Problem, I'm completly stumped (edit: SOLVED!)

[titanmiller]

Many of the programs I have on my computer do not recognize that they are connected to the internet. It has to be some kind of setting that affects the entire system
What works: IE, Flash Get (download utility), SetiQueue (Seti@Home app), maybe some other stuff
What doesnt work: WsFTP, Command Line FTP, Netscape, lots of other stuff

I think I might have been messing around with the regestry back when the MSblast worm got on to my computer, but I dont think I deleted anything not related to that, but I think that was about the time the problems started to occur.

Does anybody know of a diagonistic program I can download to see whats going wrong.

See below for info

 

[titanmiller]

I'm running Windows XP home, in case you want to know.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

What kind of connection, dial, DSL, cable? Do you have a router?

 

[titanmiller]

Dial-up, I do not have the built in firewall turned on either.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

I wonder if a repair installation would make sense here. It's difficult to know what is damaged, hopefully you can repair any damage.

First off, I'd uninstall any/all of the non-working stuff and re-install. That may have a positive effect. Then I'd try the repair installation.

 

[titanmiller]

Will that mess anything up, or can it only fix things?


the below has nothing to do with this specific problem, but I saw it on another forum and thought it might be helpful to my problem

The inf directory stores all the install information for drivers that come with XP, none of the files in there should more than KB's in size, and definately not 100's of MB's. You do need these files as XP uses this to check whether it has the files needed to install certain components/Hardware.

Try this and see if works..(Close all programs first)
Put your XP CD in your drive and open a command prompt (Run > cmd)

then at the prompt type..

sfc /scannow

Windows will scan all protected system files and replace any damaged/missing ones. Not sure if it checks the inf directory too but...

After SFC (System File Checker) has finished checking open a cmd prompt again and type...

cleanmgr /sageset:n

The XP Cleanup manager appears but with more options, the important one is the 'Old Chkdsk Files' option, tick that box (and the rest if you like, except 'Compress old files' ) and click OK.

Now type this at the Command prompt..

cleanmgr /sagerun:n

The cleanup manager will run and delete all the crap, including any old chkdsk files.

Now check your inf directory again and see if the huge files are still there.

If the large files in the inf directory are still there, i would delete all the files in there and run SFC again.

If none of that works i would seriously consider installing XP over the top of your present installation.

Hope something helps..

Does that sound good?

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

sfc /scannow is a valid repair technique. It's pretty hard to know what will help, though I think I'd uninstall everything I reasonably could and try a re-install. If you do the sfc /scannow, you'll have to re-install any service packs and security updates you've done.

 

[Thoreau]

Might try scrapping TCP from the interface's properties page and reinstalling it. *shrug*

 

[titanmiller]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll work on it and bump this back up later.

 

[titanmiller]

For some reason I decided to turn Zone Alarm on, and then try applications that did not work and guess what, now everything works. So weard, all I did was turn it on once and now everything works, I dont even have it running anymore but stuff still works. I havent restarted since it became operational, if It doesnt work after I restart I guess I'll just completly uninstall ZA.
I remember seeing 2 seperate ZA services in the services tab of msconfig, maybe those are the problem.
I have had this problem since MSBLAST when I installed ZA and it has taken all of this time for me to find the problem, geeze.

 

[bbqweed]

Uninstall that cr@ppy Zone Alarm...Alot of the times it will block access by programs...if you do not know how to properly configure it. I see sooo many customers with problems when behind a router (When using this program).

You really only need it if your computer is directly connected to the modem. Behind a router, NAT should do fine as your firewall.

 

[mcveigh]

ive had nothing but problems from zone alarm I always reccomend uninstalling it not just turning it off.

 

[titanmiller]

Originally posted by: bbqweed
Uninstall that cr@ppy Zone Alarm...Alot of the times it will block access by programs...if you do not know how to properly configure it. I see sooo many customers with problems when behind a router (When using this program).

You really only need it if your computer is directly connected to the modem. Behind a router, NAT should do fine as your firewall.

Actually I do connect directly (dial-up:disgust: )however I only used it several days after the MSBlast worm just to see how many port 135 attacks I was getting. I'm off to uninstall it completly now.

 

[bbqweed]

So what was your resolution to the problem?