Compaq Laptop no connect to home net or Internet

Notebook (Laptop?) won't connect to Internet thru same hub and router that
work OK with 2 Desktop pc's in small home network.

Some other oddities are:

1. On boot-up, Explorer opens a window to "C:\Program Files\Common".
There are no files in this folder (all is enabled in Folder Options).
However, "C:\Program Files\Common Files" is OK.

2. Odd Virus Scanner behavior (IMHO only)

3. Some other observations noted in Par. B.

.................................................................

NOTE: I have just viewed and saved some possible solutions at other posts in
this forum (... Networking and the web) and some hopeful links from Chuck
and other well-known MVP's. As have to leave for few days shortly, there's no
time to check or follow them up right now, so I'm posting this anyway as I
think
my problem(s) just might not be quite the same.

*********************************************************

Compaq Presario V2000 Notebook System Properties:

1- General: XP Pro (V2002) SP1; Intel Pentium M 1.6 GHz; 224MB RAM
50% free space on the two FAT 32 C and D partitions.

2- Remote: Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop = enabled
Advanced: Allow this computer to be controlled remotely = enabled

Previously disabled the 3 settings in item 2 above for safety but
they auto-enabled after either a reboot or after used Wizard.
I will leave them enabled.
**************************************************

A. Conclusions

I won't belabor the point to much. After a couple days of off and
on troubleshooting, suspicions centered on TCIP and Dhcp problems.
My knowledge insufficient to go beyond this. The below is as far
as I got. I need help to go further.

In event it's needed, I've also provided the basic troubleshooting
history, as best as remembered, in par. B. but don't think it adds
much to the understanding of the main problem; here is the latter,
as encapsulated in the last step of my efforts to find it:

---
Went into Ctrl Panel\AdminTools\Event Viewer\System to see if any
hints there. Saw this most recent Warning msg for Dhcp:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Dhcp
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1006
Date: 7/27/2006
Time: 2:01:43 AM
User: N/A
Computer: XXX-31XXX76

Description:

Your computer was unable to automatically configure the IP
parameters for the Network Card with the network address
0211670C1794. The following error occurred during configuration:
The requested service provider could not be loaded or initialized.


For more information, see Help and Support Center at

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Data:
0000: 7a 27 00 00 z'..

...................................................................

I'd expected something like this. The log was a long one but there
were very few such particular errors listed in it. The first one
apparently occurred on *1 April 2006* - which looked suspicious
and made me think a previous virus might have had something to
to with this. If so, problem may go deeper.

Later went to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
The following is what I got there:

#########################################

We're sorry

There is no additional information about this issue in the Error
and Event Log Messages or Knowledge Base databases at this time.
You can use the links in the Support area to determine whether
any additional information might be available elsewhere.

Thank you for searching on this message; your search helps us
identify those areas for which we need to provide more information.

############################################

All I can say is, they weren't nearly as sorry as I was.

What's next?


..................................................................
B. Here is the History leading up to the above revelation. Don't
think it's needed if above can be successfuly tackled:
..................................................................

My friend's pc lost ability to go on Internet. When he got the
error page and clicked something on screen, his drive's arm
began to clatter at about 5 cps (Hz). The process had to be ended
to un-hang the system from this state.

I later found that the above happens after click on "detect network
status" in the "The page cannot be displayed" error message.

Clicking anything on Yahoo toolbar or trying a new address also
hung up the system - but only if main LAN cable was connected. A
connection to the Net just couldn't be made via the LAN.

..................................................................

Did a full virus scan. Then cleaned with <Disk Cleanup> and also
cleaned all in Internet Options.

He has Network Associates VirusScan Pro (V 7.03.6000) which was set
to start scan at boot. I disabled it when it got to 140,000 files
after 7 hours because <Checkdsk> had listed only about 42,000
items total (including hidden) on C and D. Maybe the virus scan
kept repeating itself. AVG later scanned 57,300 files; Stinger
scanned about 22,000. No infected files found.

(At this posting, have not yet tried any anti-malware scanners).

When attempting to go on the Net, there was never any connection
as such shown either in Notification area or in My Computer.
(I don't recollect now but there may however have been at least
one such indication at start of the troubleshooting).

...............................................................

As I'm doing this from memory, some of the following may seem
confusing. The problem is that I can't remember now if some
of the below observations were made while (a) trying to
connect to Internet or (b) while trying to connect directly
to an independent pc via crossover cable.

In the former case, I never saw the rest of the home network
and could never connect to Internet. In the latter case, I was
eventually successful.

So I guess we could say that whenever I "saw" a connection in
the below recollections, I must have been on the crossover.
But then again, in some early cases, some messages I got
might have been while on the main LAN cable.

...............................................................

Tried changing a few things at some of the LAN net menus. The
Local Area Connection Status, Support menu always said
"unavailable" for "Address Type", "IP Address", etc.

The connection was never detected. But balloon says "Local Area
Connection is now connected. Speed 100.0 Mbps."

Also, in the Local Area Connection Properties" dialog box, I
thought I saw before that "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" is ticked.

When I clicked Repair, I received a short error message like
"No TCIP enabled..." or something along those lines and as if
the automatic I/P address creator function wasn't working
(DHCP?). After that, "Repair" was dimmed so I couldn't repeat
this test any more thereafter, nor after any re-boot since.

..............................................................

In the end I did at least get one Desktop and the Compaq to talk
to each other over a crossover cable. This was a drawn out affair
with many intervening error messages and at first I could only
access his pc from the Desktop but not the other way round.
Later I somehow got it working both ways OK.

..............................................................

He's got several other connections on there, including 2 wireless
and an IE 1394 Bridge. In fact all connections were listed as
"Network Bridge" in the My Computer, Network Connections page.

The connection I'm working with has a Realtek RTL 8139 Family
PCI Fast Ethernet NIC. Below that it says:
"This adaptor is part of a Network Bridge. ...".

It makes no difference if the "IEEE802.1x authentication for
this network" is enabled or not in the LAN Properties for the
Realtek, under the "authentication" tab.

I don't know much about "bridges" but I'm fairly sure we don't
need or use any at this small net with Hub and Router and that
I put the Notebook on for the tests.

Maybe things would work and we could get on Net if I deleted
(or disabled) all those "bridges" and just tried to use the
Wizard again to create a new homenet connection for the
Compaq to our workgroup. But I'm not sure if they will
stay deleted/disabled or not or whether he might not need
those bridges later for whatever he used them. He's not
familiar with these procedures. Someone else set things
up for him before.

There's also a DialUp connection w/ standard internal modem
and also a VPN connection.

.........................................................

When the main LAN cable is active and plugged in, there's
a steady amber and green light next to it; but at the
Notebook the amber light flashes about once every
2 seconds only, usually. The green is always steady on.

.........................................................

Just previously the MS Home icon shortcut on Compaq Desktop
worked OK. Now it only shows his pc - not the Desktop. But
if I click on same icon in the Windows Explorer folder tree,
it works OK and shows both pc's on the LAN. The properties of
both shortcuts are the same.

But I still can't get on the Internet with the Notebook when
I re-connect our long, main work group LAN cable to it. The
Desktops have no problem with this when going on net via the
Hub and Router. Any pc can connect OK without having to go
through any other pc.

..........................................................

I see now that the 4 connections (2 wireless; LAN; 1394 Bridge)
usually on Notification bar didn't show up after a re-boot.
Can't check 'status' now because no connections listed now in
"My Computer" either. Not sure what's going on.

"Show icon in notification area when connected" is ticked
at all connections.

..........................................................

Device Manager shows no hardware or conflict problems. However,
for the Realtek NIC Properties\Advanced\Network Address, no
Address is shown. I am reluctant to mess with the driver in any
way as nothing really indicates a need to.

Did not try any of following yet as have to leave shortly for
few days and no time:

--- 'System Restore' - since the event log indicates problem first
started a long time ago (roughly 4 months back).

--- Dialup connection.

--- Anti-malware scanners.

............................................................

What can I do now to restore the Dhcp first?

---
DB/WW
.

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