Help! my computer will not connect to the internet!

[das1330]

On my desktop I am currently having a problem connecting to the internet. It connects to the internet through a networking cable, through a port on a wireless router. First, I have tried plugging a laptop into the cord so it is not a hardware problem, it is an internal settings problem. In the network manager, the computer says it is connected to the network but no packets are being sent over the network. Through talking with some one who knew quite a bit about computers, we found that the problem was that if you go to internet explorer - tools - internet options - lan settings a box labeled "use automatic configuration script" is checked, with the field entered as (along with other things) localhost:0. he explained I should uncheck this box, and check "automatically detect settings" as "localhost:0" would make the computer connect to itself. However the problem lies here. whenever I try to uncheck the box and check "automatically detect settings", as soon as I close the box, the computer reverts back to the old settings, and I still have no connection. Do any of you know how I can keep this box unchecked, or what could be holding it like that?

 

 

 

For clarification, this is what I have been told is the problem box:

 

 

 

[primadog]

normally if you check on automatically detect and press okay, it should save the setting. If it doesn't, it generally mean that you have some sort of malware (virus/spyware/trojan) that's screwing up your internet explorer.

 

 

 

I recommend you try to have your computer scanned asap. If you don't have some already, try this link: http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=521604 .

[Albosky]

Are you logged onto the computer as an administrator?

[das1330]

theres no viruses on the computer (i just scanned it with norton) and Its the only account on the computer.

[mastermule52]

Let's make sure it can connect to SOMETHING, even if not through internet explorer.

 

 

 

Go to start, click run, type "cmd" (with or without quotes, doesn't matter) and press enter.

 

 

 

Type "ping http://www.google.com" (without the quotes)

 

 

 

You should get something like this:

 

 

 

[PumpkinPete112]

If its wireless right click "Wireless Connection #" and hit repair. IF that doesnt work cjeck to make sure your logged into the right system

[das1330]

Let's make sure it can connect to SOMETHING, even if not through internet explorer.

 

 

 

Go to start, click run, type "cmd" (with or without quotes, doesn't matter) and press enter.

 

 

 

Type "ping http://www.google.com" (without the quotes)

 

 

 

You should get something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

when I do that I get "ping request could not find the host at http://www.google.com. please check the address and try again."

[Bradley_006]

tryed going to your internet connection in control panel and right click "repairing it" ?

[Earpy]

One thing I might suggest is checking to see if your comptuter actually has an IP address. Do the following:

 

 

 

Click 'Start' and then 'Run'

 

 

 

Type 'cmd' into the box and press enter.

 

 

 

Type 'ipconfig' and press enter. You should see your IP address, Subnet mask and Defualt gateway.

 

 

 

Type 'ipconfig /drop' and then type 'ipconfig /renew'

 

 

 

Exit the Command Prompt and try again. Let me know how that works out :)

[mastermule52]

One thing I might suggest is checking to see if your comptuter actually has an IP address. Do the following:

 

 

 

Click 'Start' and then 'Run'

 

 

 

Type 'cmd' into the box and press enter.

 

 

 

Type 'ipconfig' and press enter. You should see your IP address, Subnet mask and Defualt gateway.

 

 

 

Type 'ipconfig /drop' and then type 'ipconfig /renew'

 

 

 

Exit the Command Prompt and try again. Let me know how that works out :)

 

 

 

if ipconfig /drop doesn't work, try ipconfig /release :-ÃÆÃâÃâþ

 

btw, the menu to type this in is in the same place you did the whole "ping http://www.google.com" thing from - just typing a different command in the command prompt.

[das1330]

when I do "ipconfig" i get:

 

 

 

windows ip configuration

 

 

 

an internal error occurred: the request is not supported.

 

 

 

please contact Microsoft for further help.

 

 

 

additional information: unable to query host name.

 

 

 

strange.....

[das1330]

bump

[barnabis]

Hello,

 

 

 

What you have buddy, is a really nasty problem. Your TCP/IP protocol has been corrupted. There is no easy fix as at work I've been trying to resolve this issue on a computer as well. Problem is, that PC also had some bad viruses that I think trashed the whole OS, not just that one component.

 

 

 

I haven't been able to devote much time to it and now that I'm done work it will wait until tomarrow until anything else is attempted. However, my research lead me to a website where a guy claimed he fixed it. (url towards the bottom of this post).

 

 

 

Before you get your hopes up. Back everything up before you start doing ANYTHING! (Don't cry that you didn't back up and you lost everything, I gave you fair warning.) I have not yet resolved this and the method isn't supported my Microsoft. Since I haven't resolved it, my research is not complete. Prepare for your system to be formatted by transferring data to a different system or to CD's. A "Jump" or "Thumb drive" will be the best way for you to transfer data if you got another computer to put it on. They are not too expensive to buy and do come in handy.

 

 

 

You want to make sure you've got all your CD's that came with your computer and the product keys/serial numbers. CD's would be for your OW (windows xp home/pr/media center) printer, device drivers (mainboard, video, audio), CD/DVD burning software (if you got a burner), games and stuff like Office 2003. If you have the CD's but missing the keys, try and use belarck advisor can be found at download.com and is free. And a few hours of free time on your hands if your attempts fail.

 

 

 

Basically what will happen is you'll 'hack' windows to uninstall tcp/ip which MS doesn't want you to do as it is a core component. The uninstall portion of this method comes from doing something similar to a different windows operating system, but the guy who wrote the article said it worked for him.

 

 

 

I'd also do any virus scans you can before doing this as it could be caused by a bad virus or screwed up spy/ad ware related program.

 

 

 

Once you have backed up everything you don't want to lose, start trying to fix it.

 

http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0 ... ID=2204805

 

 

 

It is a nasty problem and not an easy fix unfortunatly. A lot of computer places would rather format the drive and start over.

 

 

 

Before formatting, if you have a normal windows xp cd (not a recovery disk) you can try to do a reinstall by pressing enter to install windows, F8 to accept the terms of the agreement. Setup will then look for a previous version of windows and offer you the option of pressing R to repair it. If you press R at the first screen, it will send you into the recovery console which usually is useless and very complex. If it asks you to format, turn the system off as something isn't going right. Turning it off here won't damage windows because windows didn't start up yet. Back up everything before a repair install as they are not always successful in fixing the problem. If you got a virus and attempt a repair install, you will probably start getting blue screens and might not be able to get back to your data.

 

 

 

I know, I threw a lot of info on this post, but as I haven't had time to bother with RS in over year, I really don't know when I'll get back here again. This post came up in a google search while researching various fixes on this problem.

 

 

 

Good Luck

[RpgGamer]

you might have to change your IP

[Albosky]

How to reset the TCP/IP Protocol in Windows XP

 

 

 

Theres a whole handful of wannabe "viruses" that are passed around MSN and other messengers that corrupt the tcpip.sys and other crucial files and render networking useless.

 

 

 

 

 

Other references as a just in case :

 

How to determine and recover from Winsock2 corruption

 

 

 

 

 

Something is definitely running in the background to ensure that setting keeps itself there. I highly recommend you get an updated antivirus package installed on that computer and get rid of it. (you will probably have to get a disk or burn one as you obviously cant download anything)

[barnabis]

Ok, I've done a little research before I started going all out on the system and came across some forums saying spyware sometimes deletes or corrupts tcpip.sys.

 

 

 

Go to C:\windows\system32\drivers and look for tcpip.sys rename it to OLDtcpip.sys (it might just be tcpip) there are a few file names that are similar like tcpip6, leave them alone. If it isn't there, don't worry about it. Go to another xp system and copy the tcpip file there to a floppy and paste it to your system. It can come from xp home/pro/media. If you got a friend that has an xp, he/she can even e-mail you the file.

 

 

 

Your antivirus/anti-spyware might prevent you from doing this or ask you if you'll allow a 'suspicious change'.

 

 

 

Go to http://www.majorgeeks.com and to the left you'll see FILES and a list of links on various types (adaware, virus, etc) on the bottom is a search, type in winsock fix. ANd download winsock xp fix.

 

 

 

First put a copy of tcpipi.sys on your desktop, and then replace the tcpip file in C:\windows\system32\drivers and then run winsock fix, reboot and try to connect.

 

 

 

If you still can't get on the internet, check to see that the tcpip.sys file is still there in system32\drivers and run winsock again. If still can't connect, open the desktop one (use notepad) and the one in the C:\windows\system32\drivers folder and make sure they look similar. A virus might be corrupting the one in the drivers folder.

 

 

 

If it is being corrupted, redo these steps in safe mode with networking (keep pressing F8 before windows starts). Reboot again in safe mode. If you then have internet go to http://www.trendmicro.com and do their online virus scan. Scan entire computer.

 

 

 

This was what resolved my issue.

[das1330]

the thing about a corrupted tc/ip file seems similar to my problem, but I would like to try scanning my computer with a antivirus program before messing with core system files. Is there any free virus programs I can load on to a flash drive and use? I might go and buy a copy of norton antivirus from the store, however.

[barnabis]

avast! is free and what I use. It looks like a regular media player in its default skin. And tricky to figure out what to do. Though there are tips when you start it. You'll have to send them an E-mail to get a free key that is good for a year (guess they want to keep track of how many people really use it).

 

 

 

Go to http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads29.html and look for avast! and the definitions. Not sure how to manually install avast! definitions as each AV is different. It might just be unzipping a file and replacing a file manually in the avast directory. That is how trendmicro and adaware SE is.

 

 

 

If you really want to buy an antivurs, get trendmicro or panda (I hear panda is good, though I've yet to test it myself). Norton home editions hog too many system resources and mcafee is the worse AV from my experiences with cleaning infected systems. My job the past year has been a good bit of pc repair (hardware and virus removal). This tcpip.sys corruption was a learning experience for me.

 

 

 

Renaming the tcpip.sys to OLDtcpip.sys is preventing programs from trying to run the file as they are looking for tcpip.sys, not OLDtcpip.sys. Basically it will sit there and do nothing. Changing it will not prevent the computer from booting up, so you can go back and rename it to tcpip.sys. MS says what they said about it because XP was designed to be heavily used on the internet.

 

 

 

In their adware section at majorgeeks:

 

 

 

Get adaware SE (uninstall it and get 2007 when you can connect to the internet) and to get the updates, you gotta unzip the def file and replace the one in the lavasoft adaware directory. You can manually update adaware SE, but not 2007 as of yet.

 

 

 

Spybot is good, the manual update for that is easy, it self extracts the files

 

 

 

winsock xp fix (towards the bottom of the adware section) this replaces registry keys and really works. It is a really heavily used program and I've yet to hear of it messing anyones system up.

 

 

 

x-cleaner micro

 

http://www.spywareguide.com/onlinescan.php download the free scanner. don't accept any active X (you don't want to run it) scroll down and read where it starts with "IF nothing happens" and has "click here" you want to right click the link and save it (regardless of what they say). Small and handy file, can run it off a floppy even. You have to baby sit it though as it stops to ask you to remove a program when it finds one. Uncheck the box that asks to anonymously report it (have to do this every time). If you don't, it will try and connected to x-block.com won't connect and crash. If it happens, just start it over again. This really cleans a lot of crap and pretty fast compared to all the others. This program expires and will stop working in a month. Just delete it and download a new version, it can't be auto updated the entire program is updated about every month or two. It finds a lot of stuff that everything else doesn't find, don't underestimate its usefulness.

 

 

 

The best order to run this stuff:

 

X-cleaner micro

 

Spybot

 

Adaware (make sure 'check for low risks is enabled')

 

Antivirus program you want to use as it probably will take the longest.

 

 

 

Then go into safemode run winsock fix and rename/replace the tcpip.sys file and restart again in safemode with networking to see if you got internet. Then restart in normal mode to see if you still got internet. If so, I'd update your anti virus program and run another scan. Unfortunately with manual updates, all they are, just virus definitions. Not 'security' updates.

 

 

 

Make sure that computer keeps the internet for a few days before going into the wild or something. Just want to make sure nothing is harboring in the system that is tough to get and going to require a lot more work to remove. Might not be the case, but it really suck to die and lose dragon armor over a virus.

[blade995]

If he has a corrupted tcpip file then wouldn't it be easier to do a repair Windows install?

 

 

 

Why the hell would you want him to manually update the definitions by replacing files when all of the programs you mentioned have built in updaters?

[barnabis]

You are playing Russian Roulette with a repair install. Repair installs often work, but I guess you've never seen one when it fails. Sure, odds are with you, but that bullet is somewhere and when you get it...

 

 

 

Boom... and there is no Lumby/Falador.

 

 

 

You also have to get all the windows/office updates again.

 

 

 

Regardless he's gotta scan it with all that stuff I suggested.

 

 

 

If he doesn't and just does a repair install on a system now without making sure it isn't infected. Since all the windows security updates are gone, it can become a real mess.

 

 

 

It can cause bluescreens, lock up, stop it from booting, trojans can download spyware and adware, throw up 100's of pop ups.

 

 

 

Or it can just re-delete tcpip.sys and end up where he's at now.

[das1330]

The biggest reason I would not like to mess with the files at this point is because I do not have a windows install disk or any repair disks. It was a pre built computer, (a dell) and If I mess up my windows install Im screwed. So I would like to cover all my bases with these things.

[barnabis]

You should be able to get them off dell again. They might charge you a little, but it be worth it.

 

 

 

Renaming the file won't prevent windows from booting. And you'll be able to rename the file back to what it was. The winsock xp fix utility is a very dependable tool. I've never seen that fail and used it countless times on many different computers.

 

 

 

It is good to take it cautiously. A lot of people just go delete crazy and end up in a huge mess.

 

 

 

Can you go and look to see if you have tcpip.sys?

 

 

 

btw, tcpip.sys is some kind of encrypted code. So hard to tell if it is corrupted or not opening it up using notepad. I was wrong there with that. Was in a rush to get that post out as I quickly wrote it during work hours which I pretty much never do.

 

 

 

Update: (tuesday)

 

It's been about 4 days now since I've heard from you. I'm going to assume for the most part that the problem was resolved. I'll check up until the end of the week to see if your still having problems. After that, no guarantees as I'm not into RS like years ago.