Pamela reported that her system no longer had network access. When I checked the IP configuration by issuing "ipconfig/all" at a command prompt, nothing was displayed.
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig /all
Windows IP Configuration
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>
I checked the network card's status under the device manager ("Start", "Control Panel", "System", "Hardware", "Device Manager" from the Windows XP "classic" control panel view). It showed the following for the network interface card:
Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection
Driver files:
C:\WINNT\System32\DRIVERS\e100b325.sys
Provider: Intel Corporation
File version: 8.0.19.0 built by: WinDDK
Copyright: 1995-2004, Intel Corp. All Rights Reserved.
Digital Signer: Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility
Device Instance Id
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1039&SUBSYS_4000107B&REV_82\4&29817089&0&40F0
Resource settings:
This device isn't using any resources because it has a problem.
I rebooted the system. But the problem remained the same after rebooting. The "Intel(R) PROSet II" troubleshooting aid was present under "Start", "All Programs", "Intel". It listed the following under "Troubleshooting":
Problem:
The system has not enabled IO address mapping for the device you have
installed. The device driver will not work correctly on this adapter.
Possible causes:
PC BIOS is set to Plug and Play.
Possible solutions:
Try turning off Plug and Play in the PC BIOS. See your PC manual for
instructions on changing your BIOS settings.
When I clicked on the "Next" button, I saw the following:
Problem:
Unable to locate the drivers for this adapter.
Possible causes:
The drivers for this adapter were not installed, or are not installed properly.
Possible solutions:
Use the "Add/Remove Hardware" wizard in the Control Panel to install the
drivers for this adapter.
I went into the "Device Manager" under the "Control Panel" again and right clicked on "Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection", which was under "Network Adapters". I chose "uninstall". I received the message "Failed to uninstall the device. The device may be required to boot up the computer." I tried disabling the device prior to uninstalling it, but that yielded the same results on the uninstall step. So I re-enabled the adapter and tried "update driver" instead of "disable" or "uninstall". When I took that step, I no longer saw a yellow exclamation mark next to the "Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection". And when I went to a command prompt and issued an "ipconfig/all" command, I saw the expected results, i.e. I saw the expected IP address, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS server addresses.
I checked the "automatic updates" setting on the system and found it set for "automatically download recommended updates for my computer and install them". I changed it to "download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them." This problem was reported to me on Monday, November 14. I did see that updates had been automatically downloaded and installed for the system early in the morning on Friday, November 11.
The updates that were installed Friday were "Security Update for Windows XP (KB896424)" and "Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - November 2005 (KB890830)". Those updates led to a system reboot, since I saw the entry below listed afterwards:
Restart Required: To complete the installation of the following updates, the
computer will be restarted within 5 minutes:
- Security Update for Windows XP (KB896424)
- Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - November 2005 (KB890830)
I don't believe either of those updates are the likely cause of the problem, however. When I checked the timestamps on files updated by the user's email client, Eudora, I saw they had been updated much later during the day on Friday.
I also noticed the following error in the system event log for November 14:
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: PlugPlayManager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 256
Date: 11/14/2005
Time: 7:54:05 AM
User: N/A
Computer: ELLIE
Description:
Timed out sending notification of device interface change to window of "MyTest"
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
When I clicked on the link in the event entry, I saw the following:
Details
| Product: | Windows Operating System |
| Event ID: | 256 |
| Source: | PlugPlayManager |
| Version: | 5.2 |
| Symbolic Name |
WRN_INTERFACE_CHANGE_TIMED_OUT |
| Message: | Timed out sending notification of device interface change to window of "%1" |
Explanation
A window was registered for Plug and Play device event notification, but it
did not respond to the notification within 30 seconds. While Windows was
waiting for the device to respond, Plug and Play stopped responding, which
caused performance problems.
User Action
If performance problems are associated with this event, close any programs that are running at the same time.
Currently there are no Microsoft Knowledge Base articles available for this specific error or event message. For information about other support options you can use to find answers online, see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx.
I don't know of any hardware change that might have been made on the system. I noticed the user's iPod was unplugged. I think it was plugged in previously, but I don't know if that had any bearing on the problem.
