problem connecting online

[NoSsz]

Hey guys, I have a problem with one PC here at home, I'm hoping someone could shed some light on this. I have Heat installed on this PC, along with several mods and tracks. It plays great in Single Player, but once you select your car in Multiplayer and try to connect, it flips back to the selection screen. I have a home network with a shared folder among all the PC's and laptops, I copied my Hasbro Interactive folder out of the PC that I race on, and pulled it into all the other PC's and laptops.....Heat works fine with them, online and offline. I have tried several different type of installations, tried several compatibility modes, no avail.
This PC in question is a Dell XPS400. The Servic Tag on it is: 50JSP81, the Mfg date is: 10/24/05. OS is XP, 4gig of RAM. All the other PC's/laptops in the house are HP's, Compaq's, and eMachines, which leads me to believe it's a Dell "exclusive" problem. Tried contacting Dell, they gave me the usual BS "try clearing out your cookies and temporary internet files" garbage.
There was a forum post at Mod Squad related to the topic, that guy said something about cleaning his registry fixed his problem, I did that several times and it made no difference. Everything on this Dell is set for maximum performance: hardware acceleration, programs, etc, even the visual "eye candy" like the start menu, control panel, etc, has had their fancy graphics turned down(aka Windows 98 style) for performance. I don't think it's a graphic issue, because FPS in Heat is 43.5, which is better than the other computers that I have that CAN connect online!
Any ideas?

[Administrator]

On the moment Heat switches to Multiplayer screen, it tries to reach for the net - which means it checks for the required ports. In case it cannot find those ports to be open, Heat cannot switch to Multiplayer and rolls back

I'd guess there's some active firewall on that PC that makes those ports Heat needs to reach unavailable

[Harding Jr]

Jun 12, 2009 8:55:05 GMT 2 Administrator said:

On the moment Heat switches to Multiplayer screen, it tries to reach for the net - which means it checks for the required ports. In case it cannot find those ports to be open, Heat cannot switch to Multiplayer and rolls back

I'd guess there's some active firewall on that PC that makes those ports Heat needs to reach unavailable

The ports heat uses for connecting online I believe are 2001-2005

[NoSsz]

I went through all of that, 2001 and 2005 are open. There are no firewalls or antivirus programs running. Halo, Dirt Track Racing 2, and all the other games go online just fine, but Heat won't. I can't even find an error log. Even bypassing the router doesn't work. Went into the system BIOS but didn't find anything. I can find the heat.bin file, but it's a .pf file that I can't open. Would that file hold the answer as to why in won't connect online? I seem to remember years ago something about a heat.bin file and online problems, not sure if it would pertain to this or not.

[Administrator]

So far as I recall, this problem is popular with Dell PC in particular.... and as mentioned, Heat most likely cannot reach it's required ports.

And since others report to have solved the problem by working on their OS registry, I guess Dell did some default setup there which caused the problem. Like closing exotic port - though I have to clue if that can be done via registry

Actually Dell should be able to tell you...

reminds me never to get a Dell PC

[Crash]

Must be particular to certain Dell`s? I`ve got 2 here that the kids use & i`ve used each of them at various times in the past for Heat without problems.

Cheers....

[NoSsz]

I just thought that maybe someone has experienced the problem before, was not trying to insult Dell owners who DON'T have the problem. Your reply Crash sounds like what a Dell tech has said to me already. Letting me know that your Dell PC's operate Heat online.....that's piece of mind that I can really count on.