won't go on microsoft networks without a restart

Hello,

My computer at work has a number of problems. I need to connect to the local intranet in order to do my job, however the first time I turn the computer on in the morning it will never connect, it always says "permanent connection not available ". (I have the M:, U: and V: drives mapped to directories on other computers on the intranet). If I then shut the computer down and start it again, it still won't connect. However if I *restart*, it will connect. It will only connect after being restarted.

Also, I mention this because it could be related, it very frequently hangs up during shutdown. It will usually get all the way to a black screen with a blinking cursor but will hang there and not shut itself off. When I instead restart, it will often hang up on the shutdown screen with the large windows logo. However, on the few occasions that it shuts down properly, it still can't log on to the network on the next startup (unless I pressed restart).

I have run Norton Utilities including the antivirus. It didn't find a virus and all the changes made by Norton did not solve this problem. I also ran Ad-aware and removed all suspected spyware, and this didn't solve the problem either. Is there anything you can suggest besides just leaving the computer on all the time? All these extra restarts and waiting through the screens after bad shutdowns is wasting a lot of time at work and besides it can't be very good for the computer.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Denise

 

Well, the first question is why doesn't somebody at work help you? Your technicians there are looking at your system and know all about it. It's easier to troubleshoot a computer with the tactile impression of keytops on your fingertips than through electronic print.

While this could be a network problem, you ought to troubleshoot the shutdown problem first. Fix it and your network problem might go away.

It would help to know something about your system and your network.

Like what OS? What service pack? What hotfixes have been added to the system. Is the system updated?

Windows 98 and variants has a long list of shutdown problems

Maybe you have cache clearing problem...

Q187607 - How to Disable Fast Shutdown in Windows 98

Q202633 - How to Troubleshoot Windows 98 Shutdown Problems

Q260067 - Windows 98 Stops Responding During Shutdown with Mapped Drives

We'll want to know next what you have running on your system just before you attempt to shutdown.

If you have a different OS, post back here, and you could try finding out about the shutdown problems that your OS might have. Most iterations of Windows have had shutdown problems of one sort or another.

After you get done fixing the shutdown problem and you still have this network connection problem, then maybe you are experiencing slow name resolution. We'll need to know a lot more about your network at that time, but work on the shutdown issue first.

 

Thank you for your response! We don't have technicians so it's basically up to me to figure out what's wrong with it. I'm sorry I neglected to mention, it is Windows 98 second edition. Also, I went through the entire shutdown troubleshooting wizard to no avail. But thank you for the pointers on other things that may be causing the shutdown problem. It may take a while to figure out what's wrong with the shutdown because it doesn't shut down improperly *every* time, just most times. Also, it has only the 3 mapped drives, not the 8 that is stated as a cause for shutdown problems. But I'll try everything! Thanks again.

 

If none of the above fixes you up, try getting a completely fresh load of your networking software.

- Make sure you have DUN1.4 installed. I know the name implies only dial-up-networking but it has lots of updates to the networking software. SE may already have it - not sure - but couldn't hurt to have it.

- Boot to safe mode and remove your network card(s) from device manager.

- Shut down and remove any physical network cards and any internal modem.

- Start the PC and when windows has completley loaded, shut down again. You should now have most all the networking pieces gone.

- Replace your network card and start back up. Reinstall all the networking services you need - but only those.

This may or may not help with your problem but at least it means you can do future troubleshooting knowing you have a good network load.

If you need more help, please include a description of your network. Include domain vs. workgroups, what hubs/switches you have, how your network values are assigned (static, DHCP, whatever) and any other details you can think of. Also do start~run~winipcfg, click the button for details on your PC and on another that is working properly and post all the information you find.

On your PC, do the winipcfg both when it won't connect and after a warm boot (restart) when it does connect. If there are ANY differences, include them in the information you post.

 

As a work-around, you can try logging out first and then shutdown.

Windows 98 SE specific shutdown problems.

Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement

Windows 98 Second Edition Mapped Drives Shutdown Update

KB Q238096


KB Q239887

KB Q273017 - ScanDisk Runs Even Though Windows Shut Down Correctly

IDE Hard Drive Cache Package

Computer hangs running Scandisk with McAfee VS 5.1

Fast Shutdown: If you have applied the Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement (You should), a software update from Microsoft which addresses W98SE shutdown issues, you will not see the "Disable Fast Shutdown" option on the Advanced tab in MSCONFIG. If you don't see the option, you will need to look in the registry.

Don't mess in the registry if you don't know what you are doing. You can mung your system is you mess with the registry. Make sure you do a backup of the registry before making any changes. Be careful.

Go To Start~Run, and enter REGEDIT. In the Registry Editor, select the Edit menu, select Find, then type FastReboot. You should arrive at the registry entry for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ControlShutdown. If the FastReboot value data is 1, change it to 0 making what was true be false from this point forward.