serious connection issues! Help!

Right now i'm in the process of fixing up this old fellows computer (Athlon 2500+ 512mb ram XP SP2), but have run into some really odd bumps.

When I first got his computer, IE6 and Netscape 7.2 (yea) both ran well, but after taking care of a couple other issues, IE6 and NS7.2 start randomly crashing when opening the browser up.

I decide to upgrade to IE7 to see if that helps, as well as install Firefox (duh).

But now, the ONLY program that will connect to the internet is Yahoo Messenger.

IE/NS/FF all load with "Cannot find server" error.

I've done some googling and tried programs like Winsockfix and LSPfix.

AVG 8 has run a full scan, no errors. Spybot S&D yields no results.

Is there anyway to fix this -- WITHOUT doing a reinstall?

BTW i've tried connecting through DSL and Cable w/ and w/o routers.

Thanks in advance!!

 

sounds like a big mess. does he have the original OS disk or reinstall disk? if so, i would back up his files on to a CD and then completely reinstall the OS. i would format the drive while installing also.

 

i know thats the ULTIMATE solution, but he's got too many programs he uses to be able to back everything up reinstall it all.

And before someone asks, YES the network card works - Ubuntu LiveCD works great.

 

It sounds like your fixes have caused this problem. Can you restore to a point before you starting fixing things? If not, then you might want to get a good registry mechanic program and let if find and fix some registry errors. You can also attempt a Windows XP repair action, using the installation disk.

 

i've been through registry repair, and restore points fail everytime.

ack!

 

bump.

any suggestions?

I'm clueless here....

 

You said you've been through a registry repair, but have you done a repair using the Windows XP repair option during the installation process?

 

been there done that.

I'm really at a loss at what to do

 

Stop wasting your time with this - by now you could have formatted and installed all of the applications. Remove the drive, put it in an external tray, connect it to your computer, copy the important data to your drive. Reinstall the drive in the original computer, format, install the apps, put the drive back into the tray, copy the files back. Done.

 

have you tried such a simple option as reinstalling network drivers?

 

I've done everything I could besides reformat, but reformatting is really not an option.

He has programs on there that I don't have access too.

:-/

 

So, you've reviewed all Windows log files and they didn't reveal any useful information?

I suggest contacting this person and getting all of the installation software. If he doesn't have it, seriously consider buying it. When you start working on someone's computer, you run the risk of making things worse; when that happens, it's your responsibility to fix it, even if it means buying software that you accidentally made useless.