AOL 9.0 has update problems for my client. Any ideas?

June 27, 2004 4:38 PM

AO-Hell. This person whose computer I'm fixing has a problem with AOL 9. Basically, every time he quits it, an 'updating AOL' dialog appears, the progress bar makes it about 2/3 of the way to the end and then the whole computer locks up. [details inside]

Now the weird part: If I re-install the AOL software, it'll work exactly once. The first time he runs AOL, it'll quit normally after briefly showing the dialog, but after that, it'll behave exactly the same as before, locking up the computer. He's running Windows 98SE (which I did a clean install of only 2 months ago) and he connects to AOL through a DSL connection. He's been running AOL non-stop until he's ready to shut off the computer anyway.

Please no 'Get him off AOL' comments. I'd love to, but he's a computer novice and really, really likes AOL; he'd just like it to stop locking up his computer. He's planning to buy a new computer sometime soon anyway, so I'm not really interested in doing another complete Windows 98 re-install. It's just really bugging me, and I'm wondering if there's some fairly simple way to stop it, even if it involved turning off AOL's updating. Both Google and AOL 'Tech Support', and I use the term loosely, have failed me so any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

posted by boaz to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

I've heard that AOL provides support for their product. It is, perhaps, not the highest quality support, but they do want their paying users to be able to use the service. Perhaps your customer might try calling them and asking them to, you know, support the product they sold him?
posted by majick at 4:40 PM on June 27, 2004

Response by poster: Both he and I have tried talking to AOL tech support, and they have been unable to do anything beyond telling us to reinstall AOL, which doesn't solve the problem or to reinstall Windows 98, which quite possibly will but seems like a huge PITA considering he's buying a new computer in the next 2-3 months. They are very nice and extremely apologetic about the situation, but they don't have a good solution.
posted by boaz at 4:57 PM on June 27, 2004

AOL's support is amongst the worst I've ever dealt with (granted, this was years ago). Tech support, cancelling your subscription, nothing ever works out. It's probably not what you're looking for, but the best solution is to find a new ISP. And if he cancels, make sure to tell him to write down *everything* about the call. The time and date, the person he spoke to, his confirmation number, etc. Fuckers screwed me out of $45.
posted by Ufez Jones at 5:36 PM on June 27, 2004

Response by poster: Tell me about it. The worst part is that he doesn't even need AOL. He's got DSL through SBC, which would give him everything but his personal websites, which he uses AOL Hometown for. I've told him he could drop AOL and get better site hosting for $25/year than the $25/month he's paying now. But he's used AOL for like 10 years now, and he doesn't want to change email or IM addresses or learn new programs.
posted by boaz at 6:16 PM on June 27, 2004

At the very least get him to drop AOL down to the bring-your-own access plan. If you call up and threaten to cancel, they will give that to you for $9.95 a month (usually it is $14.95). No human with DSL should be paying $25 a month for AOL.
posted by kindall at 10:49 PM on June 27, 2004

Have you tried installing an older version of AOL? OldVersion.com only has AOL versions 1.0 to 5.0 but there's bound to be some 8.0 CDs somewhere, considering they sent out 3 to every man, woman and child on Earth.
posted by revgeorge at 8:01 AM on June 28, 2004

Response by poster: That sounds like a really good idea, rev; I could probably scrounge up an 8.0 CD, and he'll doubtless prefer a slightly older version to the constant lock-ups. Especially for just a couple of months.

The bring-your-own access plan sounds like an excellent idea too; I had forgotten completely about that. Now might not be the best time as he just got over a 2 day DSL outage* and was using AOL's dial-up. However, I think SBC provides backup dial-up service for DSL customers so I should be able to sell him on that.

* It wasn't really an outage. I just needed to change his DSL login from xxx to [e-mail].
posted by boaz at 9:12 AM on June 28, 2004

The AOL bring-your-own-access plan does let you dial up, as well, although there's an hourly fee for it.
posted by kindall at 12:05 PM on June 28, 2004

Response by poster: I'll keep that in mind. I'm probably not gonna see the guy before the weekend, so I'll have some time to think it over. AOL 8 + switching to bring-your-own-access sounds like a winner.
posted by boaz at 11:50 PM on June 29, 2004