I have a strange issue on one of my parent's computers. They said the other day when booting it up it stated that there was an update that they couldn't apply and that they now can't get on the internet. I stopped by thinking it was something minor but ended up bringing the machine home with me. The machine is running Win 7 Home Prem 32 bit SP1 not installed. Symptoms: Network connection icon in the task bar has red X (this is a desktop with wired connection) If I try and open "Change Adapter Settings" in networking it will not display anything Windows update KB2345886 tries to install on boot but fails. Computer rolls off update and reboots normally. I have hidden this update for now. What I have tried and discovered: When I got there I discovered that their wireless access point (linksys WRT54G) died that this computer was plugged into. Replaced that same symptoms. Plugged a laptop into the port on the new switch and it works fine. Installed a Netgear NIC to see if the onboard has failed. While I can install the drivers, it won't work. Both the new one and onboard show exclamation point in device manager. Removed and reinstalled drivers for both multiple times and even tried to disable one or the other to see if the are conflicting. Removed the hard drive and scanned for Malware/Viruses with SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes as well as my AV engine from a different, fully updated clean machine. Nothing too concerning was found. Pretty much just cookies. Put the hard drive back in the computer and with elevated command prompt run sfc /scannow It completes stating it found errors but couldn't not correct all of them. I tried running it with a Win7 DVD in the drive but no change. I then tried to reset the TCP/IP Stack. No change. When looking at the log from the sfc I see messages about tcpmon.ini checksum error on a couple files related to tcpmon.ini. I could try and get the exact message but it is a little more difficult being there is no network connection. Have to copy to thumb drive. The next thing I want to try is to use the Win 7 Home Premium install disk to do a computer repair and see if that fixes it. Any ideas on other things to try before a total system rebuild?

Well here is an update. The repair from the DVD didn't find anything to fix. I reverted to a restore point back on 31 Oct which was before this happened. Then rebooted. Something interesting happened. The computer is on my network here at home and it figured out that it was on a new network and asked if I wanted to use the Home/Public network profile thing. Hmm. Still a red X in the task manager. From a command prompt I look at IP settings. It has a valid IP and I can ping other machines on my network. Even though the icon in the task manager claims it isn't on the network. Open IE but can't get to any pages. Check the host file and that is clean. Check IE as I have seen some malware use a proxy setting but that is clean. So with powershell I force a static IP along with DNS and default gateway. The DNS addresses it was showing before I questioned. Internet now works. So now that I have the internet I download SuperAntiSpyware, MalwareBytes and update AV. Ran all 3. SAS found some more tracking cookies. MB found nothing and AV came back clean. Downloaded and ran Sophos AV Rootkit Detection and it found some hidden files in the temp internent directory. I cleaned them up to see if that would help but no change. I tried to install Win 7 SP1 but it bombed out. I still think there is a problem with the tcpmon.ini files in the system32. I tried to copy them from my Win7 Ultimate machine but it wouldn't let me replace them because of the trusted installer. I may need to deactivate UAC or pull the HDD to try and replace them. I don't know that this will fix the checksum error though. Any ideas? I am getting a little further with it. Another option I have is to call MS and open a case that SP1 will not install. I doubt SP1 will address the tcpmon.ini file but in troubleshooting they may uncover the issue. I keep going back and forth on if this is a Malware issue. Both cleaners are coming back with nothing. I am thinking about pulling the AV and installing Security Essentials to see if that comes up with anything.

Hi, I would like to verify what error message you received when trying to install Service Pack 1. If you want to replace C:\windows\system32\tcpmon.ini, you need to take ownership of it first. Please open an elevated CMD, run the following commands. takeown /f C:\windows\system32\tcpmon.ini icacls C:\windows\system32\tcpmon.ini /GRANT ADMINISTRATORS:F After replacing tcpmon.ini, please run SFC again. If the issue persists, I suggest trying in-place upgrade to repair the file. In-place upgrade ------------------------- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2255099 http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. Best Regards, NikiPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, I would like to verify what error message you received when trying to install Service Pack 1. If you want to replace C:\windows\system32\tcpmon.ini, you need to take ownership of it first. Please open an elevated CMD, run the following commands. takeown /f C:\windows\system32\tcpmon.ini icacls C:\windows\system32\tcpmon.ini /GRANT ADMINISTRATORS:F After replacing tcpmon.ini, please run SFC again. If the issue persists, I suggest trying in-place upgrade to repair the file. In-place upgrade ------------------------- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2255099 http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. Best Regards, NikiPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, I am currently standing by for an update from you and would like to know how things are going. If you have any feedback, please let us know. Best Regards, NikiPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, As this thread has been quiet for a while, I assume the issue has been resolved. At this time, we will mark it as "Answered" as the previous steps should be helpful for many similar scenarios. If the issue still persists, please feel free to reply this post directly so we will be notified to follow it up. You can also choose to unmark the answer as you wish. BTW, we'd love to hear your feedback about the solution. By sharing your experience you can help other community members facing similar problems. Thanks for your understanding and efforts. Best Regards, NikiPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.