Lost control of network adapters XP SP3

Hi - I have a Lenovo T60 running XP SP3 that normally is quite stable. Ethernet and wireless worked fine until something was apparently corrupted when coming out of standby mode. Computer hung when coming out of standby, I waited a long time, and then forced reboot. Here's the result after the reboot:

Now, I have normal hardware operation but Windows isn't communicating with the network adapters. The network adapters still appear as usual in control panel.

(a) Ethernet status shows connected at 100MB but no IP addr and I am unable to disable/enable the adapter from the usual screen. Traffic count remains at zero in both directions.

(b) Wireless adapter switches on and off using the actual hardware switch, but the wireless control utility says radio is powered off -- and when I attempt to power it on from the software interface, nothing happens, just as nothing happens when I try to disable/enable the ethernet adapter.

I have scanned for malware, have attempted numerous ethernet networks and wi-fi devices, and nothing turns up as the cause. I have changed NO config on any device -- all is as it normally is.

What are likely problems that cause this? I have attempted a restore to a point prior to the time this occurred, but system says it is unable to restore to the valid restore point. (I've seen that particular restore problem before)

In my next reboot after this happened, I saw an error box stating acs.exe didn't start, but that error doesn't show on subsequent reboots. Would all adapter drivers be corrupted at the same time? I haven't uninstalled/reinstalled drivers (yet). All help is appreciated!

 

As follow-up, I attempted to uninstall one of these adapters and the system hangs, not uninstalling them. I'm forced to terminate the device manager process in order to get back to a functional state.

 

Welcome to Majorgeeks

I don't think that the drivers are at fault in this instance, it reads more like the Windows networking stack has become flaky.

Try the System Restore again, sometimes it works fine a few hours or a day or two later.

 

Uh-Oh - Now, all my system restore points have disappeared. Am I up for a re-install of XP? Wondering if it's repairable without full reload ...

 

Did any of your malware scans pick up on anything? If so, and they were quarantined or deleted, it may also have deleted the Restore points as they could still be harboring the infection.

If all came up clean and it's lost all Restore points since, I'd get all the vital data from it before nuking it and starting afresh but I wouldn't trust it until after subjecting the new install to some serious testing.

Do you have the Install or Repair CD and driver CD?

 

Malware scans all came up clean. Malware scans run very often, so no surprise it all came up with nothing found. I don't have the Lenovo install disks, so I'll need to d/l all those accessories and drivers. And of course I'll need to reinstall all the Win stuff complete with ten tons of updates to d/l. Fortunately, all data is backed up regularly, and system is operating OK except for the networking thing (but why the restore problem?). I'm noticing bootup speed is faster than normal, so there's a chunk of something that's not getting loaded. Thanks for the reply and suggestions!

 

Hmm, strange ...

Do you have an i386 folder in the C drive (or in a subdirectory of Windows), it'll be around 450Mb, iirc? And your Windows key from the sticker underneath the laptop? If the answer is yes to both, you may be able to run a Windows repair or parallel install, repair = same Windows folder, parallel = new Windows install but leaving the old data intact.

 

Yes, I do have the i386 folder and files on the system. Looking at a large number of these files, the tab labeled "date accessed" is the exact date and time this entire problem occurred. But no, I bought the laptop used and don't have the windows key for it. Is it not possible to repair without the key? If not, it looks like I'll be forced to reinstall from a clean copy of XP.

 

I've extracted the Windows Key from the OS, and will attempt a repair using the i386 files on the HD.

 

I'd be most surprised if it worked that way, the key used during the factory 'install' (hard drive cloning procedure) is usually not accepted during a reinstall.

 

The key was indeed accepted, and the repair process started but it hangs about half way through. I rebooted and attempted twice more, and it hangs again in the same place. (Setup hasn't terminated, so system thinks it's still in this process when I reboot) So I decided to try booting and repairing from the CD, and after some files are copied from the CD, the install says it can't find a HD on the system!! (It's a known-good XP CD) Is the CD saying it can't find a HD because the original repair hasn't completed? What to do next? Thanks again for the assist.

 

I'm pleased that setup accepted the key

Can't find the HDD? Usually because there's a non-Intel SATA chipset or because Setup is from a very early version of XP. Slipstreaming with the correct driver and SP2/3 should cure that.

Otherwise ... have you checked that the BIOS has got the MBR unlocked, boot sector protection, w/e it's called, turned off?

 

I discovered the "HD Missing" problem is well-known due to the SATA thing, and most of the forum responses on this are to go ahead and slip-stream. However, I found one post in a forum that said you could change the BIOS drive info to "compatible" for the install, then switch back once you have the correct driver installed (after system rebuild). This procedure is also documented in a note on the Lenovo website associated with the storage controller. This was much easier than extracting the driver files and creating the slipstream. This rebuild has taken longer than any I've ever done, so I'll be looking into some ghost software to prevent me from having to go through this again. Thanks again for the assist.

 

I'm really pleased you found an easy fix for it, some of the other possibilities I saw on the Lenovo site looked nightmarish