The Internet connection is very unpredictable and has behaved in 3 different ways after double clicking the Internet Explorer icon:
1. Sometimes it works fine, the modem makes dialing noises to connect and then surfing the net is OK.
2. Sometimes I get a prompt after double clicking the Internet Explorer icon saying ‘Web page unavailable while offline’ and when I click the option to connect there is no sound from the modem and the dialogue box says ‘Unable to establish a connection’. I have noticed after this situation has occurred that in the dial-up properties box where the name of the modem should be, it says ‘Modem removed – Acer Modem 56 Surf USB (COM3)’. (Internet properties – connections – settings – dial-up properties). Restarting the computer doesn’t bring it back, but leaving the computer off overnight does seem to bring it back!
3. Once when double clicking Internet Explorer the modem started dialing then suddenly the computer re-booted and when the screen came back I got a scary message ‘The system has recovered from a serious error’ with an error signature of BCCode 100000d1, BCP1 6C006E24 and various other numbers.

Thinking that perhaps an updated modem driver would help, I visited the Acer website and downloaded an application file for the driver. However when I double click the file I get a message ‘Unzip not successful’. I have checked the properties of the application file to unlock it but I still get the same message.

If anyone has any ideas about why all this is happening and any suggestions about what I should do, I would be grateful.