Service Pack 3 - Internet Connection Problems

**SKREECH** · 20-08-2008

I am trying to install SP3 from yesterday but it will only go through half way when I finally shutdown my computer. Just now, when I booted up my computer, the internet was not connecting. It actually says that it is connected, but I am not able to get to any webpages or connect to messengers. So, can anyone tell me how to delete the left overs of SP3 or even download it and fully install it? Thanks.

**Big Fish** · 20-08-2008

Since Windows update only finished half of the installation, so either let Windows Update take over to where it left off or download SP3 to desktop and install it, from the below link:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl...ils.aspx?id=24

**Tomthegreat** · 20-08-2008

Well, you can try to use System Restore that may be of any help. Also, check the below article:

How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 3 from your computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249

Steps to take before you install Windows XP Service Pack 3
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950717

**joshua11** · 02-09-2008

I have similar problem.
Since i instaled service pack 3 I can not access to the internet.
Internet connection is active, but internet ex or firefox can't connect.
I also tried to disable the firewall and uninstall the sp3, but still doesn't work.

Has somebody any idea?
Please

**slowtree** · 07-09-2008

Like others here in this forum, I downloaded service pack 3 but about halfway through it said that there was an error and it stopped the download.
Since then, I have been unable to go on the internet or use any internet related software on that computer. I am able to get to websites by typing their IP addresses in (ie. instead of yahoo, type 69.147.76.15 )
I called Microsoft and was on the phone with a technician for three hours....he was unable to fix the problem and said that someone would eventually call back....
While on the phone, I had to uninstall Norton, ping everything, uninstall and reinstall winsock, change the DNS server...but nothing worked.

What a huge mess! Anyone have any suggestions for how to fix this? Please help as I have very little faith that Microsoft will get back to me...

**Beter 2 Burn Out** · 08-09-2008

Did you try to uninstall Norton and install SP3, after that try to reinstall Norton and see if that works.

**stevision** · 15-09-2008

I have a similar problem. I installed SP3 just a while ago, and when I restarted, my WLANmon.exe did not start. I used the default windows internet connector, and ever ything works fine, but I'm just curious now...is it the SP3? o.0

My problem is similar , except the fact my internet explorer and my firefox do connect. However, the program I usually used to connect to my internet connection fails to start up now. I've looked for updates and fixes to see if it might help me solve my problem. When I uninstalled and reinstalled the program, a window pops up saying that the program is not verified for compatibility with Windows XP. The program works with Service Pack 1 & 2, but I'm wondering why it wouldn't be compatible with Service Pack 3..
To everyone's problem, I just recommend sticking with Service Pack 2 for now. Unless you really feel Service Pack 3 will benefit you or you've already tried it and it's working great, don't use it.

**NigelT** · 19-09-2008

I too have a very similar problem to that described by Ashley S in the original post. Like SLOWTREE's, my SP3 install seemed to continue smoothly for quite a long while, but then exited with an error message. After a reboot, however, SP3 appeared to be installed, and everything appeared to work except for being able to connect to the internet normally (although I do seem to be connecting to the wireless router ok, and other computers are connecting to the internet through the router).

I have now found that, as SLOWTREE says, it is still possible to get to a web page by using its numeric IP address. (For instance, if I type http://69.147.76.15/ in my browser location bar I get to the Yahoo home page, but it does not display any graphics and the links don't work, presumably because they all involve different yahoo servers.)

This is of limited practical use, but I think it tells us that the problem is not so much with connecting to the internet as such, but with access to the DNS system. With this in mind, I typed IPCONFIG /ALL at the DOS prompt and found the following items that seem wrong:

DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : domain_not_set.invalid
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : domain_not_set.invalid

(So far as I can tell, by comparing it to what I get on another, working, computer, the rest of the information returned by IPCONFIG /ALL is normal, although I can't be sure as I don't know what it all means.) On a computer that is working, the value I get for both these items is socal.rr.com, which is presumably my ISP's DNS server.

However, I do not really know what this means or how to fix it, and exploring the Microsoft Technet site has not left me much the wiser. I did try setting the DNS server manually to Open DNS (in the TCP/IP properties of my Wireless Network Connection), but that did not seem to help (and did not change the DNS Suffix info returned by IPCONFIG /ALL).

Is there anyone who understands about DNS suffixes who can figure this out? I am reluctant to go through with uninstalling SP3 unless I really have to because the uninstall wizard threatens that it might break several other things that are working now. I do not know how seriously to take that, but it is scary.

From another thread in this site I also found this Microsoft page - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953761 - which may be relevant, but I do not understand it well enough to judge. (My DCHP server field is not empty -it has my router's network IP - and there is no "Primary WINS Server" field on either the messed up computer or the good one, so those symptoms do not fit.) It does not mention DNS problems, but it is about DCHP issues caused by SP3, and I think they might be connected. Does anyone know?

**blakck** · 20-09-2008

NigelT -

I had the exact same problems as you did (error message halfway through, internet doesn't work, but can find a site with direct IP, etc.)

Uninstalling SP3 cleared up all the problems immediately. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish for it to do its thing, but once it finished and restarted, my internet was up and running again with no extra configuration.

I got the same prompt about SP3 being uninstalled causing things not to work - after the reboot Windows had to reinstall some of the hardware and peripheral devices, but it was no problem and everything worked fine.

If you're looking to uninstall SP3, you can take a look at this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249/en-us

I did it via the control panel option.

**NigelT** · 24-09-2008

Well, it seems I was wrong about the DNS Suffix. That isn't it. Nevertheless, I have solved my problem, and without uninstalling. Instead, I downloaded the full version of SP3 and transferred it to the problem computer with a flash drive. I then disconnected from the internet and closed down as many programs as possible, including McAfee security. (That was not easy; I did it by going into Task Manager and killing any processes that did not look likely to be part of Windows itself until I got the McAfee icon in the system tray to go away. I was lucky enough not to cause a crash.) After this I used the downloaded file to reinstall SP3 over the original, faulty installation. That seemed to do it, everything works fine now.

However, I then tried IPCONFIG /ALL again, and it still shows the same two DNS Suffix related lines with the value "domain_not_set.invalid". I guess whatever that does, it does not matter for what I (and probably most of us) want to do.