Network stopped working after Symantec Internet Security Upgrade

[NickB]

The following is a little long winded and I apologize for
its length in advance... (I try to be complete in describing
my problem and my attempts and fixing it)....

I just upgraded my Symantec Internet Security 2004 to the 2005
version as my subscription ran out. Unfortunately, shortly after
doing so, my network connectivity has died. It didn't happen
immediately after installing IS 2005, as I was able to perform
a "Live Update" and the network was fine for a short while after.
But, in the middle of transferring a file from my Win2k box to
another computer on my network, the transfer aborted part way
through and now my network connectivity from my Win2k box is
completely gone.

I have done the following to try and get it working again, but
to no avail:

1) Uninstalled IS 2005 - still no network communicaton

Note, both the IS 2005 install and uninstall resulted
in numerous error messages with the following text:

"msiexec.exe has generated errors and will be closed
by windows. You will need to restart the program."

I had to keep clicking o.k. to keep the install/uninstall
going but finally, it did seem to complete and tell me
that it was successful (surprising, no?).

2) Rolled back to a previous (working) ghost image - still
no network communication. This really surprised me.

I have checked my TCP/IP network settings and they are fine.

The device manager properties tells me that my network controller
(NVIDIA nForce Network controller on an MSI K8N Neo Platinum mobo)
driver is o.k.

The network cable and all downstream stuff is o.k., as I can
unplug the cable from my Win2k box (immediately shows network
cable disconnection in the tray icon) and plug that cable into
my laptop and it works fine with my laptop.

When I try to ping another computer from my Win2K box, I get
100% packet loss. No network traffic is shown as having taken
place as shown on the network controller statistics display.
A network sniffer shows no traffic in or out from the Win2k
box.

Pinging my Win2k box from another computer also results in
100% packet loss, with also 0 packets shown in or out on the
Win2K network controller statistics display. A network
packet sniffer shows packets going to the Win2k box, but
none coming back.

If I try to disable the network controller, the network
controller icon in the tray has one computer screen (of the
two) glow and the program used to disable the NIC hangs.
Once that happens, I cannot close the program, even with
the task manager. Shutting down the computer results in
a blue screen and an incomplete shut down. I have to hit
the red reset button to reboot, as nothing else will work.

I've run out of things to try and would appreciate some
advice.

Kind regards,

Nick
--

 

[Guest]

remove and reinstall TCP/IP from ur NIC properties. try uninstalling and
reinstall the driver of NIC and restart..... have a try !!

 

[NickB]

remove and reinstall TCP/IP from ur NIC properties. try uninstalling and
reinstall the driver of NIC and restart..... have a try !!

Hi Sreekar,

I tried that last night and what happens is that the window/dialog box
that does this hangs. At the same time, the NIC icon in the task bar
has one of it's screens glow (constantly). I then have to resort to
using the task manager to end the task, but most times that doesn't work.
Then when I try to shutdown the computer, it hangs (blue screen) and
won't completely shut down. I have to resort to the reset switch as the
ON/OFF switch won't work at that point either. Do you think it's worth
trying to re-install the O.S. ?

Are there any diagnostic utilities that would be useful for
trouble-shooting this problem?

Nick

 

[Phillip Windell]

Symantec Internet Security is a "home user" product meant to work on an
individual machine. It is not designed to work well with a machine on a LAN.
A regular LAN requires a *ton* of various different types of
intercommunication between the member machines in order to function.
Symantec Internet Security will get in the way of most of it.

 

[NickB]

Symantec Internet Security is a "home user" product meant to work on an
individual machine. It is not designed to work well with a machine on a
LAN. A regular LAN requires a *ton* of various different types of
intercommunication between the member machines in order to function.
Symantec Internet Security will get in the way of most of it.

Hi Phillip,

It may be a "home user product", but I can't see how that makes it a
problem. My network used to work fine with the older version of NIS. The
newer version appeared to screw things up, but not immediately, which I
find quite strange (so I'm not ruling out other explanations). Note that
afterwards, rolling back by re-imaging the drive to a point where
everything worked (with the older version of NIS) didn't help.

Maybe it's a hardware problem that started and it's just a coincidence
that it occurred just after installing NIS? Is there diagnostic software
available that would help determine this? Is there any way of tracing the
traffic through the software layers/levels/stack to see where it stops?
I'd like to find out whether this is a software or hardware problem.
Trouble is, I'm a UNIX guy and only have surface knowledge of Windows.
Hmmm....that gives me an idea: I'll try booting the computer using a
bootable Linux CD and see if I can get the network working. If that
works, then for sure it's a Windows softare issue.... will post my results
after I try this.

Kind regards,

Nick
--

 

[Phillip Windell]

On Thu, 26 May 2005 11:10:21 -0400, Phillip Windell wrote:
that it occurred just after installing NIS? Is there diagnostic software
available that would help determine this?

Maybe. It would be unique to the Nic and come from those who made it. I
know 3Com used to include a utility with their Nics that would test them.
But I almost never use anything like that so I am not up to speed with what
it out there.

Is there any way of tracing the
traffic through the software layers/levels/stack to see where it stops?

Not off the top of my head.

I'd like to find out whether this is a software or hardware problem.
Trouble is, I'm a UNIX guy and only have surface knowledge of Windows.
Hmmm....that gives me an idea: I'll try booting the computer using a
bootable Linux CD and see if I can get the network working.

That would be a good idea.

 

[NickB]

I'd like to find out whether this is a software or hardware problem.
Well, my problem was solved inadvertantly when my BIOS was reset (as a
result of my accidentally pulling the CPU out of its socket while
changing the CPU fan to a quieter version). I'll try installing NIS 2005
again to see if the problem occurs again. If it does, I'll try manually
resetting the BIOS to see if that will help. I'll post the results in
case anyone is interested in how this works out.

Nick
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