Working on a friends computer. Brand new HP notebook, Vista X64 operating system. Installed with a Linksys WRT110 router, Comcast hispeed. All is good on Internet Explorer and everything except AOL. When AOL starts, it just hangs on the first startup screen, never gets to the signon screen, then after several minutes wants to update and restart computer. Does this as a constant loop. When I do all of the One-Click fixes that AOL provides, it works great. Until you restart the computer and then the whole thing stops again. There are about 12 One-Click fixes that AOL provides and I do them all to get it to work again. We have reinstalled AOL, tried different versions of AOL like 9.0VR, 9.1, 9.5 and AOL Explorer 10.0...all with the same results. This is just crazy. She is on the free AOL and therefore no AOL support. It is obviously something in the connection but we are lost.
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Understood, but what I was referring to more so was that If System Restore is Turned On, it could be overwriting whatever you just fixed with the AOL Utility. Hence my recomendation to turn off the service and try the fixes again, then when AOL wants to reboot the machine, see if you still experience the problem.
Here is the solution....I found it myself.
In AOL 9, AOL reports at startup, "AOL is about to install files necessary to connect to the Internet. Your computer may need to be restarted". In both scenarios, rebooting the computer does NOT fix the problem. With AOL 8, you will continue to get this message at sign-on.. With AOL 9, you will never even get the program to start. These are both indications of a missing or improperly installed AOL Adapter, a.k.a "WAN Miniport Driver (ATW)". If you use the AOL System Information application and then go to the 'Utilities' tab and press the 'Uninstall AOL Adapter' button, you receive the message "The AOL Adapter is currently not installed".
If you get caught in this endless loop, you'll find that uninstalling AOL and reinstalling does not help. After many hours trying to figure out the solution, I finally found the cause of the problem.
The problem seems to occur when there are outdated AOL Adapter INF files in your \WINDOWS\Inf directory. It can ALSO be caused by INF files with a filesize of '0 bytes' preventing the current AOL Adapter files to be installed properly. Please note that the AOL adapter never successfully installs in this scenario -- Going to AOL System Information and then Utilities, followed by 'Uninstall AOL Adapter' will result in 'The AOL Adapter is currently not installed'.
To fix this: (These instructions are for Windows XP)
1) Click START. Then get to ACCESSORIES.. Then open up 'WINDOWS EXPLORER' (*NOT* Internet Explorer)
2) Click on 'TOOLS' then 'FOLDER OPTIONS'. Click the 'VIEW' tab. Make sure that: 'Show Hidden Files and Folders' is CHECKED. Also, make sure 'HIDE EXTENSIONS FOR KNOWN FILE TYPES' is UN-CHECKED. If you have a setting for 'SHO THE CONTENTS OF SYSTEM FOLDERS', make sure that is CHECKED. Click APPLY, then OK.
3) OK.. Navigate to your C: drive. Click the '+' next to Windows. Then open up the INF folder.
4) Click on the 'Name' column so that the files are in alphabetical order. Scroll down until you get to files that begin with 'OEM' followed by a number.
5) Right off the bat -- if you have *ANY* OEM files that are showing a filesize of 0 -- delete them. Also, be sure to delete its corresponding PNF file if one exists. (Example OEM11.INF and OEM11.PNF)
6) The next step will take a little work. You want to check each INF file by opening it, and looking for indications that it is for the AOL Adapter. If you double-click an INF file, it should open in Notepad by default. Look for a line that says 'WANATW.INF' at the top. If you dont see it, close the file and move to the next OEM INF file. Once youve found one, delete it along with its corresponding PNF file, as above.
7) Continue until you have gone through all OEM INF files. When you are done, reboot your machine and start AOL. AOL should automatically re-install the AOL adapter files correctly for you.
The AOL® Adapter connects the AOL® software to Internet Explorer®. If the adapter becomes damaged, it can affect the AOL® service and access to the Web. Fortunately, the bad adapter can be removed, and the AOL software will automatically build a new one.
You may wish to print or save a copy of these instructions as this page may not remain visible as you go through the suggested steps.
Rebuild the AOL Adapter
To remove and rebuild the AOL Adapter in AOL® 9.5, AOL® 9.1, or any version of the AOL® 9.0 software:
1. Click the File menu, then click Exit to close the AOL software if it is open.
2. Open the AOL® System Information tool:
If using Windows® Vista®/XP, click the Start button, click All Programs, click AOL or America Online, then click AOL System Information.
If using Windows 98/Me/2000, click the Start button, click Programs, click America Online, then click AOL System Information.
3. In the AOL System Information window, click the Utilities tab.
4. Scroll down to the AOL Utilities section, then next to Rebuild AOL Adapter, click the Start button.
5. If a Warning! message appears, click the OK button to continue.
6. Click the Close button.
7. Click the X button to close the AOL System Information 2.0 window. Note: You may be prompted to restart your computer after uninstalling the AOL Adapter. If prompted to restart the computer, click the Yes button
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by: dstark30Posted on 2009-03-20 at 16:55:06ID: 23945009
Sounds like Windows System Restore is having it's way with you. Have you tried turning it off, and trying the One-Click fix again for AOL? If not, give it a shot.