XP Pro - can't connect to internet after reinstall

[dominant7]

After spending 13 hours dealing with Adobe installation support, their
"solution was "Do a clean install of XP and try installing again."

I had XP up and runniong on my machine with no connection problems at
all, using the drivers for the on-board LAN that came on the
Motherboard install disc. After the reinstall, I can't get connected to
the internet.

Specs: AMD Athlon 64 CPU, Asus A8V-E deluxe MB w/ onboard Marvell
Gigabit LAN and onboard 1394 controller. 2GB Crucial PC3200 RAM.
Western Digital HD. Toshiba DVD+RW drive. Windows XP Pro w/SP1 on the
install disc.

I can connect to the internet for a moment before the connection stops
transferring data. I cannot successfully close the connection. If I
try, the computer hangs. Task manager will not end the connection.
Shutdown always hangs on "Saving your settings."

I have tried removing and reinstalling the LAN and 1394 devices in
Device Maneger and removing and reinstalling the drivers. I have done
three clean reinstallations of the OS on a formatted drive. I simply
cannot get a reliable copnnection to the internet - the problem is the
same every time.

When I orignally set this system up a couple of weeks ago I got
connected to the internet just as soon as I had installed the LAN
driver from the Mobo install disc. It's all the same hardware and
software, only now I can't get connected.I didn't select any different
options when I reinstalled.

Adobe asked me to install the OS on another machine and try installing
the software that wouldn't install before on that, so I did and it
worked. So I clean installed XP on my new machine and the software
installed but I can't connect now.

I'm completely at a loss. None of the KB articles I found addressed the
issue I'm havin. Earthlink support said it's an OS problem.

Any ideas? My blood pressure is dangerously high right now.

Thanks
-Mike

 

[Sharon F]

After spending 13 hours dealing with Adobe installation support, their
"solution was "Do a clean install of XP and try installing again."

I had XP up and runniong on my machine with no connection problems at
all, using the drivers for the on-board LAN that came on the
Motherboard install disc. After the reinstall, I can't get connected to
the internet.

Specs: AMD Athlon 64 CPU, Asus A8V-E deluxe MB w/ onboard Marvell
Gigabit LAN and onboard 1394 controller. 2GB Crucial PC3200 RAM.
Western Digital HD. Toshiba DVD+RW drive. Windows XP Pro w/SP1 on the
install disc.

I can connect to the internet for a moment before the connection stops
transferring data. I cannot successfully close the connection. If I
try, the computer hangs. Task manager will not end the connection.
Shutdown always hangs on "Saving your settings."

I have tried removing and reinstalling the LAN and 1394 devices in
Device Maneger and removing and reinstalling the drivers. I have done
three clean reinstallations of the OS on a formatted drive. I simply
cannot get a reliable copnnection to the internet - the problem is the
same every time.

When I orignally set this system up a couple of weeks ago I got
connected to the internet just as soon as I had installed the LAN
driver from the Mobo install disc. It's all the same hardware and
software, only now I can't get connected.I didn't select any different
options when I reinstalled.

Adobe asked me to install the OS on another machine and try installing
the software that wouldn't install before on that, so I did and it
worked. So I clean installed XP on my new machine and the software
installed but I can't connect now.

I'm completely at a loss. None of the KB articles I found addressed the
issue I'm havin. Earthlink support said it's an OS problem.

Any ideas? My blood pressure is dangerously high right now.

Thanks
-Mike

Mike, it's apparent that you're upset. You've told us a lot but not about
the right things. How did Adobe get into the picture? What software are you
having trouble installing? Error messages?

What kind of connection do you have to the internet? How is the LAN setup?
Does it share an internet connection or is a router used or? Any error
messages? Later in your post, you say that you can get connected but cannot
disconnect?

I get the feeling that part of your concerns is that the motherboard LAN
drivers worked for connecting but the XP drivers are problematic? You
mention trying to reinstall the motherboard drivers. Is that successful or
no?

Anyhow, take a few deep breaths and then post back with specifics on the
problems you're trying to resolve. I'm not saying that I will know the
answer but without more info, no one will be able to offer any useful
responses for you.

 

[dominant7]

Hi Sharon

I bought the Adobe Creative Suite 1.3 upgrade. One of the components
would not install on my system (Pagemaker Plugin Pack). It would not
give me the opportunity to select a drive to install to, and reported
that there was not enough room on C: to install to (even though there
was) and the installer would not continue. Adobe walked me through all
sorts of stuff including turning off system restore, and setting all
sorts of permissions in the registry. At this point I had no trouble
connecting/browsing the internet on that machine. None of Adobe's ideas
worked and they asked me if I had another machine I could try
installing XP on fresh and then try the creative suite install again. I
dragged out my old computer and reformatted the drive (writing zeroes
to the whole drive) then did a clean install of XP Pro followed by the
Adobe software. It worked. I then wiped the drive again and installed
XP followed by the security patches and SP2 from Windows Update. I then
successfully installed the creative suite. When I talked to Adobe again
they said that the solution then was to reformat the HD on my main
system, clean install XP and then the creative suite.

I did that and it installed fine. I decided I would install all my
software before installing SP2. I was able to connect and activate the
Adobe software as well as two Macromedia titles. These were through the
built-in activation app, so no browser opened and I didn't attempt to
browse at that time. I then tried to connect to download and install
the security updates and SP2 from Windows Update. This is when I
noticed the connection problems. There have been no error messages
apart from the Adobe installer alert about insufficient drive space.

I connect to the internet through PPPOE on an Alcatel Speed Touch Home
DSL modem. The connection is not shared - the computer plugs directly
into the modem. There is no LAN except in the sense that the connection
to the modem is from the Ethernet port. In Internet
Options/Connections/LAN settings, "Automatically detect settings" is
not checked. I didn't have to do any LAN settings when I set the
machine up the first time and was able to connect, and I didn't have to
do any LAN settings when I set up the old test machine. As soon as the
drivers were installed and my login info was entered, the connection
was enabled. So I'm a little bit at a loss to answer that question.
What specifically should I be looking for? In Network Connections I see
my "Earthlink" connection, then below that are the LAN connection
(Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet) and a 1394 connection.

Reinstalling the motherboard driver set did not correct the problem. I
used exactly the same setup routine and exactly the same software to
set up the machine this time as I did when I first set it up, so I do
not understand why it would work before but not now. The hardware is
exactly the same. Oops, almost. I did update the BIOS after my previous
(working) installation was up and running, so that is different.

I tried various settings in BIOS (disabling 1394), disabling on-board
peripherals and uninstalling drivers, then re-enabling and reinstalling
etc. and resetting the BIOS to setup defaults but that didn't change my
problem. I haven't tried clearing the CMOS yet.

Here's a summary of what happens when I try to connect to the web (I
haven't tried setting up email yet):

I open IE (homepage is set to "Use Blank"). I type an address into the
address bar and hit Enter. The connection prompt comes up and I click
"Connect." The connection authenticates and the page starts to load. If
it doesn't have much on the page (like Google) the page loads
completely. If there are more graphics (like Apple.com) the page will
only partially load, then it stops. Subsequent attempts to refresh or
navigate anywhere do not work. The progress bar stops. There is no
indication of data transfer either on the system tray connection icon
or on the modem. At this point I can still navigate around the
computer, open and close programs etc. Once I try any method of closing
the connection, the system partially hangs. At that point the only
thing I can click on the desktop, taskbar or system tray that will
respond is the recycle bin icon (I don't have any other icons on the
desktop yet) and through that I can navigate to My Computer and Control
Panel. But I can't open Network Settings, and I can't open the
Connections tab on Internet Properties. Attempting to "end task" the
connection does not work, and sometimes results in Task Manager not
responding. If Task Manager is still responsive and I click "Shut Down"
or "Restart" it will go through the shutdown routine but hang on
"Saving your settings." I have to manually restart the machine.

Earthlink had me "connect" and try to ping some IPs at the command
prompt, but they timed out. They had me enter an IP address in TCP/IP
settings and then ping that, which succeeded, so they determined it was
not a modem or connection problem, so they would not go any further.

Naturally, I have looming deadlines and I'm concerned about the number
of times I have to activate my software. Adobe only lets you do it
twice, although I'm sure they'll let me do more after I wait on hold
for another hour or so. I don't know what Macromedia's policy is, I
have to find out. I can use this machine (my old (slow) one) in the
meantime but that is not really a solution.

I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my long tale of woe, and
I thank you for any suggestions you might offer.

-Mike

 

[Sharon F]

Hi Sharon

I bought the Adobe Creative Suite 1.3 upgrade. One of the components
would not install on my system (Pagemaker Plugin Pack). It would not
give me the opportunity to select a drive to install to, and reported
that there was not enough room on C: to install to (even though there
was) and the installer would not continue.

[snipping of the rest of the install info]

I don't know all of the things Adobe had you try. Unless they are aware of
any special problems with their use of the installer, I hesitate to say
this, I think they may have been on the wrong track. There is a way to
"clean up the MS Installer." MVP Rick Rogers (aka Nutcase) has outlined the
process nicely here:
http://rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Installation

Microsoft writes an installer mechanism. The software vendors implement it.
Sometimes they make a mistake in their implementation and have an
installing issue they need to sort. However, on the other side of things:
the installer keeps some info about each software installation (that used
MSI to install) on your drive. That info can become corrupt or damaged from
failed installed and uninstalls. Or conflicting information from multiple
packages from the same vendor. The process recounted at Rick's site helps
to sort out most of the problems that can occur on the MSI side of things.

Doesn't help now as you have these issues resolved but may want to bookmark
that site in case you ever run into a similar problem in the future.

I connect to the internet through PPPOE on an Alcatel Speed Touch Home
DSL modem. The connection is not shared - the computer plugs directly
into the modem. There is no LAN except in the sense that the connection
to the modem is from the Ethernet port. In Internet
Options/Connections/LAN settings, "Automatically detect settings" is
not checked. I didn't have to do any LAN settings when I set the
machine up the first time and was able to connect, and I didn't have to
do any LAN settings when I set up the old test machine. As soon as the
drivers were installed and my login info was entered, the connection
was enabled. So I'm a little bit at a loss to answer that question.
What specifically should I be looking for? In Network Connections I see
my "Earthlink" connection, then below that are the LAN connection
(Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet) and a 1394 connection.

With your setup, you shouldn't have to put anything special into the
connection properties (unless required by ISP to authenticate with their
network).

What about your IE settings? It's been a while since I've had DSL (now have
cable) but if I remember correctly, I had Internet Options> Connections:
set to "never dial." Background updates still occur with this setting or
will notify you they need a connection which you can then initiate.

I have to run to an appointment right now. I will post again on the rest of
your connection info when I return later today.

 

[Sharon F]

I open IE (homepage is set to "Use Blank"). I type an address into the
address bar and hit Enter. The connection prompt comes up and I click
"Connect." The connection authenticates and the page starts to load. If
it doesn't have much on the page (like Google) the page loads
completely. If there are more graphics (like Apple.com) the page will
only partially load, then it stops. Subsequent attempts to refresh or
navigate anywhere do not work. The progress bar stops. There is no
indication of data transfer either on the system tray connection icon
or on the modem. At this point I can still navigate around the
computer, open and close programs etc

This almost sounds like a DNS problem. You are connecting to pages but not
getting a full load. If pictures are being pulled from secondary sites
(advertisements for example), there are pulls from other websites than the
main one you're trying to connect to. Hmmm, could be something here if
using strong security settings in Internet Security settings. XP's tools
are pretty basic but if using something more stringent may need to tweak
settings a bit.

There's not much you can do about DNS problems except try a different DNS
server. I'm not sure how you would set that up with your setup and
Earthlink. Suggest visiting the Earthlink forums at
www.broadbandreports.com. Have found good info there for myself in the past
for my old SBC DSL account and current cable ISP.

Spyware/adware are other considerations. These can cripple a good internet
connection in the blink of an eye. Lavasoft's AdAware and Spybot Search and
Destroy can be helpful in checking for these and, if found, in cleaning
them up.

Once I try any method of closing
the connection, the system partially hangs. At that point the only
thing I can click on the desktop, taskbar or system tray that will
respond is the recycle bin icon (I don't have any other icons on the
desktop yet) and through that I can navigate to My Computer and Control
Panel. But I can't open Network Settings, and I can't open the
Connections tab on Internet Properties. Attempting to "end task" the
connection does not work, and sometimes results in Task Manager not
responding. If Task Manager is still responsive and I click "Shut Down"
or "Restart" it will go through the shutdown routine but hang on
"Saving your settings." I have to manually restart the machine.

A "hung connection" can occur for a variety of reasons.
-On the ISPs end if they are slow to release your connection.
-Again adware/spyware will be reluctant to let go of an active connection.
May even block your access to tools to end the connection or alter
settings.
-Drivers: NIC drivers in this case. Modem drivers where those are involved
(not in your case).

Earthlink had me "connect" and try to ping some IPs at the command
prompt, but they timed out. They had me enter an IP address in TCP/IP
settings and then ping that, which succeeded, so they determined it was
not a modem or connection problem, so they would not go any further.

I would try Earthlink again. That you could enter an IP address to get ping
results proves nothing. Just that your system could talk to one of their
servers okay. You need this connection working so that it talks to whatever
Earthlink server your connection gets shuffled to. That server can vary
from one connection to the next. Leans towards faulty DNS servers on their
end as well.

Bottom line: I would suggest looking very closely for adware/spyware
intrusions. And working with Earthlink again - hopefully with a more
helpful tech.

Sorry I don't have an exact answer for you but this type of problem has
many levels. The cause of the problem may not be any one thing but a
combination of a few.

 

[Mycranium]

Thank you for your advice, Sharon. I'll try scanning for adware/spyware
when I get a moment as well as trying Earthlink and the other resources
you mentioned.

Does the fact I can connect to my ISP without problems on another
machine with the same OS indicate anything regarding the potential DNS
server problems you mentioned?

Do you think there might be a possibility that the on-board ethernet
hardware coincidentally went bad around the time I was doing all my
reinstalling? I think I will try disabling the on-board ethernet and
putting in a PCI card and see if that does anything. Unfortunately the
time I lost messing with this problem has put me under the gun at work,
so I'm kind of bunched up for troubleshooting time until Monday.

Thanks again for your help!

-Mike

 

[Sharon F]

Does the fact I can connect to my ISP without problems on another
machine with the same OS indicate anything regarding the potential DNS
server problems you mentioned?

Yes, it does and I missed that. It means that DNS problems is not as likely
of an explanation for your problem. I've had this on my mind since DNS
poisoning has been under discussion in another group that I participate in.
It is a current event and is being monitored and analyzed by those in the
know about these kind of things. See the following article for more info.
(http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?date=2005-04-07)

Do you think there might be a possibility that the on-board ethernet
hardware coincidentally went bad around the time I was doing all my
reinstalling? I think I will try disabling the on-board ethernet and
putting in a PCI card and see if that does anything. Unfortunately the
time I lost messing with this problem has put me under the gun at work,
so I'm kind of bunched up for troubleshooting time until Monday.

This is also possible and considering the low cost of NICs is certainly
worth a try. Have seen many mysterious problems disappear when a failed or
faulty NIC is replaced. Replacing a problem piece of hardware should of
course help. It's just usually one of the last things we (I) think of to
check.