Windows Vista Can't connect to Internet; can't enable Windows Firewall, etc.

I'm trying to help a friend with a 3-year old Windows Vista (32-bit), Home Edition, HP laptop. Her main problem is that she can't access the Internet, but there are other errors associated with it. Here is her summary:

Note: Actual error messages are underlined to spot more easily.
Cannot access the internet either via a wireless network or wired up via an ethernet cable. The problem occurred suddenly. It was fine Wednesday morning when I checked my email, but when I booted up in the evening I could not connect to the Internet.


When I place my cursor over the "connected" icon in the tray that shows available networks (looks like two monitors and usually has a globe on it when you are connected to the internet), it says "connection status unknown. The Dependency Service or group failed to start "

Steps taken so far (multiple times) to try and fix the problem: 1. Went into the command prompt and entered netsh winsock reset, netsh ip reset, and sfc /scannow , and rebooted.
2. Went into the Services menu and made sure the Diagnostic Policy Service was set to Automatic. It was "stopped" and when I tried to "start" it, it told me "error 5: Access Denied ". Permissions were all checked and after we attempted other things in the command prompt (I can not remember everything we did in there), I now get a different message when trying to start the service. It now says "Windows could not start the Diagnostic Policy Service on Local Computer. Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start "
3. Went into the Registry and made sure all the appropriate folders had full permissions.
4. Tried a system restore to a few days earlier but the restore never finished. Near the end of it I got an error saying there was an internal error and it could not be completed.
5. Noticed there was also a Windows Firewall problem and cannot start the firewall. It will not start automatically and when trying to turn on manually I receive the error "Windows Firewall settings cannot be displayed because the associated service is not running. Do you want to start the service? ". I choose yes and get "Windows can not start the Firewall service ".

So, I am pretty sure if I can get the Diagnostic Policy Service started it will be connected to the firewall issue and solve the connection problem. I just do not know how to start the service back up because it will not let me.

P.S. I even created a new identity with Admin power, and got the same results there also.

Note: We've researched this via Google using another computer, and tried everything we could find, but nothing worked, even things that worked for others.

A call to the Geek Squad revealed that to look at the PC would cost $70, plus a charge for whatever had to be done to correct the problem.

Can someone offer help please?

Frank D

 

Is the anti virus on the machine working or is it also shown as disabled ? You may have a malware.

 

rsinfo:

She says that "Norton 360 expired a couple months ago so I am unprotected, however I do have Malwarebytes installed and I run weekly scans with that. So far it has been clean. "

I've advised her to run the built-in Windows Anti-Malware Scanner (mrt) then install and run SuperAntiSpyware (each once), then install and run Avira antivirus and keep it running, and then report back.

Note: She uses an older laptop just for e-mail and now for downloading the programs she needs to work on the problem HP laptop. She transfers files using a USB drive.

She should have more results for us in another 10 hours or so.

Frank D

P.S. Her laptop is an hp pavilion dv9408nr

 

Hello. I am the friend experiencing the problem. I just became of this forum and registered so I can be available to supply any needed info. I already see so many helpful people and thank you in advance for your time. I am open to any suggestions/ideas. We have seemingly exhausted every avenue short of reinstalling the OS which I would prefer not to do unless absolutely necessary. I think if I can just get the Diagnostic Policy Service started it will solve the problem, but it will not allow me to start it. (error is in original post)

 

Thank you. I just completed the scan and posted the logs in the appropriate forum. Posted the Dds log and was going to post the Attach log as a reply to enusure it all fit but it has not appeared yet. Will add the second log as soon as it shows.

 

Try the checks here:
How to determine and to recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and in Windows Vista

You can run SFC
How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7

This fellow reckons he has a solution
http://www.consideritfixed.com/2009/02/the-dependency.html

Matt

 

Thank you for the wealth of information. I did run the SFC tool the other day. The final link you provided seems to hit the nail on the head so I will look into that, but will wait to finish the processes I am currently working on from the other thread just in case. Thanks again!!!

 

OK we have ruled out any malware so that's good. I attampted a system restore but it will not completely successfully (tried in safe mode too). I will go through the links supplied above and try the recommendations tomorrow. thanks a bunch.

 

OK I have followed all the instructions and still can not start the diagnostic policy service. Do you think reinstalling vista would fix the problem? I would hate to do that if it wont work, but if it will definitely do so, I would not hesitate.

 

Attempted a system recovery. It started then gave me the following error: error Ox4001001300001002 if the problem persists please contact HP technical support.

It rebooted and now I get "BOOTMGR is missing press ctrl+alt+del to restart" but when I do that it keeps bringing back the same message and will not reboot.

 

You will need to work with HP's system because they don't use a standard Windows installation.

These are not exactly for your system, but see if they work.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...3791&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...9280&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN


I wouldn't expect System Restore to fix the network problem and now you apparently have another (more serious?) one. Trying to repair both might be too much to ask.

Do you need to back up your data? If you don't have a backup, you could take the hard disk drive out and connect it into a desktop computer to back it up. (I suggest you get an external hard drive and back it up to that, then use that as your backup system).

I would not tear my hair out any further, just backup if necessary and use the recovery system.

If you do, go to the HP website, look up your model and get any major driver and software updates before, say, installing any Windows Service Pack.

Matt

 

P.S. Her laptop is an hp pavilion dv9408nr

Frank D

 

Thank you. I have all my important info backed up. Right now I am going to try to boot from a recovery cd so I can at least get back into windows (must fox the bootmgr missing error). then will look at HP's site to investigate other avenues of restoring my system. I tried using the system restore feature using many different restore points and it always fails. When I attempted a system recovery that is what gave me the current issue (bootmgr is missing and windows does not load). thanks everyone for the help. figers crossed.

 

Used recovery cd to start up. attempted a statup repair and it says "startup repair can not repair this computer automatically ". when I look at the details it says it is missing the boot manager. I still get the BOOTMGR is missing message at startup, and windows does not start. I have gone into the command prompt and done bootrec /fixboot and the problem still persists. I have completed the steps from the HP site as outlined in the links above. Do you think there is any hope for this computer?

 

I'm jumping in here (Frank D) on Heather's behalf because her online availability is sporadic.


She has tried everything that has been recommended on this thread in both regular and safe modes. Windows (Vista) is missing! When she goes through the recovery manager from the bootup disk she made (a 120 MB standard ISO format recovery CD for both x86 and x64-bit versions of Vista at http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/), it asks her to choose an operating system from the list, but the list is empty! She tried it anyway and it said it could not repair the computer.

OK, granted there's no way to revive the original operating system as we've been trying to do, then how can the PC be repaired? We don't just throw it away, do we? Obviously an existing hard drive can be reformatted and the operating system reinstalled on it as if it were a new HD. But how can we do that?

Help please? Thanks!

Frank D

 

The method to "restore the system to factory condition" will be in the User Manual. You can download it from the HP website if you don't have the hard copy (it might be on a CD supplied with the laptop). Let me know if you need help finding it, but once you have located the laptop model's webpage at HP, you will find all the downloads, FAQs, troubleshooting and knowledgebase articles there. Found it
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...us&dlc=en&submit.y=8&submit.x=6&lang=en&cc=us

OH! You might find that you were supposed to have made a set of recovery disks from the HP utilities from within Vista. If you haven't made them, there is no installation DVD supplied with the laptop or there is no method of starting up a recovery from a hidden partition on the hard disk drive, you would need to order a set of recovery disks from HP. In their gernerosity, they will only "stick you" for a nominal charge (wow!). They might have (probably have) Windows 7 installation disks available, I would take the opportunity to upgrade, but I would check that they have full support of that operating system in their FAQs, drivers and software downloads, etc or you might be sold a red herring.

If the operating system cannot be "seen" as you suggested, I might suspect that the partition information is corrupt. If the "factory" restore worked, I would be somewhat sceptical that the same thing could happen again at some unpredictable time. If there is some sort of selection for a "soft" restoration or a harder, more thorough one, choose the latter.

When the system is rebuilt, look at (read thoroughly) in the HP information about making your own set of recovery disks. I have made them for people, but haven't used them to restore a computer. That might be the only way you can overcome the same problem in the future.

Matt

 

I hope this is OK. I've started a new thread at
http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-v...ad-water-cant-access-os-vista.html#post532461 as of
Thu Sep 23 2010 19:17:17 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time), since this one no longer really describes the problem. I'll consider this thread dead unless someone tells me differently. It hasn't been resolved, so I won't mark it that way.

Frank D

 

Mattman, I apologize. Our posts crossed in the mail. I only saw yours when I posted mine just now. I'll see what we can do for Heather, based on your advice.

Frank