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Connection Trouble
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First
check to see that you have upgraded to the lastest service pack.
The current service pack is displayed on the opening screen
of BidPlus when you first open the program. To check to see
that you have the current version installed, click on the Help
menu at the top, and then choose About BidPlus. You will see
your currently installed version displayed there. If see that
you need to upgrade to the current version, click on the Options
menu and then choose Update BidPlus Millennium. After downloading
the upgrade, you will need to reboot your computer in order
to install it. After the reboot, click the Help menu again,
and then go to About BidPlus to ensure that you are upgraded
to the most recent version.
The
next thing to check is to be sure that you are able to access
Unimatic through Skynet directly without going through BidPlus.
If you are not able to do so, then you will not be successful
going through BidPlus either. In that case, you will need to
contact UAL for support.
Be
sure to double check the settings on your anti-virus program.
Generally, 99.9% of the time the problem is due to the settings
changing and not allowing the connection to proceed. This can
happen whether or not you made any changes to your computer.
In addition to the firewalls, there was also success reported
after the user disabled any one of a variety of "helpful"
software including ad blockers, spam blockers, spyware, parental
controls, and Internet Security. Additionally, there was one
report of a rarely discussed file called "hosts" that
contained a list of IP addresses and URLs. That particular user,
in addition to not being able to access Unimatic through BidPlus,
was unable to access their online bill pay service. Once that
file was identified and removed (with the help of an AOL tech
and a Gateway tech on the phone and online at the same time),
the connection was restored. Some solutions were the result
of a simple reinstallation, and in some cases a simple reboot.
For those that are getting the error message "Unable to
create terminal window", be sure to reinstall the Java
Virtual Machine (JVM). JVM is a Microsoft program that helps
the Terminal functions to work better.
To install, first click the Terminal button at the top right.
Then click Options-->Install JVM.
As frustrating as it may be, the bottom line is that in no case
where a successful connection has been restored has the problem
been identified to be a BidPlus problem. In each and every case,
the problem has turned out to be something either in the user's
computer, or in the user's connection. Additionally, it has
also fallen on that user to trouble shoot that connection because
it is impossible for us to know what you have on your computer,
or what may be involved with running your connection. Some of
the back and forth correspondence with our users has demonstrated
their frustration, and that is completely understandable. But
in the end, they also wrote us to share with us their experience
in solving their own problem. Everybody has the exact same version
of BidPlus installed. The only variables in the equation are
the user's computer, and the user's connection. That is where
the problem has been found to be in every case.
We have provided you with some basic items to check on your
computer below. You may or may not have already attempted some
of these steps. We provide them just to be sure. Following that
information, we have provided the information that several of
our users have share concerning their success. This will give
you some insight as to where to start looking. But please note
that each one of these solutions is different from the others.
And each one had to do with the user's own environment.
1) First, be sure that you can access a *.asp page. This is
an Active Server Page and your computer needs to be able to
access this type of web page in order to allow certain processing
to take place. To test and see if your computer can access an
*.asp web page, in either Internet Explorer or BidPlus, type
in http://www.bidplus.com/asp/bp2k_logon.asp and see if you
are able to access that page. If you are not able to do so,
this is an issue that you need to contact Microsoft about.
2)
Be sure that you are able to connect to Unimatic outside of
BidPlus through SkyNet first.
3)
Check your firewall settings. Make a determination as to what
programs are "allowed" and which programs are "blocked".
Additionally, your computer may have firewall software installed
and operating that you are not even aware of. Check your computer's
documentation to familiarize yourself with the software that
came pre-installed. You may need to contact your manufacturer
to determine which software came pre-installed, and how you
go about removing it.
4)
Please be aware that some cable connections contain their own
firewall and that they may be affecting your connection. Contact
your cable company and ask them how you can go about disabling
that feature, even if it is just temporary so that you can test
the connection without it.
5)
Norton (Symantec) products have specifically been linked to
connection problems. If you have Norton Internet Security (NIS)
installed, be sure to double check the settings. Some users
continue to experience trouble even after uninstalling NIS.
This is because some NIS entries remain as part of the registry.
Registry removal tools can be found on the Symantec web site.
Once you are able to onnect, you can reinstall NIS.
6)
If you are using any Ad blocker, spam blocker, or pop-up blocker
software, disable it. You may also have some Spyware software
installed without your knowledge that may be secretly intercepting
web pages necessary for the connection, and causing it to ultimately
fail. You can download a program called SpywareNuker from www.spywarenuker.com
and run it to see if you have spyware installed that you are
unaware of.
7)
There may be an issue with the software pop-up blocker or parental
control settings affecting your connection. Be sure that these
are turned off in.
8)
You need to ensure that your SSL (Secure Socket Layer) settings
are set correctly. Open BidPlus, and then click on the Options
menu (or Internet Explorer and click on the Tools menu), then
choose Internet Options, then choose the Advanced tab. Now scroll
down to the Security section and ensure that checks are placed
in both "Use SSL 2.0" & "Use SSL 3.0"
check boxes.
9)
Ensure that your time and time zone are set correctly on your
computer. (No, we're not kidding!)
10)
Delete all cookies and then try your connection again. To delete
all cookies, while in BidPlus click on the Options menu at the
top, and then choose Internet Options. You are presented with
the General tab. Now click on the button that says "Delete
Cookies". Also (depending on the version of IE that you
have installed) click on the "Delete Files" button,
and then be sure to click on the check box for "Delete
all offline content" as well before you click OK.
11)
Go into your Windows Explorer-->BP2K folder-->>BP2K.exe.
Right click the file, and then choose Properties. Then click
on the Compatibility tab. Make sure that there is no check in
the box for Compatibility. It may have Windows 95 or something
else in the indow, and if you are running XP, then that may
cause a problem.
12)
Reboot your computer after making any of these changes.
Here are
some success reports from some of our users. Perhaps you will
see one that will help you to identify your connection problem:
>>I
have solved my problem. I have DSL and run a home network. The
network router is a Linksys BEFW11S4. I went into the router
config and enabled MTU. Apparently MTU stands for Maximum Transmission
Unit (which regulates the size of the packets sent over the
network, or some such thing). I picked this up while trying
to update Turbo Tax. See this link "http://support.turbotax.com/kb/ViewDocument.asp?documentld=438&categoryld=80068.
So as you suspected, the problem was the router, but not security.
At least I think it's not security.<<
>.We
have the latest service pack 11 installed and a java version
above 3505. We were having problems accessing both service ven
after deleting cookies, files, & offline content. We have
XP Pro with all SP1 & updates, plus IE 6 plus all SPs &
updates. Due to a computer upgrade, Thisis a new install.
The problem
turned out to be the settins behind the firewall in the advanced
tab for the dialup connection. None of the setttings boxes were
checked. After check all but those for internal mail and remove
computer access, everything works with great speed. Thought
you would like to know some hands one experience.<<
>>Ok-
I've got everything up and running. Here's how we got everything
working again. I had AOL tech on the phone and Gateway tech
support sharing my mouse at the same time. AOL suggested typing
www.aol.ca in the search area of IE to see if it would launch
(since www.aol.com wouldn't), and it did. That must've said
something to the Gateway Tech, cuz he went into START- RUN,
typed in C:\windows, double clicked on "show files"
and looked for a file (not a folder) called "hosts".
I had three: "hosts", "Hosts", and "hosts/windws
ME". (He had previously gone into this file and deleted
some site information on www.aol.com and ww.ebill.holycross.com
and was able to get into my electric payment page. I still couldn't
get into Unimatic though.) All he did was rename the file "hosts"
to "hosts2" and VOILA! I was back in business!!!!<<
>>Thanks
for your reply. I delete cookies, temporary internet files,
updated everything (Java, etc.) and still couldn't access Unimatic.
Then I restarted my computer, and magic.....everything is now
working. Go figure.<<
>>As
always, thanks for your prompt response. It was the Norton Internet
Security that was the problem. I turned it off, and had no problem
using BidPlus.<<
>>OK,
for now, I think we are there. For no reason that I can fathom,
installing Service Pack 11 changed settings on NIS Personal
Firewall. It added one (and perhaps two) instances of the BP2K
program to the program list (under the "programs"
tab in "configure"), and one of themwas set to "block"
rather than "permit". Even more interesting, when
I tried to change the setting, it wouldn't let me, so I simply
deleted (removed) that enite program from the list and left
the other. (Actually there are now two, possbly because of my
reinstall, but both are set to permit, and we have access, so
I won't experiment further.)<<
>>Since
writing the last email to you I have tried everything in desparation
in order to get connected to Unimaitc. Probably one of the most
obvious remedies (and I kick myself for not thinking of it earlier)
was to restart my computer. I've just done that and have been
able to get into unimatic and apollo with no problem. Just to
be sure Itried it a few times and got success each time!<<
>>BP
is now working on both desktop & laptop. On laptop I changed
NOTHING; just waited until after the 8th and it worked fine.
On desktop, still no go until I went into options--advanced
for IE^ & checked ALL boxes under security. Then it worked.<<
>>A
tch at Earthlink helped m by unblocking the firewall so I was
able to create my profile....<<
>>Thanks
so much for the latest response. Out of frustration, I started
from scratch and reloaded everything again. Tis time it worked
perfect. Now sure why it did not the first time, but that's
computers. Whatever was causing BidPlus not to work was stopping
another program too. It now works. Thanks again.<<
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