connection icon in the task bar also remains there, and i have to click it and select disconnect, wait for it to dissappear, then reconnect to get the internet to work again. It cuts out at random times, anything from 1/2 hr to 8 hrs... (when i say "cuts out" i mean, the connection dosnt work anymore, if you pick up the phone, the connection is still making noise and using the phone line but not accessing anything) WHY?!

Next time this happens go to the command prompt and type ipconfig/renew See what happens. If you can't connect it's probably something between you and your ISP that's screwing up; often just line noise. That's one of the joys of dial-up service: The phone network was never designed to handle 56K data transfer. Have your phone company check the line for noise or bad switches. I used to have this happen and the phone guy finally traced it down to two wires in a junction box 2 blocks away that shorted intermitently. Happened 2-3 times then I finally solved it by getting broadband.