Zooco said:
I have lost my ability to connect to the internet on my
networked laptop. Both computers on the "home network"
are using XP, and it is an ADSL connection through a
Linksys Router. Everything was working fine until I
downloaded several updates from Windows Update. Since
then, I have had a problem. At first, going to Network
connections and selecting Repair from a right click on my
Network Bridge worked. It works about once, maybe twice.
Then the next time I boot up the laptop, it will not work
at all, and I get "The following steps of the repair
operation failed: Renewing the IP address"
The only way for me to get back my connectivity is to use
System Restore, then the following time I boot up, I have
to use the Repair option, the following time after that,
it fails again and the process starts all over. Creating
a new network or bridge does not fix it, and if it had
failed, it doesn't even restore my connection.
My wife is having the same problems at home with her
laptop on our network there. I'm currently overseas and
have two computers with me (desktop and laptop) to help
me with my work. Her problems (the same) also started
after a Windows Update. Does anyone know of any possible
problem with network connectivity with an update over the
last 2 months? Also, we are only experiencing these
problems on the laptops, not the desktops. Everything is
Win XP.
Thanks for any help out there.
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Please read this whole reply before proceeding with any suggestions.
Issue:
On this XP Home/Pro computer,
when trying to browse the Internet,
you are getting "Page Cannot Be Displayed" and
when you go to the command prompt window
(Start > Run > cmd)
and run ipconfig /all, you get an APIPA
(Automatic Private Internet Protocol Address)
in the form of 169.254.x.x.
Then immediately run ipconfig /renew, you get this error message:
"An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket"
or
"Unable to contact DHCP server"
If so, you probably have a damaged winsock2 key in the registry.
You should check System Information (winmsd)
START > RUN - type in winmsd and click OK
Note the value for the Windows Directory (Usually C:\Windows but not always)
Then expand Components / Network / click on Protocol -
if the section headings item of "Name" have a value
starting with anything other than MSAFD or RSVP
then that is probably what is causing the problem.
Examples:
MSAFD Tcpip [TCP/IP]
MSAFD Tcpip [UDP/IP]
RSVP UDP Service Provider
RSVP TCP Service Provider
MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...
and so on
It may be a third-party firewall or a Spyware or a Virus.
("New.Net" is a common spyware for example)
Make sure that MSCONFIG (System Configuration Utility) is in Normal Startup
and then see if uninstalling the third party firewall
(best done from its own uninstall program if available)
or the Spyware from Add Remove Programs will
resolve the issue. If it's a virus, then only an Anti Virus Program
will be able to deal with that.
You may want to try downloading either Ad-Aware 6 or Spybot
to another computer and then installing one of them on the infected XP Home/Pro
computer and try to wipe out Spyware and see if that resolves the issue.
Ad-aware 6.0 build 181
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10214379.html?tag=list
Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.2
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10194058.html?tag=list
If none of that works or is possible, you could try this method
for replacing the winsock and winsock2 registry keys:
Uninstall any third-party proxy software or firewall programs before proceeding.
Step 1: Delete registry keys
A)Open Regedit from the Run line (Start > Run - regedit)
B)Go to both of the following keys, EXPORT each of them, and then delete them:
(To export a key, you right click on it and choose "export" - you can choose where to export them to -
DESKTOP is handy -
and you need to type in a file name such as "exported Winsock key" / "exported WinSock2 key"
and then click on SAVE)
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinSock2
C)Restart the computer
NOTE: It is important to restart the computer after deleting the Winsock keys.
Doing so causes the XP operating system to recreate shell entries for those two
keys. If this is not done, the next step does not work correctly.
Step 2: Install TCP/IP on top of itself
Go to Control Panel | Network Connections
A)Open the properties window of the network connection (Local Area Connection)
B)Click Install
C)Click Protocol, then Add
D)Click Have Disk
E)Type the path to the \%systemroot%\inf folder (usually C:\Windows\inf) and click OK
(if you try to click Browse, then browse to the \inf folder,
it may not show up in the list)
F)You should now see "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" in the list of available
protocols. Select it and click OK.
G)Restart the computer
When the computer reboots you will have functional Winsock keys.
If so, then be sure to delete the exported winsock and winsock2 reg files.
(You don't want to accidentally put them back in the registry)
Side effects and possible problems:
This method will restore basic functionality to the Winsock keys, but is not a
complete rebuild. On a default install of Windows XP the registry key:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2\
Parameters\Protocol_Catalog9\Catalog_Entries will have 11 sub-keys.
When applying this method, the Catalog_Entries will only have 3 sub-keys.
However, it works and there does not appear to be any side effects.
The missing entries relate back to the:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces key.
Also, third-party proxy software or firewalls may need to be reinstalled.
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