Windows Network Glitches.

[Guest]

Hey There,

First off, is there a way to redo Windows XP pro Networking. I fear it is
hosed up in the box I am working on as no network card will install properly.
I am a PC tech and am looking at a system here that has an issue with
network card drivers. I have tried about 5 different Network cards in this
machine all with the same problem. The box is Running Windows XP pro SP1 and
all other drivers are fine. When you plug in a network card, Xp will act
like it is installing the driver, however, it will prompt you to reboot,
which XP usually doesn't do on these installs and when it comes back up, the
driver has an Exclamation Mark after it and instead of being listed in under
the Network area of the device manager it is listed at the bottom as an
unknown. If I double click on it it reports this "This Device is not working
promperly because windows cannot load the drivers for the device." Now, I
know it isn't the card or just simply needing a new driver because the
original card used to work just fine in this box and I have tried other cards
as well as a USB NIC that will setp in any other XP box automatically without
a hitch. I have tried putting the cards in different PCI slots, though since
the USB NIC has the same problem, I am thinking there is some hangup with XP
itself. I have ran a virus and spyware removal tools and got rid of quite a
bit of crap, though now the system is virus/spyware free. Anyways, any help
is appreciated. Thanks.

Dave

 

[Bob S.]

Dave,

Try removing all cards except the NIC and video and see what happens. If
the box has a separate USB or 1394 card installed - that may be the culprit.
I have several systems where I'm using a disc IDE controller (Promise
Technology) and have found that they conflict with USB add-on cards.

Anyway - minimize the system down to the bare bones, then reboot with a
known good NIC (preferably an Intel or 3Com) to test with and after you get
it installed, add the rest of the boards.

Bob S.

 

[Guest]

Hey Bob, thanks for the thought. I did that, I have even disabled unecessary
BIOS Devices, i.e. sound, etc. But it helps nothing. And if it helps you at
all, it is just with network devices, even virtual network devices. Anyway,
Thanks for the words.

Dave

 

[Bob S.]

Okay,

Try coming up in Safe Mode, look at the Device Manager and delete the NIC
Card. Under Win98 the Device Manager would show any and all devices that
"used to be" in the box but under XP I believe you have to turn on "Show
Hidden Devices" then delete all the NIC entries.

Now - delete everything in the Network and let WinXP rebuild it when it
boots up. If you're using fixed IP addresses (192.168.xxx.xxx) and entering
any DNS addresses, etc. you will have to add those. If not, the XP will
rebuild a basic internet connection using DHCP.

Bob

 

[Guest]

Hey Bob,

Thanks for the thought, again. I know what you are talking about on the
win98 devices in safe mode. I have done that before. I did what you said
about safe mode in XP as I have done that before. No dice. I removed any
networking components in Windows that I could fine, i.e. through the
add/remove windows components, as well as removing the components when you go
in through a dial-up networking instance and click on the networking
tab...such as the client for microsoft networking, etc. Anyway, to cut to
the chase, it did't work. Any way I can e-mail you a screen shot of how the
network card is coming up? It's not your typical unknown device. You get a
code 31, and when I look it up, it's not the same description as what is
usually listed on microsofts website. It seems as if it finds the driver,
but then windows just can't load it. Anyway, i have also run system file
checker, I have booted with win xp boot disk and run the repair feature,
chkdsk /r. Thanks for the help.

Dave

 

[Bob S.]

Check your email

Bob S.

 

[Bob S.]

That email bounced so here's the contents:

Dave,

This time I took a moment to look up how to view all the hidden devices so
they can be deleted. Open Device Manager, then click on View, then click on
"Show Hidden Devices". Now delete everything under your NIC entry and
reboot so XP can rebuild. Use a NIC that you know XP can configure without
having to load drivers from CD or floppies.

You'll be surprised probably by how many entries are there and this I think
is what is confusing to XP. XP uses the HAL (Hardware Abstract Layer) to
keep track of everything in the system and it does get corrupted once in
awhile. The only way to cure it typically is to wipe the disk and reload.
But from what I've read, there are other tricks that can be used - such as
the one above - which does not wipe out the entire inventory of your system
and it will rebuild.

This is another trick http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#hal

I knew it took me awhile to find out about a few of these fixes and here are
a few sites for you to browse:

www.kellys-korner.com
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/netdiag.mspx
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm
http://www.dougknox.com/


Bob S.

 

[Guest]

Hey Bob,

Didn't see anything in my e-mail, not sure why it says my e-mail is
discussions.microsoft.com. Try this one:

(e-mail address removed)

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Guest]

Thanks Bob,

What I wound up doing since I was running short of time was just instead of
formatting and reloading, which I would prefer, was to just boot from the XP
CD and the have it repair/recover the current XP build. That took care of
it. I hesitate to do that just in case my customer wants that data badly,
which he did, but it worked out this time. Hurrah, right? I think the
resources you pointed me to would help also, though, in the future I will try
rebuiling the .ini. Anyway, thanks again for the help, I appreciate it.

Dave