Unable to browse network. 1

[J741]

I thought this would be a simple isse, but it's not. It's also affecting file and print sharing from this computer.

After a LOT of system examination, making sure that 'client for Microsoft networks', 'file and printer sharing', and 'TCP/IP' are all enabled in the properties of my network connection I have isolated, but not solved the problem.

As it turns out, the 'Server' service in Windows XP won't start, and as a result of this neither will the 'Browser' service.

I searched for a solution, and was not successful. I even re-installed Windows XP (repair installation) but the issue still remains.

Event ID 7023 is logged in the system logs from source 'Service Control Manager' with the following contents:

The Server service terminated with the following error:
The specified module could not be found.

But it does not tell me what module that may be.

The Microsoft help for this error had me run the command 'SC query server' for which I get the responce '[SC] EnumQueryServicesStatus:OpenService FAILED 1060: The specified service does not exist as an installed service.'

Now as I said, I have already re-installed Windows, and the 'server' service is listed in the 'service manager', so I am at a total loss as to how to fix this.

Can anyone help me with this please? I'm into this problem for over 6 hours of my time already and don't know what else to do.

- James.


My memory is not as good as it should be, and neither is my memory.

I have forgotten more than I can remember

 

[bcastner]

Did you happen to remove any Norton or Symantec product?
See:

http://www.bl.com/moshe/text/quiddities/norton_errors.html

Report back after examining the list of Depends On service entries under Service Manager.

 

[J741]

Thanks Bill, but that information did not help the situation.

As it is now, the DHCP service and TCP/IP service are working fine. The PC has a valid IP address and can PING the other PCs on the network without a problem. I can also access internet resources without a problem. The primary simptom which I do experience is that I can not browse the local network, and can not share any of this PCs local resources (files & printers) on the network.

As mentioned, I have done a LOT of troubleshootign already, and isolated the cause of the problem to the 'server' service in Windows, but I am unable to dig any deeper without more detailed technical information than I can currently access.

- James.

My memory is not as good as it should be, and neither is my memory.

I have forgotten more than I can remember

 

[stduc]

I have no idea. However

The services executable is svchost
The service service has no dependencies

The command executed by XP to start the service is

C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

So I wonder - could you have a "malware" or corrupted copy of svchost.exe?????

svchost.exe should be 14,336 bytes, created 04 August 2004, 02:07:00

It also wouldn't do any harm to run chkdsk checking all sectors and clean out the windows prefetch area.

chkdsk c: /x /f /r /v

That will force a full check of drive C after a re-boot. Results will be in the event viewer.

and empty

C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch

Forces windows to get all drivers etc from their standard locations and re-build the prefetch folder.

You could try a repair install as well?

 

[bobsa32]

What version of Windows XP are you using, home or pro ?

 

[J741]

It's XP Pro with SP2. The SVCHOST.EXE file does not appear to be corrupt. The file dates and times are correct. Also, I would have expected that re-installing Windows XP would have replaced this file. I also used SFC to scan all system files, and found no detectable problems.

- James.

My memory is not as good as it should be, and neither is my memory.

I have forgotten more than I can remember

 

[linney]

Do you have a DependOnService value in this key?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Srv

From a Command Prompt do these commands display any clues?

net config server

sc query srv


The trouble with a Repair Install is that by its nature it tries to save as many settings and files as it can, therefor it often copies bad settings across to the repaired install.

Server Service Configuration and Tuning

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314498/en-us?FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[bcastner]

1. See if the file srvsvc.dll is present in %SystemRoot%\System32\ folder. If not, see if a Start, Run, SFC /SCANNOW

2. If it is there, consider:

Download:

http://www.jsifaq.com/docs/files/76011/snetcfg.zip

unzip and place into %windir%\system32

The Start,Run, CMD

snetcfg_wxp -v -u MS_Server
snetcfg_wxp -v -l %system%\inf \netserv.inf -c S -i MS_Server

Reboot.
Report back on the status of the two services.

 

[J741]

Thanks Bill, you found the source of the problem. The SRVSVC.DLL file did not exist in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. It did exist in the DLLCACHE folder, so I just copied it to the SYSTEM32 folder, after which the Server service started without any problems, and I was then able to browse the network and share resources.

However this is disturbing as I had already ran 'SFC /SCANNOW', and also re-installed Windows XP, and neither process replaced that file.

Oh well, it's working now.

- James.


My memory is not as good as it should be, and neither is my memory.

I have forgotten more than I can remember

 

[bcastner]

You win the award for obscure problem of the week. I have no idea how you ended in this state, or why your repair efforts were not sufficient.

I am happy you got it sorted.

Bill Castner

 

[J741]

Obscure Problem of the week" you say? It was only one of many. I (or my clients) seem to be a magnet for obscure problems. Most of them I worked through, but this one was more puzzling. Another interesting one this week came the morning I started on the one here. Within 1 hour I had 7 completely different and unrelated clients call me with "Internet Explorer closes 2 seconds after I open it". I thought it would be a virus or something similar, due to it's distribution and apparent coordination. After a complete and thorough virus scan, malware scan, memory test, SFC and such turned up no problems I started isolating normal, trusted software and found that un-installing the 'Yahoo Toolbar' solved the problem. This worked for all 7 clients. Very odd. And that's just par for the course with my clients.

- James.

My memory is not as good as it should be, and neither is my memory.

I have forgotten more than I can remember