Network Connections is empty

WinXP Home SP3 - if I go to Control Panel > Network Connections, the window is empty. It shows neither the PCI wifi card or the on-board ethernet adapter. Ironically, I apparently started a thread almost 4 years ago w/ a very similar problem (read it here) and I don't remember how that ended up. I did try the link provided and followed the steps but that didn't work. This time, I get no errors (in the old thread I mentioned I would get numerous errors). I simply cannot get online via wifi or ethernet, and the Network Connections window is empty. I have run Dial_A_Fix, I have run most of the Tweaking.com repair tools, I have tried a system restore... no luck. If I go to a command prompt and run ipconfig it comes back with nothing, no errors, no information, nothing.

Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated.

THX!

(for those unfamiliar with Dial_A_Fix, it re-registers all system DLL files and performs many other "all purpose fix-it" tasks and has helped dramatically in the past with WinXP problems; unfortunately, it does NOT work with Vista or Win7 and there appears to be no work to bring a new version to the hungry masses :cry )

 

Hardware showing up/enabled in BIOS?
USB wifi adapter work?
If not, maybe try resetting TCP/IP.

 

Device manager shows both the wifi and on-board NIC.... on-board NIC is enabled (obviously )

I've already reset TCP/IP and Winsock (I think? I sometime lose track when I'm working in 5 things at once :-o rolleyes). I'll do it again to be sure, but I don't think that it will re-populate the Network Connections window in the Control Panel. I have not tried a USB wifi adapter yet... that's my next route....

Thx!

 

Possibly deleting the Network Adapters in Device Manager, reboot and reinstall drivers?

not sure if this fix would be valid.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10687

 

Command ipconfig does nothing whatsoever or all information blank?

 

I installed a USB wifi adapter- it shows up in Network Connections and it works fine, but that doesn't solve my problem.... it provides some insight I guess....

I did boot in safe mode, enabled viewing of hidden devices in the device manager, then I tried to uninstall most of the items listed under Network Adapters.... I was told that the devices could not be uninstalled because "it may be required to boot the computer". So I couldn't remove anything listed in Network Adapters.

Ipconfig comes up blank - the command runs, but nothing is listed. Screen shot attached below....

 

I ended up performing a repair install of WinXP. That fixed the empty Network Connections window, but still the motherboard built-in ethernet did not appear (it was listed in the Device Manager), the PCI wifi card appeared and worked fine. A bit of diagnostics told me the on-board ethernet had failed. I disabled the on-board ethernet in BIOS, removed the PCI modem (nobody uses modems anymore) and installed a PCI ethernet card and it works like a champ.... another strange PC episode.... I always seem to run in to the weirdest of the weird :banghead

Thx for the input and suggestions!

-DLB-