🚀 go-pugleaf

 
If you need or want newsgroup answers concerning technical issues or
problems, MindSpring Support has requested that these type of questions be
posted to the mindspring.help  newsgroup. This is to try and at least give
the Support staff just one newsgroup to monitor. Please try your best to
cooperate. They are VERY busy these days and need all the cooperation we
can give them in their support effort for the new software. Thanks... 
 
 
*****  MINDSPRING SOFTWARE FIX-IT WEB PAGES ***** 
 
MindSpring has set up web pages with some of the installation errors  
and some things to do, if you receive these errors. The URLs are: 
 
For Win 3.1x software: 
 
http://help.mindspring.com/modules/win/fix/pipeplus.html 
 
For Win95 software: 
 
http://help.mindspring.com/modules/w95/fix/pipeplus.html 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 
These tips listed below are primarily for those of you that will be
installing  
or have attempted to install the MindSpring 2.60-16 Win 3.1x software on 
your system already. 
 
These tips are my own opinion, based on my experience with the beta 
software, and don't necessarily have any sanction from MindSpring Tech 
Support. Your mileage may vary...  ;-) 
 
Bat 
kabon@pipeline.com 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 
There have been many folks reporting having various problems with the 
MindSpring software upon, or just after installation. Many of the 
symptoms and error messages may vary, but can end up being solved by 
following a few guidelines: 
 
 
1)  Many people are having problems due to attempting a CUSTOM 
installation of the software.My advice is, DON'T do it! Select to do a 
NEW installation. Choosing a NEW installation will NOT overwrite ANY 
of your existing applications. All the MindSpring software is 
installed in the c:\pipeplus directory or sub-directories. The CUSTOM 
installation routine seems to be flawed, at least to my mind. And if 
it doesn't go correctly, the Uninstall routine is DEFINITELY flawed 
because it can't find the log file the installation created. This is 
also true of a NEW installation. There is indeed a log created though. 
It's the file MSINSLOG.TXT and will be located in your 
c:\windows directory. If for some reason your installation doesn't 
work, this file will help you identify what files were added and which 
files the install may have overwritten with its own version.  
 
If you need to reinstall the software, delete the entire \pipeplus
directory and all its sub-directories. The installation process should also
have created backup copies of your WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files, which you
should use to overwrite the current versions with, in order to get your
system back to the way it was before you started the installation, or as
close as possible anyway. After you have deleted the \pipeplus directory
and overwritten the existing WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files with the backup
copies, you need to exit Windows and start it back up again. This should
have you very close, if not quite exactly, back to where you were before
attempting the initial install. 
 
 
2) The MindSpring Win 3.1x software uses a proprietary winsock.dll 
file, a similar situation to the Pipeline software, except that the 
connection protocol is PPP rather than PinkSlip. The MindSpring 16 bit 
winsock.dll file (size 31429 bytes, dated 05/09/96) is installed to 
the c:\pipeplus\bin directory. You need to copy this file to your 
c:\windows directory. You will need to rename any existing winsock.dll 
file already located there, even including Microsoft's own, before you 
copy MindSpring's over to this location. A copy of the MindSpring 
version of the winsock.dll is required here, IF you have the 
Connection auto-enabled option active. For some reason the software 
won't look for the winsock in the \bin directory with this option 
enabled. It looks to your path instead, but it can only use the 
MindSpring winsock, so that's why you need a copy in c:\windows (or 
somewhere in your path anyway). 
 
 
3)  The Access Panel (mspring.exe) is a resource HOG. On Win 3.1x 
systems, there are very limited amounts of these resources available, 
so you are limited in the number of tasks you can have running at the 
same time, while the Access Panel is also running. Fortunately, you 
don't NEED the Access Panel to connect to MindSpring. You can create  
a Program Manager icon for the dialer (connect.exe, located in the 
c:\pipeplus\bin directory) and by running just it, instead of the 
Access Panel program (mspring.exe), you can save a huge amount of 
these limited resources and most of the problems folks have had with 
GPFs and system crashes can be avoided. You can launch your 
applications from Program Manager icons, from File Manager, or from 
3rd party task launchers, in place of using the Access Panel. 
 
 
4) In the set up, make certain that you have the correct domain name 
entered, based on the info you supplied to MindSpring concerning 
whether you wanted to keep your Pipeline email address (@pipeline.com) 
or whether you wanted a new MindSpring address (@mindspring.com).  
I've heard that BAD things can result from the wrong domain being 
entered... ;-) 
 
MODEM STRINGS 
 
5)   In some cases, people having connection problems might benefit from
trying a different modem initialization string. The first thing I would try
is using the string that you had working with your Pipeline software. This
string is displayed on the Connect screen, if you have the Advanced Options
selected (a checkmark by it) on the Options menu. 
 
Folks with U.S. Robotics Sportster models (possibly any modem) might also
try using   AT&F1  if using your Pipeline string doesn't help. 
 
You might also try reducing your baud rate. This might get you connected,
but if it does work, may indicate that something is still not right,
possibly with your POP or that your modem string STILL isn't quite right. 
 
NOTE: 
Any time that you want to make changes to your configuration, you should do

do so by using the Configuration button on the Access Panel to get to those
options, if they are accessible there. This is because any changes made via
the Configuration tabs are written to the MSPRING.INI file, which has
control over all the other .ini files that might let you access the
particular settings you're interested in changing. For example, you could
change your modem string by directly editing the MODEM.INI file, which
would keep the settings you wanted until the next time you launched the
Access Panel. If there are any values in the MSPRING.INI file that don't
agree with a value in an individual .ini file, the Access Panel
(MSPRING.EXE) rewrites the individual .ini files so that their values match
what IT has stored in the MSPRING.INI file. This is  
how someone can THINK they have a certain value set, but not have it be
what they thought at some later point. Voice of experience here... <g> 
 
 
SOME POSSIBLE PROBLEMS AFTER CONNECTION 
 
If you can connect, but NONE of your apps seem to work, you've probably  
got a winsock problem and you should refer back to  2) , up above in this  
post. 
 
After your software is installed and you have a connection, IF your web
browser works, BUT you can't access your mailbox or get a connection to the
news server, THEN you are having authentication problems. If this is
happening to you, there are some things to check before you call Support. 
 
a)  Make sure that the correct domain info has been entered in the Options
for your email and news clients. If you have chosen to keep your email
address in the Pipeline domain ( <mailbox name>@pipeline.com ), then these
are the server names that should be in your settings: 
 
POP (incoming mail) server:     pop.pipeline.com 
 
SMTP (outgoing mail) server:    mail.pipeline.com 
 
NNTP (news) server:     news.pipeline.com 
 
 
If you've chosen to move your email address over to the MindSpring domain  
(<mailbox name>@mindspring.com ), then these servers should be in your
Option settings: 
 
POP (incoming mail) server:      pop.mindspring.com 
 
SMTP (outgoing mail) server:     mail.mindspring.com 
 
NNTP (news) server:      news.mindspring.com 
 
If the wrong servers are listed in your options, or your authorization
entries for Free Agent are either missing or wrong, you can run the set up
program  (mssetup.exe) over again and change the info, or you can manually
edit the settings in each of your affected apps. One thing to make sure of
when reviewing these settings is that it is your MAILBOX name that is
entered, NOT your logon userID (msXXXXXX). 
 
If it looks like the info is correct, then the problem could be that you
are not yet listed (they may be running a little behind) in the
authentication database  
or that the data for your account is there, but is incorrect. In either
case, you should call MindSpring Support at 1-800-719-4660 and explain to
them your problem and have them check the authentication database. 
 
Hope this helps... 
-- 
 
Bat 
 
kabon@pipeline.com 
kabon@juno.com 
 
So long Pipe, it wasn't all bad, by any means...