Winsock Error

When I boot up I get a dialogue box that says:

"Windows sockets initialization failed." I then click OK and it goes away.

I read the instruction on the board to someone who was getting dns errors when trying to access the internet and decided to try checking out winipcfg from the run box to see if it would give me a clue to my error.

When I type in winipcfg and click OK it brings up an error dialogue that says:

"Failed to initialize Winsock. "

I noticed that at the top of the dialogue applet it says "Pop3trap" and that is a component of my PC-cillin2003 so I wonder if uninstalling my antivirus and then reinstalling it would help?

I am trying to learn about computers but I am afraid I am still a dummy. Could you please help me with this?

Thanks so much!
peg

 

Download the winsock fix from this page, follow the instructions on that page for running it. I've used that fix with success on several systems where a damaged winsock was the problem.

 

Hi Miz! Thank you so much for trying to help me. I realized this morning that I had not really given much info about the problem, and --- truth to tell --- I am not sure of the depth of the problem. I was in a hurry because I have to use my son's computer to access the internet.

My computer will dial up, and actually say it is online. But it will not go anywhere. Tech support said that something is blocking the dns and that I probably have software issues and/or my modem is bad. I am clueless. I have run Registry First Aid several times but not taking anything out unless it is something I am pretty certain of, because I don't want to mess it up.

Those two error dialogue boxes I mentioned before were the final result of 3 plus days of trying things, 3 chats with tech support at my ISP and multi sessions of rebooting, defragging, RegCleaning, and anything else I could think of.

I am a novice when it comes to the inner workings of a computer. I have had one for 4 years, but in that time have focused on graphics, webpages and emailing. I have never taken any classes and have just tried to learn as I go.

I hope that I can use my son's computer to download that file and burn it onto a CD because I have no way to access the web with mine yet.

The tech had me do a ping with the ip# and it connected, but when we tried pinging the url it went nowhere. That was why I tried the winipcfg.

Well...I hope this explains. I just feel lost with this. Thanks so much for trying to help me.

God bless!
peg

 

Sounds like you may have to re-install 'dialup networking' if the LSP fix didn't work. Have the Win98 CD handy and go to Start>settings>Control Panel>Add-Remove>Windows setup tab>communications. Take the check out of dialup networking,reboot. Go back and put the check back in and it will ask for the disk when you ok it. You may need to run the Internet Connection Wizard to get back online from Start>Programs>Accessories>Internet tools,so have the info needed for user name and password,email address etc.
Hope this helps...

 

Thanks Ridgerunr! I'll give that a shot. At this point I am tempted to shoot the computer!
God bless!
peg

 

Hosts Not Found After connection is made.

I have the same problem as Peg, I have tried just about eveything including removing DUN, following the intructions on the Microsoft Knowledge base, reinstalling windows etc..

That computer has been out of action for almost a year now and I've consulted with a few people who are in the IT industry and they are all at a loss. I would format but I have important files on there that I need to backup, but haven't been able too since the problem has also cause my burner to fail. I think it may have something too do with IE. the version I am running is 5.5 and the OS is 98 SE. Unfortunatly IE cannot be uninstalled with 98 SE. But there has too be a way around this. I would appreciate any help or advice anyone can give me. If you need more info please feel free to ask me.

Thank you in advance

 

Voxy - did you download and run the LSP fix I posted the link to in my first post? Most of the time it'll fix the DNS problem you're having. It's a small file and will fit on a floppy so you can download it on any computer and transfer it to the affected computer.

 

Hi Voxy,

My computer is up and running again. Traced my problem with the Winsock failure and found a fix that worked well for me.

I had a trashed Winsock file because of trying to remove an application called New.net. After reading about it in my LangaList archives, I accessed the following links and found step by step instructions for the fix that was published by Earthlink. Might work for you too.

NewDotNet - http://www.cexx.org/newnet.htm ; http://www.new.net/help_faq.tp#p4

Hope it works for you. Webhancer is another one that can trash the Winsock when you try to remove it.

Good Luck!
peg

 

I would like to say Thank You Thank You thank You!!!! to Miz. The LSP fix did the trick.and after all this time I have gone through some pretty technical stuff too try and overcome this problem. I am so gratefull

I have one other problem though. On booting up my system I get an IBM SurePath setup Utility window pop up saying "Virus Warning" Warning the boot sector has changed. If you have enabled virus protection, select change is to be expected. If not, select change is not expected. and run a virus detection program to determine if your system is infected and too remove the virus.

I have updated and run a virus program and it came up clean. I am affraid to click anything but change is not expected incase it messes something up. Yet each time I reboot this window pops up. How can I find out why it is bringing this window up when there is no virus detected. Hope you can advise.

Thanks in advance!

 

If you've run a virus scan with an up-to-date anti-virus program and that scan included scanning the boot sector - check the settings in your anti-virus program to make sure - and it's come up clean, just select "Change is to be expected" on the next boot. You shouldn't get the warning message again.