Logon screen gone on 98SE laptop

[JorgeA]

I'm hoping someone has a clue as to what might be going on here.

I have several computers participating in a distributed computing project. The DC program is set to connect to the project server every so often to issue progress reports, and also when it's first loaded or when it completes an assignment. Last night, I noticed that the program had slowed down enormously. Closing the program and relaunching it didn't help. So I shut the laptop down and restarted it. At that point I noticed the next thing -- the logon screen that I had set with a password to join my home network did not appear as Win98 was loading.

Today, I discovered that my Win98SE laptop could no longer access the Internet; every place I tried via IE6 got a DNS Error. And the DC program isn't able to communicate with the project server. Powering down and restarting hasn't helped this or the lack of the logon screen.

The only thing that's new in my network is that, a couple of weeks ago, I purchased a Windows 7 (yes!) Lenovo laptop, set it up, and connected it to the network. In recent days, I'd noticed that ZoneAlarm on the 98SE laptop was issuing an enormous number of notices about the new laptop trying to access it. At one point it stopped counting at the maximum value, 500, but it seemed to keep working normally after that.

Now I'm no longer getting those notices from ZA, but I can't access the Internet.

The two events (new laptop + this problem) could be totally unrelated, but as this is the only change I've made to the network lately, I have to wonder.

Any ideas as to what may be going on, or what I can do?? What could cause the logon screen to stop showing up? Device Manager doesn't report anything wrong. I'm running ZA version 6.1.744.001 (the last one that worked on Windows 98).

--JorgeA

Edited February 19, 2013 by JorgeA

[coolman]

I'm hoping someone has a clue as to what might be going on here.

I have several computers participating in a distributed computing project. The DC program is set to connect to the project server every so often to issue progress reports, and also when it's first loaded or when it completes an assignment. Last night, I noticed that the program had slowed down enormously. Closing the program and relaunching it didn't help. So I shut the laptop down and restarted it. At that point I noticed the next thing -- the logon screen that I had set with a password to join my home network did not appear as Win98 was loading.

Today, I discovered that my Win98SE laptop could no longer access the Internet; every place I tried via IE6 got a DNS Error. And the DC program isn't able to communicate with the project server. Powering down and restarting hasn't helped this or the lack of the logon screen.

The only thing that's new in my network is that, a couple of weeks ago, I purchased a Windows 7 (yes!) Lenovo laptop, set it up, and connected it to the network. In recent days, I'd noticed that ZoneAlarm on the 98SE laptop was issuing an enormous number of notices about the new laptop trying to access it. At one point it stopped counting at the maximum value, 500, but it seemed to keep working normally after that.

Now I'm no longer getting those notices from ZA, but I can't access the Internet.

The two events (new laptop + this problem) could be totally unrelated, but as this is the only change I've made to the network lately, I have to wonder.

Any ideas as to what may be going on, or what I can do?? What could cause the logon screen to stop showing up? Device Manager doesn't report anything wrong. I'm running ZA version 6.1.744.001 (the last one that worked on Windows 98).

--JorgeA

Possibly the Windows 7 computer is trying to create some sort of network group (maybe a homegroup) with the 98SE laptop which 98SE doesn't recognize. Try disconnecting the Windows 7 laptop from the network/internet and see if that does something. If not do this:

On the 98SE laptop, make sure the internet settings are correct. Go to Start>Run and type the following (without quotes) "control netcpl.cpl" and press ENTER and make sure TCP/IP, your network adapter, and Client for Microsoft Networks is listed in the networking components that are installed box. If that is correct check if your Primary Network Logon (below the installed network components box) is Client for Microsoft Networks. If you need to add some components for your network adapter, network protocols, Logon Hosts, etc., click the 'Add' button and follow from there. Then click OK to close on the Network window (DON'T PRESS CANCEL). If prompted for your 98SE CD, insert it. It will install the components needed for your network. If prompted to restart, click Yes. If it still doesn't work, go to Start>Run again and type the following (without quotes) "control inetcpl.cpl" and press ENTER. Check if your homepage is valid on the General Tab. If correct, go to the Advanced Tab and scroll to the bottom and check if the boxes for SSL 2.0, SSL 3.0, and TLS 1.0 are checked. Then press OK (DON'T PRESS CANCEL). You don't need to restart for this. Then try launching Internet Explorer. Post back with the results.

Edited February 20, 2013 by coolman

[JorgeA]

Thanks very much for the info and advice. I've done what you said, and here's the update. The whole thing is pretty bizarre.

Soon after disconnecting the new laptop, the old laptop was once again able to go on the 'Net. I then checked all the settings as you suggested, and everything seemed to be in order so no reinstallations were apparently needed. The SSL and TLS settings in IE6 were as you indicated, too. Powering down and rebooting didn't bring back the logon screen, though -- not at that point.

I left the new laptop disconnected overnight and let the old one connected and working. As everything (except for the logon) seemed to be working, I re-connected the new laptop to the network this afternoon. Some time later I went to check, and the notices from ZoneAlarm had resumed. This time, I couldn't close the ZA alert balloon -- it wouldn't respond to my actions, although I could stop the DC program with no problem, and open and close the ZA window itself just fine. But the alert balloon stayed, getting in the way of everything, so I shut the laptop down again and rebooted once more.

This time, and for whatever reason, the network logon screen came up as normal before Windows loaded. First thing I did after it finished booting was to go into the ZA firewall and tell it to trust the new laptop. The notices have stopped coming.

It's all very strange and I don't understand how one computer could suppress another computer's logon process, but everything looks like it's OK now. Thanks for your help, I suspect that just checking with the instructions you gave somehow got things sorted out.

--JorgeA

[coolman]

Glad I could be of assistance.

Edited February 20, 2013 by coolman