Re: No web connect after SP2 Update

Tech-Archive recommends: Fix windows errors by optimizing your registry

From: Doug Kanter (ancientangler_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 02/14/05 

Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 04:18:48 GMT

"Steve Winograd [MVP]" <winograd@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:p2hu0117h7bcp7orbqjaviceli8egdpm3m@4ax.com...
> In article <40vPd.446$if5.115@news02.roc.ny>, "Doug Kanter"
> <ancientangler@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>Why isn't anything easy?
>>
>>Working on a friend's Compaq Presario (the world ugliest computer). Her
>>teenage son had done everything possible to screw it up. Many kinds of
>>spyware, 2 viruses, machine was a mess. So, my friend said "The hell with
>>it....let's start from scratch". Used the Compaq restore disk to reformat
>>&
>>reinstall XP Home. Installed ZoneAlarm (free version) next, everything
>>worked fine. Did all MS updates EXCEPT SP2 (ran out of time & energy on
>>the
>>first night). Everything worked fine.
>>
>>Did the SP2 update (using Windows Update from the start menu). No glitches
>>during install, but now, I cannot access the internet. When I did the SP2
>>update on two other machines, I did NOT have this problem. Before I start
>>poking around, can anyone offer a clue, or tell me which fork in the road
>>to
>>take?
>>
>>By the way, I tried shutting down ZoneAlarm, even though it did NOT
>>indicate
>>that it had blocked anything outbound, like IE, but doing this made no
>>difference. Uninstalled ZA, at which point the Windows firewall kicked in.
>>Disabled THAT while figuring this out. And, there is no AV software
>>installed yet. Just a clean machine. Almost.
>>
>>-Doug
>
> Running two firewalls simultaneously is likely to cause problems.
> Disable the Internet Connection Firewall (original, SP1) or Windows
> Firewall (SP2) immediately after installing a firewall like ZA.
>
> I've seen ZA cause problems on XP. Shutting down ZA didn't help.
> Un-installing ZA was necessary.
>
> Can the computer ping a web site by IP address and by name? Try:
>
> ping 216.239.39.99
> ping google.com
>
> If the first succeeds and the second fails, there's a DNS problem. If
> they both fail, try these steps to fix the problem:
>
> 1. Go to Start | Run | Msconfig | Startup and disable any remnants of
> ZoneAlarm that the un-install procedure didn't remove.
>

Time for an update on the computer from hell. I've reformatted & renovated
about 30 machines thus far. Never anything like this.

1) Found a few remnants of ZA in the registry, but nothing in msconfig's
startup tab. By the way, there were not two firewalls running
simultaneously. Windows recognizes the presence of ZoneAlarm, but even so, I
checked the control thing for the Windows firewall. It was off. But, never
mind....see below.

2) Able to ping both address you suggested with no problem.
3) Tried your suggestion: "netsh winsock reset catalog". Whatever it did, it
didn't help, although it looks interesting enough that I've stuck a note in
my 300 lb XP textbook to learn more about it.

At 10:00 tonight, I decided I had a choice to make: Keep dickin' around with
this machine in its current state, or start from scratch. I chose "B". Stuck
in the Compaq restore disk, wiped the HD clean, and got as far as the first
round of MS updates. The machine still connects via DSL, nice & fast.
However, this time, new spooks have arisen:

1) I'm seeing popup windows even when IE is ***NOT RUNNING*** (or at least
*I* haven't started it).
2) Went for the second round of MS updates and I'm getting multiple script
errors from the Windows Update site. Can't get past the "checking for
updates" screen. This did NOT happen when I started from scratch with the
machine two days ago.
3) Unlocked the gun safe, pulled out my favorite handgun, and prepared to
murder the CPU. Decided to go to sleep and reconsider the idea, since it
belongs to my ex-wife's cousin and I have enough friction to deal with
because everyone in her family is supposed to dislike me. :-)

I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.

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