No network connection - a preplexing array of netshell/netman related error messages

[Bruno]

System: Win XP Pro, with SP2 installed.

I don't know if it's related, but after ghosting the c drive and
installing several updates, the internet connection on that system is
lost. Following fairly intensive research and experimentation, I get
the following error messages:

In command mode, when I run ipconfig I get the following error message:

The procedure entry point HrIsIpStateCheckingEnabled could not be
located in the dynamic link library netshell.dll

Following the procedure in kbhowto KB825826
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;825826&Product=winxp),
I ran the commands

regsvr32 netshell.dll and
regsvr32 netcfgx.dll

In both cases, the resulting message is

DllRegisterServer in [command] succeeded

However, when I run the command

regsvr32 netman.dll

the resulting message is

LoadLibrary("netman.dll") failed - The specified procedure could not be
found

When I go to My Computer/Manage/Services/Network Connections, the
indicated start up type is Manual (although previously set to
Automatic); when I right-click on it and choose Start, the error
message is

Could not start the Network Connections service on Local Computer.
Error 127: The specified procedure could not be found.

And, finally, when I run the command

net start netman

The response is

The network connection service is starting

followed by
The Network Connections service could not be started.
A system error has occurred.
System error 127 has occurred.
The specified procudre could not be found.

What specified procedure is it talking about? What went wrong? How can
I fix it? Do I have to reinstall????

I'm at my wits' end.

Thanks.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Bruno,

netshell.dll might be corrupt. See if running SFC can fix the problem.

Click Start, Run and type SFC /SCANNOW

You are prompted to insert a Windows XP SP2 CD when you try to run the
System File Checker tool on a Windows XP SP2-based computer:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=900910

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


System: Win XP Pro, with SP2 installed.

I don't know if it's related, but after ghosting the c drive and
installing several updates, the internet connection on that system is
lost. Following fairly intensive research and experimentation, I get
the following error messages:

In command mode, when I run ipconfig I get the following error message:

The procedure entry point HrIsIpStateCheckingEnabled could not be
located in the dynamic link library netshell.dll

Following the procedure in kbhowto KB825826
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;825826&Product=winxp),
I ran the commands

regsvr32 netshell.dll and
regsvr32 netcfgx.dll

In both cases, the resulting message is

DllRegisterServer in [command] succeeded

However, when I run the command

regsvr32 netman.dll

the resulting message is

LoadLibrary("netman.dll") failed - The specified procedure could not be
found

When I go to My Computer/Manage/Services/Network Connections, the
indicated start up type is Manual (although previously set to
Automatic); when I right-click on it and choose Start, the error
message is

Could not start the Network Connections service on Local Computer.
Error 127: The specified procedure could not be found.

And, finally, when I run the command

net start netman

The response is

The network connection service is starting

followed by
The Network Connections service could not be started.
A system error has occurred.
System error 127 has occurred.
The specified procudre could not be found.

What specified procedure is it talking about? What went wrong? How can
I fix it? Do I have to reinstall????

I'm at my wits' end.

Thanks.

 

[Bruno]

Thanks, Ramesh. I did indeed get prompted to insert a Windows XP SP2
CD when I tried to run the System File Checker tool and, since I don't
have an integrated SP2 XP disk, followed method 2 of
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=900910, that is - I modified the
registry to point to the Windows XP SP2 Setup files.

Nevertheless, when I ran SFC again, it continued to prompt me for the
integrated SP2 CD. Restarting didn't help. I must be doing something
wrong again, but what?

Thanks.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Bruno,

See if fixing the ServicePackFilesPath helps:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=885522

Re-run SFC.

If that does not help, then manually expand a copy of netshell.dll using the
EXPAND command.

How to expand Windows XP files from the installation disk:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=888017

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Thanks, Ramesh. I did indeed get prompted to insert a Windows XP SP2
CD when I tried to run the System File Checker tool and, since I don't
have an integrated SP2 XP disk, followed method 2 of
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=900910, that is - I modified the
registry to point to the Windows XP SP2 Setup files.

Nevertheless, when I ran SFC again, it continued to prompt me for the
integrated SP2 CD. Restarting didn't help. I must be doing something
wrong again, but what?

Thanks.

 

[Bruno]

Ramesh, sorry to be such a nuisance, but I must be doing something
wrong.

First, fixing the ServicePackFilesPath as suggested by KB885522 didn't
work (that is, the SP2 integrated disk is still prompted for); don't
know why, but it didn't.

I then tried your second approach - manual expansion. Not having done
that before, I'm a little confused: KB888017 tells you to insert the XP
installation disk, run MSconfig and choose Expand File. So far, so
good. The problem begins with the "Expand One File from Installation
Source" dialog box. The "File to restore" entry is, I assume,
NETSHELL.DL_, the"Save file in" entry refers, I assume, to
c:\windows\system32, which is were the original netshell.dll resides.
The "Restore from" entry is looking for a .CAB file; not having any
idea which of the CAB files holds the compressed netshell.dll, I used
DRIVER.CAB, WINSYS32.CAB and one or two others as the source for
"restore from". Unfortunately, MSconfig isn't very communicative and
doesn't give you any indication whether the expansion was successful or
not. Checking the indicated destination folder doesn't show any change
in either size or timestamp for the current netshell.dll, so my guess
is that expansion failed. Logging off/restarting doesn't bring back
the network connections, so that probably also means it failed.

Now what?

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Bruno,

Rename netshell.dll (present in the System32 folder) and let the Windows
File Protection fetch a fresh copy of the file for you. If not, manually
copy netshell.dll from System32\DLLCache folder, or from the
C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386 folders.

Regarding Expand, I prefer the command-line version.

Microsoft Windows XP - Expand:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/expand.mspx


--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Ramesh, sorry to be such a nuisance, but I must be doing something
wrong.

First, fixing the ServicePackFilesPath as suggested by KB885522 didn't
work (that is, the SP2 integrated disk is still prompted for); don't
know why, but it didn't.

I then tried your second approach - manual expansion. Not having done
that before, I'm a little confused: KB888017 tells you to insert the XP
installation disk, run MSconfig and choose Expand File. So far, so
good. The problem begins with the "Expand One File from Installation
Source" dialog box. The "File to restore" entry is, I assume,
NETSHELL.DL_, the"Save file in" entry refers, I assume, to
c:\windows\system32, which is were the original netshell.dll resides.
The "Restore from" entry is looking for a .CAB file; not having any
idea which of the CAB files holds the compressed netshell.dll, I used
DRIVER.CAB, WINSYS32.CAB and one or two others as the source for
"restore from". Unfortunately, MSconfig isn't very communicative and
doesn't give you any indication whether the expansion was successful or
not. Checking the indicated destination folder doesn't show any change
in either size or timestamp for the current netshell.dll, so my guess
is that expansion failed. Logging off/restarting doesn't bring back
the network connections, so that probably also means it failed.

Now what?

Bruno,

See if fixing the ServicePackFilesPath helps:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=885522

Re-run SFC.

If that does not help, then manually expand a copy of netshell.dll using
the
EXPAND command.

How to expand Windows XP files from the installation disk:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=888017

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Thanks, Ramesh. I did indeed get prompted to insert a Windows XP SP2
CD when I tried to run the System File Checker tool and, since I don't
have an integrated SP2 XP disk, followed method 2 of
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=900910, that is - I modified the
registry to point to the Windows XP SP2 Setup files.

Nevertheless, when I ran SFC again, it continued to prompt me for the
integrated SP2 CD. Restarting didn't help. I must be doing something
wrong again, but what?

Thanks.

 

[Bruno]

Well, we seem to be making some progress, at long last. The Expand
procedure worked (as you suggested, from the command line) and we now
have a new netshell.dll straight from the installation disk, which we
can assume it means netshell.dll is not corrupted.

However, that unfortunately didn't resolve the problem that strated
this thread, namely that the networking services refuse to start. When
I run

regsvr32 netman.dll

the resulting message is still

LoadLibrary("netman.dll") failed - The specified procedure could not be
found

Again, logging off/restarting doesn't help either.

It seems than, that the problem wasn't the fault of netshell.dll. So
back to square one - what now?

Thanks.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Bruno,

See if netman.dll is present in the system32 folder. If so, then try
including the full path.

regsvr32 %Windir%\system32\netman.dll

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Well, we seem to be making some progress, at long last. The Expand
procedure worked (as you suggested, from the command line) and we now
have a new netshell.dll straight from the installation disk, which we
can assume it means netshell.dll is not corrupted.

However, that unfortunately didn't resolve the problem that strated
this thread, namely that the networking services refuse to start. When
I run

regsvr32 netman.dll

the resulting message is still

LoadLibrary("netman.dll") failed - The specified procedure could not be
found

Again, logging off/restarting doesn't help either.

It seems than, that the problem wasn't the fault of netshell.dll. So
back to square one - what now?

Thanks.

 

[Bruno]

Well, Ramesh, the problem has been solved, but not the way we were
going about it...

While trying to troubleshoot the problem, I left that computer alone
for a couple of hours and when I returned I discovered that it had
spontaneously rebooted.

That brought back a very unpleaseant memory of a similar problem which
this computer had before and which I thought I cleared out for good. A
quick check confirmed my suspictions - as I said at the beginning of
the thread, this problem started after I installed a bunch of updates.
Somehow, the infamous KB893066 found it's way into the queue and was
installed, much against my will! Once I figured that out, I just
removed it (thru the Control Panet/Add-Remove Programs), rebooted and
voila! Networks service are back!

I don't know why KB893066 is still floating around, but from now on
I'll make sure I install one update at a time and look carefully at the
update number!

 

[logan]

yes, and your welcome...


I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?
http://www.polesoft.com/refer.html

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Thanks for the feedback Bruno. Will check into that update.

Still I think the error has to do with the Path variable.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Well, Ramesh, the problem has been solved, but not the way we were
going about it...

While trying to troubleshoot the problem, I left that computer alone
for a couple of hours and when I returned I discovered that it had
spontaneously rebooted.

That brought back a very unpleaseant memory of a similar problem which
this computer had before and which I thought I cleared out for good. A
quick check confirmed my suspictions - as I said at the beginning of
the thread, this problem started after I installed a bunch of updates.
Somehow, the infamous KB893066 found it's way into the queue and was
installed, much against my will! Once I figured that out, I just
removed it (thru the Control Panet/Add-Remove Programs), rebooted and
voila! Networks service are back!

I don't know why KB893066 is still floating around, but from now on
I'll make sure I install one update at a time and look carefully at the
update number!

 

[Bruno]

You may be right; so how do I duplicate the problem? Reinstall KB893066?

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Reinstall KB893066?

I'm yet to try this hotfix. Will address that later.

Meantime, see if System32 folder is in the Path variable. Type CMD /K PATH
in Start, Run. See if system32 folder is listed.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


You may be right; so how do I duplicate the problem? Reinstall KB893066?

 

[Bruno]

I did, and the system32 folder is listed in the path.