[Help] - IE wont, firefox will..

[joll69]

i just reinstalled xp, new nlited build and all...and now i have an elephant of an issue...all was well at first, i was loading drivers and apps, rebooting at the prompts...IE worked at the start as well, so i figure it's not nlite's fault, hence why this is posted here...i cant remember exactly when it crapped out, but the firewall was already in place, as well as anything else that has anything to do with network access/management...

IE will not get to the internet..any site, not even my router's http config page...no error message, no 404, no "page cannot be displayed", nothing...it just sits on a white page with a blank address bar...and the title is the home page, www.google.com..

i can ping inside and outside my home network, no problems, fast pings, all less than 150, most under 100...firefox can also get to internet, it's how i'm posting this..

i've cycled my modem, reset my router, checked my firewall, run as may wizards as would apply (the internet setup wizard with IE6, and the network setup wiz), checked, double checked, triple checked, and quadruple checked my network settings...nothing...even rebooted a few times to be sure...a full system scan with pc-cillin internet suite 2005 (updated today) came up empty, so no infection...

i'm using xp sp2 with all latest hotfixes, with a d-link router...my network card is as follows, verbatim from device manager... "3Com EtherLink 10/100 PCI For Complete PC Management NIC (3C905C-TX)"....the card has more advanced settings in there than i care to list..suffice it to say that they are the defaults with only one change, the speed is 100mb full duplex...switching to anything else doesnt work, i already tried that...the nic is using the same driver as i've always used, as are the rest of my system components...

it makes no sense to me why this is happening, and M$ has nothing of use in their knowledge base, as usual...

it wouldnt be so bad, but i really dont care for ff...or any alternative browser...IE does what i need...

any ideas?

Title Edited - Please follow new posting rules from now on.

--Zxian

Edited December 13, 2005 by Zxian

[atomizer]

this is just a stab in the dark (and i don't use IE), but is IE set to use a proxy possibly?

what happens if you open a Windows Explorer (not IE) and type a url?

and just for the hell of it, try this...

http://ietab.mozdev.org/

[cluberti]

Does it behave the same in Safe Mode with Networking?

[joll69]

@atomizer

no, no proxy settings, just checked...and if i manually type in a url, ie just sits there...the animated flag in the corner is movin, but the status bar still says "Done", and nothing happens...and that site looks interesting, i'll give it a whirl if IE keeps misbehaving...

@cluberti

dunno, i'll try that and edit post with result..

edit: just tried safe mode with network...no go...same as before...

Edited December 13, 2005 by joll69

[atomizer]

@joll99

i meant for you to type a url in windows explorer, not internet explorer (yes, you can access a network from windows explorer) just to see what happens.

and the firefox extension i linked to was to try another method to test IE since it uses the IE engine.

other than that, i doubt i can be of much help, other then to suggest maybe disabling all start-up programs and see what happens. there's a link to "autoruns" in my sig that may assist you.

[joll69]

oops...my mistake...maybe i should read more thoroughly next time..

ok, tried the windows explorer, nothing...same as in IE...exactly the same...

and i'll try that extension, and edit post in a few minutes...

edit:

no go on extension...wont go anywhere...status bar says "Waiting for " and then whatever site is entered....

i wonder if i might need to reinstall xp again...

edit2:

just removed all from hklm and hkcu run lists...as well as startup folder for good measure...still nothing on IE...there is a cumulative update for IE that just popped onto the automatic updates list..i'll give that a spin and see if anything happens...

edit3:

nope...update didnt change anything...any ideas? or am i stuck either using ff, or reinstalling xp?

Edited December 13, 2005 by joll69

[cluberti]

I'd first try doing an sfc /scannow, and failing that, a repair installation before doing a complete reinstallation.

[joll69]

i'm gonna go ahead with the full reinstall...just re-nlited a fresh source with a different set to integrate this time, closer to what i had before..i dont care about losing anything cuz it was installed just earlier today anyway...nothing to lose and all, as everything is still backed up....

tried the sfc thing anyway, and it said this:

"

Windows File Protection could not initiate a scan of protected system files.

The specific error code is 0x000006ba [The RPC server is unavailable.].

"

and i think something was amiss in my previous nlited one, so a repair would probly be fruitless...oh well, live and learn, i guess....

thnx to everyone who read, thought, and/or posted to this...i hope this next install dont screw up as badly....as a total last resort, i have an untouched xpsp2 cd handy...