Within the last several days my system has started a new symptom. On bootup in Windows 2000 I receive a popup window which says: "Fatal Error---Failed to get Proc Address for SetDLLDirectoryW (kernel32.dll)".
I click on "OK" and the system continues without apparent problem.
Probably related. I went to Event Viewer this morning, and was startled to find lots of Red X Errors. They all seem to be the Service Control Manager, events 7000 and 7001.
What have I done to my system? What can I do to correct things?
I am running a dual boot, W2K and XP/MCE (see a previous thread), which I have also recently upgraded to a whopping 1.53 MHz CPU (see recent thread), and also recently upgraded to the motherboard max of 1.5 Gigs of RAM (another recent thread. This is all on a Gigabyte 7ZXE1.1 motherboard.
There seem to be two services causing my system to be unhappy.
The first is Motoconnect Service. That's a Motorola service, something to do with my cell phone, past or present. I was never happy/impressed with the service. It is now disabled.
The second error message is: "NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatability Transport Protocol service failed to start due to the following error: The parameter is incorrect." I'll start looking at this one next. Any hints, suggestions, or thoughts to help me understand would be appreciated.
Is this service something I really need? They're talking about Novell, and so far as I know I have nothing to do with that.
"NWLink IPX/SPX is the Microsoft implementation of Novell’s NetWare Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange (IPX/SPX) protocol. NWLink IPX/SPX is simply called NWLink. NWLink is used in Novell NetWare, and can be considered IPX for Windows. NWLink is an IPX/SPX compatible transport protocol that was developed to enable Windows 2000 computers to communicate with NetWare services..."
If I do not need this service, how did I get it on my system? How do I find it, and how do I get rid of it? It is not listed among the services on my system.
Did you remove that Motorola stuff? That might be tied to NWLink.
If you already uninstalled it, then you may need to search the registry for NWLink.
I disabled the Motorola stuff yesterday. It no longer shows up in Event Viewer as an error.
With reference to the two screen shots I have above: this from searching another forum, from 2004:
**********************************
"Re: PLZ HELP,IS nwlnkipx.sys Something to worry ab
Go to the properties for your netcard. If the "NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS–Compatible Transport Protocol" and/or the "Microsoft Client Service for NetWare" show as being in use, uncheck them or uninstall them if you are not connecting to a Novell Netware server (which sounds rather unlikely). TCP/IP is all that is required for internet access.
If the file in question is actually the MS IPX/SPX driver, that should fix the problem. If it still is active after doing the uninstall (or if the IPX/SPX protocol is not in use by your netcard) then it is possibly a trojan.
Most likely the netcard driver installation simply added the IPX/SPX drivers "just in case". I have seen many stand-alone PCs with TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, NETBEUI, DLC, and other protocols installed simply because the brain dead netcard driver install utility installed everything automatically."
*************************************
What bearing does this have on my current problem? Does this mean that I can/should disable one (?), two (?), of the network entries? Would I do that for the USR entry or for the D-Link entry, or maybe both?
This is the only running computer in the house, so I'm not too worried about a network, unless there is something I'm missing.
What entries are you talking about? I don't see IPX/SPX in your screenshots.
Why does your Dlink say #2? What about the #1 card settings?
I said uninstall, not just disable.
Did you scan your system for malware or not? Like I said MS cut support for Win2K, so there may be unpatched exploits out there.
It's been a long day--just back from my daughter's house. I'll try to answer your questions as best I can tonight.
I can't find any reference to IPX/SPX on my system. How can I deal with them if I can't find them?
Why does my DLink say #2? I haven't got any idea. There doesn't seem to be a #1, unless it is a reference to the USR router in the other screen shot.
I disabled Motoconnect in Services because I can find no way to uninstall it. There doesn't seem to be a program associated with the service, and my services section doesn't have an option to uninstall.
I'll start a Malwarebytes scan later, and let it scan overnight. As I recall, the scan takes about 2 hours, and I'm not waiting up for it.
I had some trouble running Malwarebytes in W2K. It reported an error several times, normal running and under SafeMode. I downloaded and installed it under XP (dual boot, getting XP up the speed), and it ran successfully. It took 2 hours 7 minutes.
Malwarebytes found two infections: Trojan.scar and Spyware.PWS. It removed both. However, when I rebooted W2K the Fatal Error was still present, and the same two services were bad. But at least I found and deleted two pieces of malware.
I ran SAS overnight last night, and woke this morning to find that it had detected Trojan Agent/Gen-nullo. SAS claims to have removed this trojan. However, from what I have read this morning things may not be that easy. I'll have to run MAB again, and SAS, just to check. This may take a day or so, given my work schedule.
I ran SAS a second time, just to check. I'd gotten rid of the trojan, apparently, but somehow screwed up on the tracking cookies. The second run found 58 tracking cookies. I got rid of them.
Now I think I can get back to the original problem, the one I opened this thread for.
I think I have the first part of this beat, the "Fatal Error". It seems that W2K does not play well with Skype 5.1. I thought I was running Skype 4.x, but apparently it upgraded itself somewhere along the way.
I've uninstalled Skype 5.1 from my W2K, and put it on the XP drive. It seems to do much better there.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Midknyte
