I went to Broadband, and as a backup ? I left the old dial up modem in and connected !!!!
result : everytime the phone rang, the system crashed. Solution : introduced the dial up modem to Mr bin !!
for my thoughts : my initial take is the connection, so, start with the wiring. As it is a dial up, listen to the unit beeping away as the speed synch handshake occurs. Do you have another sys in the household, with IE, but a different ISP ?? work through the physical before you go to the S/Ware.

edit< posted same time as Kurt, but at least the fault is gone. > end edit