[sdawg]

I have searched the older threads, but I haven't found a solution yet that works for my problem.

I am running XP, and IE 8 and have also tried FireFox 3.6.8

The Windows XP diagnostics say:

info FTP(Passive) Successfully connected to ftp.microsoft.com
info HTTPS: Succesfully connected to www.microsoft.com
warn HTTP: Error 12029 connecting to www.microsoft.com: A connection with the server could not be established
error Could not make an HTTP connection.

After rebooting, IE and Firefox work for a short while, then they are no longer able to make a connection.

I have run McAfee VirusScan and Spybot without finding anything.

I am not running Zone Alarm.

Also IE -> Tools->Internet options->Connections->Lan Settings ... all ok

Suggestions???

[TerryNet]

First try ...

(From a JohnWill post)

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2 or SP3.

Start, Run, CMD, OK to open a command prompt.

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset reset.log

Reboot the machine.


If that doesn't work use Device Manager to uninstall your network adapter; then reboot and let Windows find the adapter and reinstall the driver.


If that doesn't work uninstall McAfee and run the Removal Tool. You can reinstall it after testing.

[sdawg]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I tried all 3 and no luck. What seems odd is that it does work for a bit after reboot, but after a few minutes it stops.

Any other suggestions short of a SW install?

[TerryNet]

Those are the 3 things that I've observed causing the "browser works for minutes or hours and then a system reboot is needed." But I need to expand on the last two.

Make sure you have the latest driver for your network adapter. If it is an integrated one the driver should be from your PC or motherboard manufacturer's site.

The advice about McAfee also applies to Spybot, Teatimer, and any other non-Windows firewall, security suite or other security application that you've ever had on the machine. For example, if you used to have ZoneAlarm but uninstalled it you should also find and run its special Removal too.

After taking care of these additional items it can help to run the stack resets again.

[sdawg]

Thanks again.

I updated the driver for the network adapter without any luck.

I did have ZoneAlarm on the PC a while ago, and it has been uninstalled. I will look for special ZoneAlarm removal tools.

Removing Spybot and McAfee....will let you know what happens.

[sdawg]

Thanks again for the suggestions, but I didn't have any luck.

After many iterations of unintalls/removals and reboots, I went with brute force. I reinstalled XP.

Thankfully, I still had the CDs that came with the system, and I reinstalled the OS. And after may OS updates, and updating the drivers, the system is up and running again.

[TerryNet]

Thanks for letting us know. Sometimes the "nuclear" option is the only one that works.

[Jondalar]

I got exactly the same problem, but strange enough, it occurs on a direct internet connection, Automatically Detecting Proxy settings or using an autoproxy.script (proxy.pac file), however if I set a proxy server for the LAN on port 8080, it stays on forever.

If I connect from outside via VPN, I can get out to the Internet and it is stable too. I'm really reluctant to reinstall Windows from scratch... there must be some parameter controlling this, but what could it be?

Why would it affect only HTTP, but not HTTPS and FTP?

[Jondalar]

Tried netsh winsock reset catalog and netsh int ip reset reset.log, but no joy...
The problem occurs exactly 10 minutes after startup.