Odd network failure XP MCE (for MS application only)

  • Thread starter Thread starter samkwitty
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S

samkwitty

I am running Windows XP MCE SP2 with all the latest updates (on an AMD
athlon 64X2 Dual Core 3800), after sometime the network connection for
MS applications only fails. That is to say you can not use IE to
browse the net (while Firefox is fine) you can not use MSN Messenger
(while yahoo is fine). Any network functionalities in MS applications
fail as well. For example using the online help in MS Word just hangs.
If you try to reboot the machine it gets to the "saving your settings"
dialog and just sits there.

I have ruled out spy-ware and virus (so please don't suggest that that
is what causing the issue). I think there is some central networking
component to all MS applications which crashes (maybe explorer.exe?).
I can not find any log entries or Dr. Watson logs (which is odd) I do
see dwwin.exe running and never goes away (and no logs are created).

Any ideas what this might be or how to track the issue down?

Thanks
-Sam
 
Hello

Start by opening IE 6 or 7. Version 7 is the sure bet to use

Then Tools pull down menu> Internet Options > click the Connections Tab > at
the bottom under Local Area Network (LAN) settings click the LAN settings
button....next
make sure their is No check mark beside Automatically detect sttings, Use
Automatic configuration script & Use a proxy server. Then click ok

Next

Just a quick tweak if your on DSL, cable or faster...Click on the general
tab on the Internet Options box.
Under browsing history>Click Settings> Disk Space to be used set this
between 12MB - 50 MB. If your on a high speed connection there is no need to
have a huge cache.

Default is something like 1 Gig perhaps ? Large caches are necessary for
folks on dial-up to load pages quicker. Otherwise if cache is too large and
you dont frequntly clear out the cache or do a weekly defrag. It clutters the
hard drive and performance issues arise.

If your a dial up user and leave the IE cache at a high setting for disk
space. Then the trick is to make sure you configure this next setting...which
from the Inter Options box....click the Advanced Tab > scroll down until you
see Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed. Click the
box beside it so there is a check mark. A tip & trick to autamtically clear
out the IE cache when your done floating in cyber space. Just by closing the
browsr.

Dunno know why your running 2 internet browsers. Possibly a confilction
between browser intenet settings. Over riding system settings could occur.
Something like having Windows media player and quick time battling over the
various video file associations. Try un-installing firefox, install or
upgrade to IE7 and tweak those settings mentioned above.

Also visit the windows update to get all critical updates
See if that helps.

what connection are you on DSL,CAble or dial-up ?
 
Marbles,

Thanks for the info. I am running on DSL. I don't think it is a cache
issue as I am not using IE (as per the post it does not work for very
long). I suspect that what really crashes is explorer.exe (not IE) but
I don't really know how to track that down. I have the latest updates
on this machine (including IE7).

Thanks
-Sam
 
As bad luck would have it, I had exactly the same problem occur yesterday
after I updated Nero 6.6 to the latest version. Suddenly all MS apps
couldn't access the internet any more, IE7 couldn't even open on a blank
homepage, Explorer (My Computer) wouldn't open at all and none of the MS
apps that try to access the web (ie. Help&Support) could do so. Opera could
still access the internet normally. Eventually they did start working again
after a couple of reboots but another issue has materialized meanwhile.
Something is intermittently affecting the WiFi connection requiring frequent
repairs. Azureus is the prime suspect but this wasn't happening prior to
yesterday.
 
The IE cache thingy was just a tip.. A bit off topic sorry...

Filtering through some pages looking for various tools that could help you
narrow down the program or process that is causing your crashes/hangs.

1) This page should help you find the culprit proggie.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/286350/

2) Update Microsoft office updates as well and see if it helps - locate your
office version on the left side menu -
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/FX101321101033.aspx?pid=CL100570421033
...udating office may not solve the internet problem it may fix the
application that is sticking.

Your problem is reaching multiple facets of the OS. It's not entirely
difficult to track down just time consuming. Narrowing down and pin pointing
the exact cause. You say it maybe be explorer.exe causing the problems. A
good possibilty for program crahes.

I have had windows explorer crash for a simple reason. The cause of it was
..avi video files rendered by XVID codec. If viewing the folder where the avi
file was by using windows explorer. Explorer would close down a DEP (Data
Execution Protection) warning would pop up and the all programs would shut
down. All because of a avi file.


Also I would suggest to boot your computer in to safe mode with networking
and see if you can surf the net using IE & firefox. For a good while see if
any hangs crashes occur.
 
Marbles,

Thanks for the info. I am going try and debug it. My MS office
applications are up-to-date so I think I am ok there. I am sure once I
find out what it is, it will be obvious :-) but until then it is
rather frustrating as it is intermittent...

Thanks
-Sam
 
Ralf,

You almost head me, I was certain that at the end of your post you
would say "do the following to fix the issue" :-D... But no joy. Sorry
to hear you are having the same issue. Mine like yours is
intermittent. After reboot things work ok for a bit and then MS
applications are unable to make internet connection... Rather odd. I
also noticed the Yahoo Messenger is also unable to make connections
(perhaps they are using the same DLL as the MS applications)

I do have both Nero and Azureus but I don't recall upgrading Nero
(though that does not mean it did not happen)... I also think I had the
issue before I upgraded Azureus to the latest (but maybe not). I am
rather tempted to uninstall both and see if the issue goes away.

Thanks
-Sam
 
Safe mode with networking would be a good start, to see if just the browsers
function with out corruption. This way booting in to safe mode with
networking only loads the minimum essential drivers for windows. If
everything runs fine without any problems. The process of booting in to safe
mode would then be pointing to a driver or process that is loading during
normal start up, causing corruption.

Then if corruption & freezes are still happening in safe mode. The next step
would be to unistall some programs. Some software packages trump other
proggies configurations causing headaches.

From experience, I never install more then 1 program that performs the same
function. Example would be installing Windows Media Player and say 3 other
other media players that performs the same function. By doing this you have
just increased a greater probility of these media players settings colliding
with one another and havnig huge headaches. Some software installs same
drivers & dll, inf files and share from the sys32 directory between different
programs. Possibly in your case Firefox & IE duking it out.

If your keen on Firefox as your browser. Uninstall IE7 and just use Firefox.
This way you can go in to firefox and configure all settings. With out
worrying if it will botch IE settings or functionality..

This is what next to do after if safe mode with networking didnt work.

1) Create a restore point

2) Uninstall Azureus, Fire Fox, Messenger,Nero, Office & any other software
which you might think that is the problem- why ... process of elimination
software is easily re-installed as long as you have the CD's.

3) reboot

3) Surf with only IE7

4) If everything is working fine then you have just pin pointed a proggie
that likes to trump and then decide which of those software packages are
causing it.

5) Also you should use this program to check for memory corruption -
Download it Here - http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
- Download Windows Memory Diagnostic - web page explains directions

6) if the silliness of the OS is still is still going on...then next s

7) If everything is fine hip hip hooray !

It may look like a simple trouble shooting problem. Tho from that one glitch
you could have thousands of prongs leading off in different directions.
Making it that more difficult to locate the troubled software.
 
I wish I could have said that I had a solution but no such luck. I was
repairing the internet connection every few minutes while Azureus was
running, less frequently with Bitcomet (more hard failures of the USB
wireless though), but few interruptions when just surfing. I did a System
Restore to the point before I updated Nero (hah! created that restore point
deliberately JIC) and it settled down quite a bit. Undid the restore late
yesterday and ran the PC overnight. The wireless USB adapter driver was
totally mangled by morning and I had to do a hard shut-down on the PC to
reset it. As usual nothing was listed in the Events viewer that could shed
light on the problem.

Today I opted for Plan C.... uninstalled the Atheros based USB adapter and
replaced it with a Prism based USB adapter. It hasn't been running very
long yet, but so far so good with no interruptions to the internet access.
 
It's a wireless router ..did you configure the firmware for the router as
well ?
by connecting to it via your browser

Lots of configurable settings inside the router. It's good practice to
configure settings and not leave it on it's default configuration.
 
Been using this router for years already, so yeah, long since and numerous
times. :) Reset and reloaded the firmware early yesterday in case it was
corrupted and contributing to the connection problems, but that made no
difference.

Anyway the network/internet browsing problems are local on the computer.
Speaking of which... it's now been 6 hours since switching USB WiFi adapters
and only 1 minor reconnection (actually 2, -5 seconds apart). No problems
accessing the internet with any app so far. The usual slew of "attack"
entries in the router log are conspicuous by their absence too.
 
Right On ! looks like you know what your doing...

Do you tweak the Operating System as well ? like turning off un-needed
services...etc.

how about setting some TCP/IP parameters to manual configuration.Since your
running a router a bit more care is needed if setting manual configuration.

1).. advanced tcp/ip > gateway>add the gateway IP manually and metric
2) automatic metric set manually

If unsure about what metric to use then refer to this page -

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299540

let us know your progress
 
Ralf,

You said "I was repairing the internet connection every few minutes
while Azureus was
running" by this you mean what?

-Sam
 
For whatever reason, after doing that Nero update, whenever Azureus was
running the WiFi connection froze repeatedly and continuously. The adapter
showed as connected, with a strong signal but nothing could connect to the
internet or LAN (router). Right clicked the connection icon, select
"Repair" and the connection would work again for another few minutes or
until (it seemed like) I opened a new browser tab, IE or Opera window,
started a file download etc. etc.. When Azureus was turned off the WiFi
connection remained stable for a longer time but it still stopped working
periodically.

Its been 30 hours since I changed the wireless adapter and I haven't had to
do any repairs on the connection so far. The router spontaneously reset at
least once during that time but the PC reconnected on its own without
intervention.
 
There are no bad tips there but they aren't really applicable to the problem
at hand. The network connection suddenly went from fully functional to
selectively non-functional, seemingly without apparent cause. MS internet
apps couldn't access the net while some other 3rd party apps still could.
None of the networking settings had been changed prior to the problem
manifesting itself.

My situation and the OP's seem to diverge after that, since my problem
started immediately after a non-network related software update and went
away again after a System Restore. Strange things, software conflicts.
Changed the WiFi adapter and the connection works normally again even with
the software update. It's been more than 30 hours now since I changed WiFi
adapters and there has been no repeat of the connectivity problems during
that time. BTW the Atheros chipset WiFi adapter that I switched out has been
working just fine meanwhile on a different computer on my LAN (XP Home,
different software & hardware configuration).

I'm cautiously optimistic that the issue is solved. Maybe not for the OP
though. :)
 
Ralf,

Thanks got it... If I ever figure out what is going on, I will post it
back here.

Also (and this only makes sense if you have a Linksys)... My Linksys
of 10 years crapped out on me a few month back. It was similar to what
you are describing. Work for a bit and then just rest. Sometimes it
would reset rapidly sometimes with a bit of wait. I eventually got a
new one as it seemed like HW problem. If you don't have a Linksys
these were just wasted words :-D

-Sam
 
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