AOL + New XP Laptop = major issues

Hi,

Trying to set up my old man's brand new laptop (not even a week old). It's a Fujitsu Amilo Pro with Intel Pentium Dual Core, Windows XP Home and 1 Gig of memory. Spent a few hours configuring a Linksys wireless modem and all was well until I installed AOL Version 9.0 - he was already set up with an account.

As soon as I logged in, I got a pop-up that told me to download a patch to ensure AOL works properly with XP. Promptly downloaded said patch and 'restarted' Windows as requested on completion. Before closing down, I got a couple of 'End Program Now' boxes with names I didn't recognise, then the dreaded Blue Screen of doom - something about a missing or corrupt file in the system file. Subsequently, I was completely unable to boot the PC up again.

Thought it best to take it back to the shop. They reinstalled XP and everything seemed fine when I got it home. I had a play around with the basic stuff - Windows Media Player, Nero, etc, etc. All seemed fine.

This time, however, I didn't download the AOL patch when asked at the same point. Subsequently received numerous AOL 'updates', mostly concerned with 'connectivity', and got myself another Blue Screen.

This time, however, there seems to have been some sort of automatic 'AOL recovery' process. The only issue now is that the entire display of the PC resembles the large and fuzzy font style of 'Safe' mode. I can't seem to alter the display to a decent size and definition. It's barely adequate at best. Tried restarting a few times, but to no avail.

(a) Should I worry about using AOL with XP? The AOL V.9 disk that I used works fine on a friend's PC.
(b) Does AOL just suck? Transferred across to BT Internet myself ages ago.
(c) How can I get a normal display back?
(d) Is the laptop a non-starter? May just take it back and get a replacement, but don't want to go through the whole thing again.

Any help much appreciated as always.

Cheers

 

I use AOL and would change to another ISP if it wasn't so much aggro to change my email addresses on loads of different sites.
My internet PC is also a test rig, and as such, gets a full format and clean install every 3 months or so. I've noticed the same thing with the AOL connectivity patch for XP sp2, and I've tried ignoring it and not downloading it, but it does it anyway, eventually.
It is theoretically possible to connect not via AOL, and I have set up a connection manually and done this on the earlier XP pro (non service pack version). The computer ran slightly faster as well. But when I tried this on SP2, it didn't work for some reason. If you want to try it, it's

Control Panel, Network Connections, Create a New Connection.
Connect to the Internet, Set up My Connection Manually, Connect Using a Broadband Connection that Requires a Username and Password. Type AOL Broadband into the box. Type in your username and passwords etc, and click finish.
This should work as long as you have the modem drivers installed. (I used to install them first, then install AOL from the setup exe on the disk). When the AOL disk autoruns, if you don't want to sit there and listen to all that blah and see pictures of how to connect the DSL filters etc, close it to cancel the installation, then open it to view the files and find the installer. It still takes a while but it's less annoying.

 

as far as i remember there was a connectivity issue between aol and xp service pack 2. you had to install two patches to correct the problem. one from aol and one from microsoft. on aol go to keyword then type in WINXPSP2. thats where you will get the first. if you contact aol support they can tell you where to find the second patch from microsoft.