Click Beetle DX

OK, I've found (and fixed) the problem. I had replaced the HOSTS file ( c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts ) with a custom one, over 2MB in size, that serves to block ads. And I disabled DNS Client in services.msc, so my system wouldn't run sluggishly or hang as a result of this large file. I've had the same setup going in XP for as long as I can remember, and it works very well. Windows 7, however, didn't like it at all when I did this. I restored the original settings, and now the internet is working.

The dial-up connection is the standard phone line plugging into my laptop's built-in 56k modem. It dials out and connects (I can hear it doing so), and the connection with my ISP is successful. But no data is sent/received. Windows reports the dial-up account as "connected," but on the next line it says, "no internet connection." I visited a friend this evening, to try the ethernet cable suggestion. For whatever reason he wasn't comfortable with me doing a direct connect (I didn't argue), so I connected to his network via wi-fi instead. To my surprise the connection worked, and at full speed. But here's the curious thing: while I was able to view websites and download files through all the web browsers I had installed, Windows Update could not use the connection to download updates. It could connect to load a list of available updates, and allowed me to choose from them, but after I made my choices and it reported the download was beginning, all traffic from svchost ceased. This also happened when I tried to update a few non-Microsoft applications. Figured it might be my firewall, closed the firewall, no change. Rebooted after disabling the firewall on startup, no change. I rebooted the machine under XP and accessed Windows Update on my friend's wi-fi connection. Selected a trivial XP update to test, it was downloaded and installed successfully. So... I don't know what's going on.

I did a little more research whilst waiting for replies here, and it seems that quite a few people have experienced this same problem. However none of the suggestions I've followed have helped to resolve the problem on my end. Nor have I really seen anyone else reporting success, except in one instance: where the problem was caused by a bug in McAfee. I have never used McAfee, and never will. So that is irrelevant to my situation. And it's gotten even more frustrating today. This evening when I tried tethering my cell phone to the computer via USB cable to use my 4G data plan, not only was the connection successful but Windows reported "network connection" instead of "no network connection" as it had been doing. I was then able to view websites, download files, etc. However this ability only lasted for about a half hour, before, without warning, the "no network connection" message appeared yet again, and no additional data was sent/received. I rebooted the computer, the "no network connection" message appeared again when I tethered my phone. Rebooted again, was able to send/receive data when I tethered my phone. But, once again, only for a certain period of time (a little over an hour). The same thing happened with my dial-up internet connection. One try out of a dozen, I was able to send/receive data. But only for a while. Windows 7 just seems to magically decide on its own when it feels like allowing me internet access, and for how long. I rebooted under XP and tried tethering & dial-up internet on the SAME computer, using the SAME hardware, and everything worked 100% the first time, every time. Just as it always does. So this definitely is a problem specific to Windows 7. To clarify: I never said anything about an ethernet connection. I have no such connection here. My connection options are: 1). Dial-up internet 2). Tethered USB connection to my cell phone 3). Wi-fi (though only when I am at a restaurant, etc.) The hardware all works 100% fine. Because XP uses it with no trouble. Windows 7 has the correct drivers for 64-bit, straight from Lenovo's website. The cell phone drivers are current, from Samsung's website. The fact that I can now get intermittent network connections leads me to believe it is in fact a hardware problem at all, nor a driver problem -- but rather something "quirky" or "buggy" about Windows 7 and the manner in which it handles these connections. I am not going to reinstall the operating system because that would teach me nothing. Even if a reinstall fixed the problem, it may crop up again later (as it has for other people), and then I'd be right back where I started. Better I learn how to fix it now, through trial and error. Plus I do love a challenge.

Hello, all. I recently installed Windows 7 (for the first time) on my laptop, and spent a day and a half tailoring it to suit my needs. Today I decided, "OK, it's time to get online and start downloading some essential programs," only to be blocked at every turn. I have 3 different ways to connect: Dial-up connection Wi-fi Tethered connection to my cell phone None of them work. When I use the dial-up connection, it calls in and successfully connects, only to have Windows report, "No internet connection." When I try wi-fi connection or tethered cell phone connection, it connects to the network but reports, "No network connection." This is ridiculous, especially as I have XP installed on another partition and it connects to the internet 100% of the time with no problems, using all 3 of the above methods. I'm using a Lenovo Thinkpad and have all the correct drivers installed from Lenovo's website, specifically the 64-bit Windows 7 drivers. If I can't connect to the internet I can't get any work done, so I'll have to stick to XP and have Windows 7 installed purely as a novelty. Any help appreciated, thanks.

WOW! What a big help, thanks so much! I've just gotten around to installing Windows 7 this evening, and boy did your suggestions make a huge change. I feel I could actually get comfortable with 7, now that it looks and behaves more like XP. Really appreciate the tips, thanks again.

Hello, all. I've decided to finally give Windows 7 a chance, at least for a while, so I can learn about and get used to it, and maybe even learn to like it. However, much like I've made my XP install look and "feel" reminiscent of Windows 98 ("classic" settings), I would prefer to get 7 looking, acting and "feeling" as close to XP as possible. Searching for info on Google brings up a boatload of different pages. I figure plenty of people here have already figured out the best way to do what I'm asking, so I'd rather ask here than blindly comb through links on my own. In addition, I'd like to know the general success rate of getting older 32-bit applications to run properly in 7. I currently rely on quite a few "legacy" applications, written for Windows 98 but that work 100% in XP. Am I going to be up against poor odds trying to get them to work properly in 7? Finally (for the moment), I had to make use of a few tricks to let XP allow me to delete certain system files (i.e. screensavers, etc.) without them automatically being reloaded. I imagine such workarounds exist for 7; could someone point me in the right direction? These are some of the things that are important for me to get a handle on before popping in that installation disc and having a go. Any help appreciated, thanks.

OK, here it is... http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id=g968ea65df55a01f3999274845ac04c484233c5bcc Just plain freezing. I wish it were a BSOD, at least then I'd have some vague error message to work with.

Thanks for the (fast) replies. It found nothing (I run a pretty tight ship), aside from telling me both Security Center and Windows Firewall are turned off (which was my doing). Nothing out of the ordinary, as far as I know (I like to think I run pretty light). Mostly a whole pile of video codecs, but none of them have posed a problem before and I've been running for quite a while with the same ones. Does the AutoRuns.arn file contain any sensitive information about my computer? I admit to being a bit nervous about sharing it with the public. The first thing I did was to run both a scandisk and defrag on both volumes, followed by a virus scan. Everything came up OK, just as I figured. But the system still hangs. No change after making all the instructed changes. My machine still reboots (briefly showing a blue debug screen), but no dump is saved. I do not own a null modem cable. I also opened my system and checked all the fans. I've got three extra fans mounted in the case, in addition to the CPU fan, PSU fans and GPU fan. All are OK. The machine is running cool. It's an old machine anyway, and not overclocked, and I'm not really "pushing" the hardware to do anything taxing. So I really don't believe it's a hardware issue.

Hello, all. My desktop running XP has been smooth for several years, no problems to report. Lately (past week) however it's been hanging at least once a day, usually hours into operation but sometimes as little as a few minutes [!]. Needless to say it's heavily affecting my productivity. I have my system configured to create memory dumps as instructed in the stickied thread here on MSFN. However when I hold right CTRL and tap Scroll Lock twice, the machine merely reboots and no memory dump is created. (I tested this functionality while the machine was running OK, not when it was locked up.) Perhaps the inability to create the memory dump stems from the fact that I'm booting from a CD, and not a normal Windows boot sequence? (I have DOS on C, to work with DOS stuff. Without the boot CD inserted, that's what the computer boots to. With the CD inserted, it boots to drive D, where XP is installed.) When I access My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery -> Settings, the message, "The c:\boot.ini file can not be opened. Operating System and Timeout settings can not be changed." appears. If I'm unable to use the debugging tools to create the memory dump, what other options do I have to try and pinpoint what is causing my machine to hang? Thanks in advance.

Hm. The drive seems to be working now, after uninstalling / re-installing the drivers three times [!]. So that's solved. But what about the two "ghost" drives? I've tried several suggested methods to remove them, but to no avail. I suppose it's not too big a problem since they don't seem to be doing any harm, but seeing them appear in My Computer is annoying, and I'd really like to understand (just for curiosity's sake) why and how they got there, and how to remove them.

Hello, all. I've been using the same XP setup for quite some time, with no issues. Just the other day however I noticed my DVD drive stopped working. I had been loading some graphics off a DVD for editing. When I finished working I just left the DVD in the drive. Returning to the computer later, I noticed two things: 1). My DVD drive now appears with the description "CD drive (G:)" instead of DVD drive. 2). A non-existent "ghost drive" now appears with the description "CD drive (H:)," and is, obviously, inaccessible. 3). When I try to access my DVD drive, the message: "G:\ is not accessible. Incorrect function." appears on the screen. Of course I have already tried to remove the drive from my system, reboot, and re-install the original drivers. But it gives the same result. I have accessed Computer Management via Administrative Tools, but I'm unable to see nor remove the "ghost drive" that now appears as H:. For some time I've had a "ghost drive" appearing as E:, which XP seems to think is a hard drive (which can't be accessed either because "The parameter is incorrect.", but I let it go because it wasn't causing me any problems. But now I think the CD drive that XP seems to believe exists IS causing a problem. No other devices are having any problems right now. Just the DVD drive. Can anyone give me some insight into the problem, and possible solutions? I'll be glad to provide additional info, if needed. Thanks in advance.

I recently decided to uninstall the Microsoft IntelliType software for my Natural Keyboard as I didn't see any point to having it. Since doing this, the aforementioned problem has not appeared.

I use CMD.EXE

Hello, all. I've always relied heavily on DOS through the years. This didn't change when I made the move to XP, recently. However I notice something odd under XP's Command Prompt that I have never noticed before using real DOS, Win98 DOS box, et cetera: Most of the time I can open and close the Command Prompt many times and do whatever I like, for as long as I like -- usually using the MS-DOS Editor (edit.com) to write HTML, etc. -- but it seems like if I leave my computer on for too long, eventually the only things I can successfully do in the Command Prompt are input simple DOS commands. Other programs (edit.com included) will start up, but immediately become unresponsive to keystrokes, forcing me to have to close the Command Prompt altogether. I then have to reset the machine if I wish to use the Command Prompt as normal. I hope someone here has encountered the same or similar problem and knows a workaround, or can walk me through the process of finding out the trouble. I hate having to reset my entire system every time this problem occurs, and I don't intend to rely on the DOSBox emulator just for simple tasks, when I have the XP Command Prompt there the whole time. Any suggestions / help appreciated, thanks.

Thanks! I solved the problem by deleting the files you mentioned.