OT - Why does Astraweb ping the speaker?

[Peter Bogiatzidis]

Hello,

As many others here, I had to switch to a new newsgroup service when AT&T stopped providing it.

I started using Astraweb. So far, no complaints other than an annoying pinging or dinging of the speaker that drives me crazy. The only solution is to either turn off the sound or close Outlook Express and reopen it.

When I e-mailed Astraweb for "technical" support, they responded by telling me to use a different reader. The problem is the same even if I use Thunderbird and or a different computer.

Does anyone here know what this is and how to turn it off? I'm guessing that it's a setting because it happens with both readers. It doesn't always happen immediately and sometimes it only pings a few times before it stops, while other times it continues incessantly.

Please don't confuse my use of the word "ping" here. It's just a ping or a ding sound. I think that it may have something to do with new newsgroup postings in a particular group. That may be why it isn't so bad when viewing groups with fewer postings as opposed to one which has more traffic such as this one.

Any help in solving this mystery would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance to those who post a reply here.

Peter

[Greg Neill]

A 'ping' usually indicates that some kind of error has occurred. It could be that a transient condition of 'Too many connections' to the server (error 502) from your reader is happening if you are opening posts while new posts/headers are being downloaded at the same time.

The maximum number of simultaneous connections is something that the service provider sets. Outlook Express doesn't appear to have a way to set the maximum it will try to use on its end, so it is what it is from your end. I don't know about Thunderbird.

How are you using OE when you are reading news? Do you syncronize all at once or go newsgroup by newsgroup (just clicking down the list of newsgroups and triggering a sync for that group each time)? Do you download the full messages when you sync, or just the new headers?

If you syncronize all at once (select the server in the Folders panel, then click the 'Synchronize Account' button in the main panel), you'll get a pop-up window showing the synchronization task progress. If "Details" is enabled there you might be able to catch sight of the error message that's occurring.

[Tim Daneliuk]

With Thunderbird you can go to Options-General and uncheck "Play sound when message arrives".

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[FrozenNorth]

If that doesn't work check your sound settings in the Control Panel, it could be one of the events there for a new message etc.

[dadiOH]

Options General tab... Untick "Play sound when new message arrives" and "Check for new messages every XX minutes"

That help?

[Tim Daneliuk]

Personally, I turn off ALL Windows/Linux/Whatever system sound events on production systems, desktop or server. I have enough stress in my life without having to listen to machines honking at me all the time.

[Lee Michaels]

"Tim Daneliuk" wrote

Exactly, I have a hearing problem so I have to turn everything up to hear. So when an unexpected sound shows up it scares me half to death. Commercials on TV play at a much louder volume than program material. Wearing headphones make the commercial even louder. Which is why I mute or fast forward through all commercials.

I never have my computer speakers on. If I have to listen to anything, I put headphones on. Even then, I get zapped now and then by obnoxious sounds. People who zap us with unwanted sounds should be rounded up and tortured.

[FrozenNorth]

I just mute the speakers most of the time, turn them on if I go to youtube or some other place where I expect sound. Turning off all the events is a pain, and you never no when some new program is going to come along and barf a few more events into the list.