SP2 install: Can not connect to internet

Howdy Folks,
This is the third time I am installing XP home SP2 on wife's machine. The last two times we had a "limited or no connectivity" problem connecting to LAN, and SP2 had to be uninstalled (after posts here, calls to dell, M$, geek support)

This time, I loaded M$ patch, WindowsXP-KB884020-x86-enu.exe, and now connection ostensibly works. Sys tray icon shows connection connected and speed, but no data is going either way. When I try "repair" connection "windows could not finish repairing the problem becuas the following action cannot be completed - renewing your IP address" The default gateway is missing blank, so I manually configured IP per my other machine, but still no data flow.

The machine is a dell, dimension 4300, Zone Alarm, Conexant NIC, Panda.

I am beginning to think it is cheaper to buy a new computer than spend any more time dealing witht SP2 on this machine.

Any ideas?

Very frustrated,

Kevin

 

I don't know your skill level, so I have to ask,

Have you disabled the Windows firewall?

Does it work with ZoneAlarm disabled?

Does it work in Safe Mode with Networking?

 

Windows Firewall is disabled
Zone Alarm firewall is off.

YES http://forums.majorgeeks.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif it does work in safe mode with networking.

 

Is this also clean install of windows?
If all works in safe mode, gotta be ZA??

I had a similar problem on a friends PC, trying to use ZA (the latest free version), Once I removed /uninstalled ZA, problem solved.
I havent liked ZA since version 4.5, the newer seems to be a pain.
I thought I've read about lot of problem's/issues between ZA & SP2 at microsoft's web.

This PC is now running Sygate & no more problems, windows firewall is off.
The SP2 firewall isnt bad either.
Here's link for Sygate:
http://majorgeeks.com/download3356.html

 

If it's working in Safe Mode with Networking, try msconfig and see what is running in the background or what programs are loaded at startup.

Something is obviously blocking your connection and loading with Windows.

 

Asus, this is not a clean install (that is going to be my next project)
I turned off ZA pro, abtrusion protector, and panda and got no change to connectivity.

Insomniac, I opened msconfig and disabled all startup items, and no change after restart. I turned off all services that were not M$ , restarted, no change. In msconfig main tab, selected "diagnostic" and restarted but now there is no network connection, even in "Network Connections" in the control panel.

Suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

 

So, I turned off all non-M$ services, all startup items, and manually set the ip to (Local area connection status/ Properties/ TCP/IP/Properties) the same adddress as my other computer which is plugged into the same linksys router.
IP 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway 192.168.1.1

When windows login appears error pops up:"IP conflict with another machine on the network."
Nonetheless, "x.com cannot be found, please check the name", so I changed the IP address to :
192.168.1.101
but still nothing.


Do you think that clean install will solve this problem?