Connected to the web, and yet not

Factual Questions
1

My laptop (XP pro) stopped recognizing the web.

My router is OK (I am on my other machine, wireless.)

I tried connecting my laptop with ethernet line, wireless, even dial-up. In all cases – all web based applications are failing.

At some point, when repairing a connection, I got a message that it was unable to refresh IP address.

Any suggestions?

2

OK, try this:

Click Start > Run and type CMD.EXE and press enter. At the command-prompt type IPCONFIG /RENEW. Tell me EXACTLY what error message you get… If it’s somthing long the lines of “An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket” then I have the exact fix for you.

3

Maybe your Winsock settings are messed up and need to be repaired. Have you installed or uninstalled anything recently that might have caused this ?

Try running LSPFix.exe from this site:

http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm

4

Thank you Rex and xash!

ipconfig – no error message displayed
LSPFix - - did not find a problem to solve. I will look further into Winsock issues as I did play with Kazaa yesterday.

5

Can you PING your router? If you repeat the steps I outlined above but type INCONFIG /ALL what do you see? NOTE: you can add the following to the command to send the output to a text file for easy copying:

IPCONFIG /ALL > C:\SOMEDIRECTORY\SOMEFILENAME.TXT

6

Oooops! Just noticed something… the command is IPCONFIG, not INCONFIG! :smack:

7

I’d try the winsock fix once more. You did scroll down the page to the bottom and try the one specific for XP? Reboot.

I think the commands you’re looking for are:

Go to Start … then Run.

Type cmd into the “Open” field and click “OK”.

A DOS Prompt window will appear. Type in ipconfig /release and press [Enter].

When the prompt reappears, type in ipconfig /renew and press [Enter].

8

Oops…

Forgot to note that there is a space before the slash in the commands:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

9

Well, I agree that the problem SEEMS to be with Winsock, but I’m not sure I trust that little app to fix the problem. Here are some manual directions - as long as you follow the directions - especially about rebooting when asked - this should work just fine:

Step 1: Delete registry keys

  1. Open Regedit from the Run line (Start > Run - regedit)
  2. Go to both of the following keys, EXPORT each of them, and then delete them: (To export a key, you right click on it and choose “export” - you can choose where to export them to - DESKTOP is handy - and you need to type in a file name such as “exported Winsock key” and “exported WinSock2 key” and then click on SAVE)

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinSock2

  1. Restart the computer

NOTE: It is important to restart the computer after deleting the Winsock keys. Doing so causes the XP operating system to recreate shell entries for those two keys. If this is not done, the next step does not work correctly.

Step 2: Install TCP/IP on top of itself

  1. Go to Control Panel | Network Connections
  2. Open the properties window of the network connection (Local Area Connection)
  3. Click Install
  4. Click Protocol, then Add
  5. Click “Have Disk”
  6. Type the path to the %systemroot%\inf folder (usually C:\Windows\inf) and click OK (if you try to click Browse, then browse to the \inf folder, it may not show up in the list)
  7. You should now see “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” in the list of available protocols. Select it and click OK.
  8. Restart the computer

When the computer reboots you will have functional Winsock keys. If so, then be sure to delete the exported winsock and winsock2 reg files. (You don’t want to accidentally put them back in the registry)

Side effects and possible problems:

This method will restore basic functionality to the Winsock keys, but is not a complete rebuild. On a default install of Windows XP the registry key: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2\Parameters\ProtocolCatalog9\Catalog Entries will have 11 sub-keys.

When applying this method, the Catalog Entries will only have 3 sub-keys.

However, it works and there does not appear to be any side effects.

The missing entries relate back to the:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces key.

Also, third-party proxy software or firewalls may need to be reinstalled.

10

It is getting more complex –

  • restoring the system to Sunday’s point did not change the situation
  • deleting the winsock entries in the registry and re-installing the protocol did not work

I will re-install XP, hoping this is not a matter of hardware.

11

I would recommend calling the help desk of the router company. When my three year old xp based computer was unable to connect to the internet via ethernet cable to the router, they spent about 20 minutes with me, finally had me slow down my ethernet card, and everything is fine now. I realize this is not your problem, but the dlink people were very helpful to me, despite the fact I was using three year old equipement. I would imagine all the major router companies have similar support.

12

I don’t wish to hijack but I have small silly question that would fit under the title of the thread, so I’ll ask it here. I’ve noticed lately in XP that when I bring up my explorer 6 browser that it tells me I’m offline and asks if I want to connect. Usually if I go to a new website it will say the same thing. It always connects the second time, but it’s mildly annoying. If anyone has a moment after AKA has been taken care of, I’d appreciate it.