Monday, August 27, 2007

ipconfig not working

Ok, this post is completely unrelated to the project, but I haven't posted to AG Chronicles in a while (but I do post to AG Anthology frequently, check it out, link on the sidebar) and this computer problem was so frustrating that I just had to put it here in the hopes the search spiders will pick up the post and it will save someone the headache I went through.

My wife's computer is an XP Pro machine, and it connects to our broadband via the wireless router. Well, about 10 days ago, the internet on that computer stopped working. Mine worked fine... I could even see her computer on the network, but she just had no internet connection.

The mystery unfolded when ipconfig at the dos prompt gave this error:

Windows IP Configuration
An Internal error occured: The request is not supported.
Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services for further help.
Additional information: Unable to query host name.

What on earth did this mean? A quick google search revealed people going off on "oh, it must be the dlink router, blah, blah, blah" (yes, our router is dlink). Well, I disconnected the wireless and uninstalled the device, leaving only the regular NIC. Still, no ipconfig, so it had nothing to do with the wireless.

I uninstalled the protocols I could on the regular NIC (except TCPIP cause XP won't let you), and even removed the NIC device entirely from control panel and reinstalled it. Still nothing.

Google searches revealed dozens of tech forums where the common solutions were:

1. Use WINSOCKXPFIX.EXE (or WINSOCKFIX.EXE) & LSPFIX.EXE

2. System restore to a time before the problem began

3. Reinstall the OS

Well, #1 did not work, though it was the highly touted solution. #2 did not work, system restore wouldn't work for most points, and when it did, the problem persisted. #3... I couldn't find the XP CD at the time, and I was loathe to reinstall all the great open source software loaded on the computer (it's practically Microsoft free, save the OS!)

Well, after much digging through a multitude of google hits, I at last found the solution. Here is the glorious link: http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/lofiversion/index.php/t9743.html

Now, in this solution, it makes the assumption that TCPIP.SYS is bad, and so walks you through the procedure of deleting it and replacing it. But I found that on this computer, the file was missing entirely, but the solution helped me find a replacement TCPIP.SYS The solution states you need an XP CD for the fix, but I think that is only if you need to delete the existing TCPIP.SYS file. I did find the XP CD finally, but I'm thinking that since the file was missing, I probably could have copied the replacement without booting from the CD.

What caused the problem? The machine has AVG anti-virus. The AVG log showed that it removed a couple viruses (can't remember the name) on the day the internet was lost. Many of the forum posts about this problem involved AVG. So perhaps the problem was in how AVG removed the virus... well, actually, many of the posts also blamed Norton for appending something to the DHCP registry entry (which was not the case with me)... well, who knows.

So, there you have it.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

A Hair Affair

I left my "regular" job at the end of February. Since then, neither scissors nor clippers have come near my head. As a wee lad, I had fairly long hair for a boy. Back then, my hair was straight and soft. At about age 6, it began to change. By high school, my hair was thick, and a bit kinky, and so it was kept considerably shorter. Then, at age 17, I went to college and was in ROTC. With this came a military buzz.

I was quite fond of this hairstyle. Easy to maintain, though it did require bi-weekly clips. Then I left ROTC, after three years, and I fell into a funk. With this funk I felt a need to transform. And so I grew my hair a bit. But my hair does not cooperate with being long. It is quite wild. I could not deal with the sides being long, but I grew out the top and had it chemically straightened on occasion. That lasted a couple years, then I went back to the buzz. And that lasted for many years.

But now I've sorta left behind another life, and like Forrest Gump just feeling like running, I just feel like growing my hair. But my hair does not cooperate. Were it just me in this world, I'd be content with wild hair, but alas, I need to look presentable at times, and so a lot of effort goes into keeping the hair in check. Friends and acquaintances, for the most part, think I should cut the hair. Some even think it's hideous.

This makes me not want to cut my hair even more. My hair is what it is. If it's that revolting to you, perhaps it's best you not associate with me...

So I'll continue growing it, I think... just to see what it looks like at Christmas.