Network Connections is empty

WinXP Pro SP2. If I go into the Control Panel > Network Connections, I get an error about "the network service couldn't be started" and the Network Connections window is empty. I went through the system services and made sure the ones related to networking were enabled and started (they were disabled and stopped), and I rebooted, but it made no difference. In the Device Manager, both the wifi and the wired network adapters are installed and "working" (obviously I can't get online). So, anyone have any ideas?

Thanks! :-D

 

I just plugged a USB wifi adapter in to the laptop just to see what was going on, and it too does not appear in Network Connections, and it also produces the following error message:
"The Network Connections Folder was unable to retrieve the list of network adapters on your machine. Please make sure that the Network Connections service is enabled and running."
:confused

 

Possible help - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254631