Invisible "Restoring Network Connections" error and more

[Kylezo]

Hello all, I have a doozy of a problem.

I'm using an HP EliteBook 6930p connected to a Windows Workgroup wirelessly. My desktop hosts an external HDD mapped as a network drive.

I recently started getting really long boot times where my computer would hang at "Loading your personal settings". I troubleshot this down to "Restoring network connections" by enabling verbose status messages for login and logout. As it turns out, the 'hang' is actually caused by an error message that pops up that can't be seen because it is behind the login screen. If I alt+tab I can dismiss it and contine booting.

This MS KB article covers the same issue, no resolution:

325376 (can't post links)

The error message also comes up in safe mode with networking enabled.

I have no idea what the message says because I can't see it, except the title of it is "Restoring Network Connections".

I am connected to a workgroup for the purposes of sharing the mapped network HDD. If I turn off the share, the error message doesn't come up. So I think it has something to do with that.

Also, I tried directly plugging into the router, and when I have wireless disabled when booting, the error message doesn't show up, although when both wireles and ethernet are enabled, it does (it seems to default to using wireless, or something).

A curious, possibly related issue:

Since the day I got this computer, I have had some wierd connectivity issues. I will be connected to the network, and I can ping any address just fine, but if I senf a ~750 byte package it times out. TCP Optimizer can run the MTU test and it will time out on the 2nd package, but the first one ~40 bytes, goes through fine. If I tap my wireless button off and back on it 'resets' my connection and everything is fine. Microsofts 'Diagnostic' tells me my connection is fine when it's not (because all it does is ping http/ftp addresses).

I updated my wireless cards driver to the latest one provided by the OEM website. That didn't change anything.

I also changed the share from \\computername\share to \\computerip\share but that didn't help either.

So, any help?

Thanks!

 

[Bobbye]

I can't get a good focus on the problem(s) except to say the connectivity is being lost and the system seems to be trying to restablish it.

I didn't see your operating system given. suggest you check Event Viewer for ny Errors that might be related. You may ne able to find the cause of the hang:

Start> Run> type in eventvwr

Do this on each the System and the Applications logs:
1. Click to open the log>
2. Look for the Error>
3 .Right click on the Error> Properties>
4. Click on Copy button, top right, below the down arrow
5. Paste here (Ctrl V)

Usually error messages put themselves right on top and don't 'hide'. Is it [possible you might have spyware and are actually getting a "pop-under "from that?

 

[Kylezo]

I'm sorry, I didn't list my OS! Windows XP Pro, 32-bit, SP3.

Check out that MS KB article...I would link it directly, but I'm not allow links in posts yet.

Excerpt:
"This issue occurs if all the following conditions are true:
You use the Welcome screen to log on to the system.
You have a network share mapped to a drive letter.
The network share has been made available offline.
The system is connected to a network.
The network share is not accessible. For example, the server is down.
When all these conditions occur, Windows XP cannot restore the network connection and displays an error message. This error message must be confirmed before logon can continue. However, you cannot see the error message because it is hidden behind the Welcome screen. Therefore, the system appears to stop responding (hang)."

A note here: this is not exactly what I am experience, in the sense that the network share IS available (once logged on, I have no trouble [usually] accessing the share), and files are NOT available offline (I tried it both ways).

It states very clearly that this error message is hidden by the logon screen. I changed the logon to Win2k style logon, but the error message was still hidden. My computer is not infected by anything that I know of, but I would be willing to post a HJT log if you want to see it.

Here are the Event Log error messages that I have seen in relation to this problem:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Dhcp
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1003
Date: 3/12/2009
Time: 4:13:19 AM
User: N/A
Computer: 1337B00K
Description:
Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 00216A0A98F4. The following error occurred:
The semaphore timeout period has expired. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.


This warning occurs directly after this normal startup log entry:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Tcpip
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4201
Date: 3/12/2009
Time: 4:12:50 AM
User: N/A
Computer: 1337B00K
Description:
The system detected that network adapter Intel(R)...Link 5300 - Packet Scheduler Miniport was connected to the network, and has initiated normal operation over the network adapter.

Then there is this error, which I thought was the problem, but it turns out this error doesn't seem to come up every time...though to be fair, I have been skipping the long timeout period on the error message, so that might be preventing this error message from being logged. Suffice to say, I see these entries extremely often (almost every startup) in any case.

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: BROWSER
Event Category: None
Event ID: 8021
Date: 3/12/2009
Time: 4:15:03 AM
User: N/A
Computer: 1337B00K
Description:
The browser was unable to retrieve a list of servers from the browser master \\KATHY-T5REM9P9D on the network \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{0597287D-4268-4CD5-85C6-A2C6E2883833}. The data is the error code.


Another strange thing is that, before this error began, I could even connect to the internet on a different network, and the error message would not pop up before or after logon. The only problem I would have is if I tried to connect to the network share, which of course would not be found. So it seems that even if the share is available this error is coming up on logon. I think it could perhaps have something to do with the order Windows is loading components? But I have no idea.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Bobbye]

Oh my goodness! I forgot my last line for the Event Viewer. Here is what is says: "Please ignore Warnings and Information Events". Here's a description:

There are three types of Events in the System and Apps logs:
1. Information (white circle w/blue i): this is just basic documentation of the normal working of the System or Apps.
2. Warnings (yellow triangle w/black exclamation mark) noting some problem at that moment. Warnings usually resolve on their own. If they do not, they become>>>
The following is what you need to look for:

3. Errors (red circle w/white X- they document something that didn't work or isn't happening as it should. Each Errors has three parts: an ID#, a Source and a Description. By doing a right click> Properties, the Error will open to a screen that can be copied. These three parts taken together can usually lead to cause and resolution.

That why you can ignore #1 and #2.

This just documents that the network adapter is connected and that it will look for the netwprk address.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Tcpip
Event ID: 4201
Date: 3/12/2009 Time: 4:12:50 AM
.Description:
The system detected that network adapter Intel(R)...Link 5300 - Packet Scheduler Miniport was connected to the network, and has initiated normal operation over the network adapter.

This just lets you know there is a delay in reaching the server. The workstation does in fact get a DHCP address. If it did not, the Warning would lead to an Error

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Dhcp
Event ID: 1003
Date: 3/12/2009 Time: 4:13:19 AM
Description:
Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 00216A0A98F4. The following error occurred:
The semaphore timeout period has expired. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.

This is notice of delay reaching the servers. You can find discussion of the The Domain Master Browser here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Master_Browser

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: BROWSER
Event ID: 8021
Date: 3/12/2009 Time: 4:15:03 AM
Description:
The browser was unable to retrieve a list of servers from the browser master \\KATHY-T5REM9P9D on the network \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{0597287D-4268-4CD5-85C6-A2C6E2883833}. The data is the error code.

You need to look for Errors. The article is reviewing only Warnings ad Information Events, not Errors. Remember> 3 types of Events> Information and Warnings can be ignored for the most part. The Warnings will become Error if not resolved. They are only "Events"- not Errors.

 

[Kylezo]

Unfortunately, there are no errors in the Event Log. The only reason I posted those entries is because I do not remember seeing them before the trouble began..I had thought that they had some clues as to why the connectivity is failing now

Sorry I don't have more info for you.

 

[Bobbye]

A clue:

Also, I tried directly plugging into the router, and when I have wireless disabled when booting, the error message doesn't show up, although when both wireles and ethernet are enabled, it does (it seems to default to using wireless, or something).

Check the network card:
Control Panel> System> Hardware tab> Device Manager> click on plus sign for Network Adapters to expand> do you see any errors which are yellow triangle with black ! point/? Then expand System Devices and look for error icons. A driver might need to be updated.

Another clue:

Another strange thing is that, before this error began, I could even connect to the internet on a different network, and the error message would not pop up before or after logon. The only problem I would have is if I tried to connect to the network share,

The network share isn't set up correctly.:
The 'share' must be set up on the main computer on the network first, "then" on the other computer(s)
Check the settings. See information on page below to assist with setting up the network share:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_share

 

[Kylezo]

No problems with the wireless card. It's very possible that in my connecting and disconnecting/sharing and unsharing that I did it out of order, though, I never thought of that. I'll disconnect the network drive on both and connect it and share it on the host computer first, and see if that does it. Although, I am not sure what this has to do with me connecting to a different network, which you highlighted in my quote. What I meant was, this is a laptop, and when I take it with me, in the past even being many miles away from the host computer, where obviously the share isn't available, the error message never popped 'under'.
Thanks for the tip!

 

[Bobbye]

Please let us know if resetting the shares from the host computer makes any improvement.

 

[Kylezo]

Well, I'm not sure how to say it, but that seems to have done the trick! There is still an 8-10 second delay on "restoring network connections" when I log on, but I am assuming that is normal. Without the network share, my logon is basically instantaneous. I can still alt+tab to the Restoring Network Connections process on logon but I don't think it's an error message anymore.

Well...thank you very much! What a strange problem...glad it's straightened out! I hope this thread makes it in Google...I literally could find nothing on this problem except the MSKB article that had no solution, only a workaround.

Thanks again!

edit: by the way, I'm still curious, why did you highlight the part I wrote about connecting on a different network?

 

[Bobbye]

Sorry, I misread that to say " I couldn't connect on a different network" and meant to bring your attention to a possible problem with the wireless.

As far as the delay in accessing the Network Share: you are remotely accessing the information from another computer through a LAN or Enterprise Intranet. A slight delay is reasonable.

Thank you for the update.

 

[Kylezo]

Of course, and thank you for the tip that 'did it'!

I better update all my other help threads with the new info ;P