Urgent Problem Please Help (RESOLVED)

[Robbo]

OK i have WINDOWS XP SP2 installed, i recently put on the new adware thing from microsoft to get rid of spyware, however since it changed a few things in the registry the firewall serivce wont star, ive tried uninstalling the SP2 and re-installing SP2 but that didnt work, machine works fine and is fully updated connected and getting update automatically and has no more, if i go on control panel and double click the windows firewall it just state it cannot open for an unspecified reason, i think the firewall part may need re-installing, but how can i do this, please help, the rest of the PC works fine??

oh and i havent got a restore point, but worked fine before the spy ware thing

PLEASE HELP, THANKS IN ADVANCE

[Robbo]

Please Can Someone Help With This Even Re-installed Xp Sp2 Again, Still Doesnt Work??

Cant Get The Firewall Or Ics Service To Run Or Work Any Ideas??

[dglienna]

Download it again, after you remove it, windows update should find it for you. you can also download and install it yourself, I'd imagine. I had a problem installing it, as my virus programs killed it, and deleted it!

[Ideas Man]

Go into the Services applet in Device Manager (Start-> Right-Click My Computer-> Manage-> Services and Applications-> Services), locate the service Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) and check that it's start type is set to Automatic and it is started, if it's stopped, start it.

[Robbo]

ok first question, yeah i downloaded it, 266Mb of SP2

uninstalled back to SP1 then re-installed, had no effect, just tried installing SP2 over again and still the firewall doesnt work

ok the service, this is where the problem lies, the service is set to start automatically on boot-up, however it doesnt start, it just state couldnt start for an unsecified error, i have the microsoft ad-ware checker and i think it may have deleted a few of the registry edits, so need someone who may know what they maybe or how to re-put these back in,

and no sorry i havent got a restore point, i wish, that would be a lot easyer

[Ideas Man]

OK, check it's dependencies in the Dependencies tab of the service and check that they are started, if any of them aren't started, start them and try starting it again.

[Robbo]

dont think it has any dependences, unsure, think i looked at that, ther service wont start, so on control panel i cant open the windows firewall settings??

[Ideas Man]

Well it does, it depends on WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) and Network Connections, which both depend on the Remote Procedure Call service.

Try running the System File Checker at the command prompt (sfc /scannow) and insert your Windows XP CD if prompted, that may fix it.

Give us a yell if you want me to send you a copy of the service keys from my registry.

Also, I find it hard to believe that it was the Microsoft Anti-Spyware that did something intentionally about it, I've got it installed on a number of computers, never talked about it at all.

On another note, did you disable it during the installation of XPSP2, along with any firewall you have installed?

[Robbo]

i will try that later on and see how i get on, is ther anything i can take a picture of to show you that may help?

yeah its a new=ish installation, put the ad-ware thing on thinking it would help, not had time to set the restore up just got how i wanted it, bugger

thanks for your help, i need it

[Ideas Man]

Yeah, the error when you try to start the service, can you give us what it says exactly i.e. any error messages, correct wording etc. It all helps track down the problem. (In other words, a screenie would be nice)

[Robbo]

Yeah, the error when you try to start the service, can you give us what it says exactly i.e. any error messages, correct wording etc. It all helps track down the problem. (In other words, a screenie would be nice)

here you go

[Robbo]

yeah tested that SFC /scannow

didnt work still does it?

[Robbo]

this its struggling with this

Firewall.cpl, it wont run?

[Ideas Man]

No, I ment the error message when you try to start the service, you do that from the services applet that I said how to get into above.

[Robbo]

the sevice, Firewall/ICS seem to be missing from the services window, like a sadi the ad-ware removed a load of registry entrys since it hasnt worked correctly??, any ideas on how to completely remove the wirewall/ICS or just to install again, or is there a way i can put registry entrys in that may just get it working again, anything you want me to try i will do, ok cheers

[dglienna]

I think I said that in #3

[Ideas Man]

The most common thing I could see (and there wasn't much relating to this) was to type this into the command prompt netsh winsock reset and restart your computer, if that doesn't work, give these a go:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892350
And maybe this: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;892199

[Robbo]

cheers Ideas Man, will give that a go tonite, see how it goes will post later see how i get on

[Robbo]

yeah tried, netsh winsock reset, it re-booted but didnt work?

im stuck, any othwer things i can try

[Robbo]

I think I said that in #3

yeah i tried re-installing 3 time, once uninstalling SP2, back to SP1 , rebooted it downloed update installed still got the firewall problem

installed over with the CD (SP2), no effect

uninstalled again, downloaded (via update site) and installed (SP2), no effect

what is weird on control panel, the windows firewall is there, however when i click it i cant open, the service is now missing, so dont even get the chance to start it now, any one know what reg entries i need to open then windows firewall setting and or service??, have to do manual and check files are where they should be, eg *.dll etc and HKey_LOCAL_MACHINE entries

Thanks in Advance

[Ideas Man]

I'm about to nod off, I'll post them for you tomorrow.

[dglienna]

Can you uninstall it in Add/Remove programs?

[Robbo]

add/remove, no its part of installation XP, no option there to re-install, any other ideas, might just format the drive and start again, unless anyone has any bright ideas?

[Ideas Man]

Mmm, I was thinking about the registry entries idea, and it may not work, there may be other problems at hand because I've never seen this happen before. It sounds like you got some spyware that attached itself to the firewall or something.

If it's easy enough to do, I would personally format and reinstall. Many benefits from doing that and it'll fix your problem at the same time.

[Robbo]

well could re-format, but i may just download another firewall service, until something goes completely everything else works fine?? appart from Firewall/ICS just says it cant open for unspecified reason, if i knew what it needed to run or files and reg entrys it uses could check each one and add from another machine?

[Robbo]

ive been looking at the microsoft web site and many people have had this fault once they had installed and run the new anti-spyware beta version, have tried the "netsh Winsock reset"

however this didnt work in my case, if anyone else has had the problem and got it working please could you let me know how?

cheers

just gonna download zone alarm for now, until the update comes out?, its a microsoft problem

[Ideas Man]

I doubt you'll see a fix for it unless you reinstall Windows. Your problem is quite unique w/o a fix, only similar problems that have solutions that don't work for you.

[dglienna]

You may or may not have seen this page. It offers a place to download it, which I assume will install it again. If you have done this already, then I guess you will have to format.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=890830

[Ideas Man]

dglienna, what's that got todo with his problem. It won't fix the firewall, it only removes particular viruses.

[dglienna]

My mistake. I was thinking it was the Spyware tool, which doesn't get installed, or can be removed, and is also a beta. I guess re-installing is the best bet.

EDIT: You might try Microsoft. They were providing free help with SP2 problems before. I used them. They were on the phone a half dozen times for about 15 hours altogether. They solved the problem, for nothing.

[Robbo]

I doubt you'll see a fix for it unless you reinstall Windows. Your problem is quite unique w/o a fix, only similar problems that have solutions that don't work for you.

quite unique, er no, theres loads of people with the same problem with using the new anti-spyware software from microsoft??

[Robbo]

You may or may not have seen this page. It offers a place to download it, which I assume will install it again. If you have done this already, then I guess you will have to format.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=890830

dont think this will work but will have a look tonite? its the spyware form microsoft that caused the problem?, ive downloaded Zone Alarm and that works fine

[Ideas Man]

quite unique, er no, theres loads of people with the same problem with using the new anti-spyware software from microsoft??

I use it and I havn't had the problem. And I didn't find anything on the internet that directly mentioned your problem either, maybe some similar problems, but nothing the same as yours.

[dglienna]

On the Windows Update pages, then have a phone number to call with SP2 problems. They were answering questions for FREE, but before they help you, if they aren't, they will require some sort of payment method. I think the charge was $35/incident, but if they take your money, they will solve your problem.
Tell them it's not worth $35, cause you have a version of Linux, and you need the hard drive space

[Ideas Man]

Tell them it's not worth $35, cause you have a version of Linux, and you need the hard drive space

What's that got to do with anything?

[dglienna]

That was a joke. They had an offer to fix SP2 issues, and it should still be in effect. Start out by sending an email, from this site.

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/wusupport


I assume that you have a legit copy of windows.

[Robbo]

I use it and I havn't had the problem. And I didn't find anything on the internet that directly mentioned your problem either, maybe some similar problems, but nothing the same as yours.

this is the problem http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892350

however is didnt sort it out after re-boot?

[Robbo]

That was a joke. They had an offer to fix SP2 issues, and it should still be in effect. Start out by sending an email, from this site.

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/wusupport


I assume that you have a legit copy of windows.

well ive give it a go, will have to see???, for now ive put zone alarm as firewall and its all happy again, have to wait for the update?

[Ideas Man]

The way I interperated that KB article was that it hasn't actually removed the service, rather played with the winsock stuff. You said the service is gone, which is different.

[dglienna]

Give them a jingle. Either they've seen it before and have an answer, or they will come up with an answer and use it to help others.