Windows 7 Network Connections Empty

jwyder

New Member
Hello All,

I have an issue where I have a red X for my networking in the system tray and my Network Connections is blank and empty. I am able to connect fine to the internet and access to network resources. I need to make adjustments to my NIC cards but they are not visible. They are in device manager and are reporting working fine.

System:
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
RealTek onboard NIC’s
Latest Bios and NIC Drivers

Here is what I have done so far:

Re registered the following dll’s:
regsvr32 netman.dll
regsvr32 netcfgx.dll
regsvr32 netshell.dll
I even unregistered them and the re registered them.

Removed VMWare Workstation

Uninstalled and reinstalled NIC Drivers

I checked the registry and verified that ClassManagers entry was correct:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Network\Connections\
ClassManagers REG_MULTI_SZ
{B4C8DF59-D16F-4042-80B7-3557A254B7C5}
{BA126AD3-2166-11D1-B1D0-00805FC1270E}
{BA126AD5-2166-11D1-B1D0-00805FC1270E}
{BA126ADD-2166-11D1-B1D0-00805FC1270E}

I ran sfc.exe /scannow

Check DCOM settings were correct

Still the Network Connections are not visible. I have looked over the net for solutions but have found none so far… any help or a point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advanced

-J
 
I have the same problem. Red X in system try, no ethernet cards listed in Network and Sharing so I can't make any adjustments, but I can connect to the internet and the rest of my network with no problem.

Have you considered trying to use the windows 7 CD to do a system repair?
 
Click start
Type services.msc in the search box and hit enter
scroll down to "Network Connections" and double click it
change the startup type to manual and then start the service or reboot the machine either one
see if that helps
keep us posted.
 
The service was already set to manual and it was already started. I tried to stop it, but it always failed..something about the service not responding in a timely manner. I also noticed that the the drivers that I downloaded from Nvidia aren't signed...so I rebooted and pressed F8 and at the menu I selected "Disable driver signing enforcement" (or something like that). That didn't help either ;)

At this point I'm starting to lean towards replacing my NIC cards and see if that works.

Anyone have any more ideas?? :)

Thanks for the help so far btw...
 
You should be able to stop and start the Network Connections service any time you want and the fact that you cannot leads me to suspect other issues. Have you tried running the System File Checker?
If not lauch a command prompt with elevated priveledges and type sfc /scannow
keep us posted
 
just finished running the suggested scan and the results are...

Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

<back to command prompt>

I was REALLY hoping this was going to find something. At least it would have led me down another path...
 
Try another approach open device manager expand network adapters, select each, right click and choose uninstall for both. Reboot machine and as it's posting enter bios and disable one of the onboard NICs, save the changes to the bios and continue booting the machine, allow the found new hardware wizard to complete and see if that changes anything.
If not maybe try rebuilding the tcp/ip stack
from an elevated command prompt type
netsh int ip reset C:\ipreset.txt
reboot
if that doesn't help may try resettin winsock
from an elevated command prompt type
netsh winsock reset
reboot
keep us posted.
 
both of those operations completed successfully and the problem still exist.


One major issue that I seem to be having too is that now my ethernet adapters won't install...at all. It says "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device (Code 31).
 


I tried this, but my onboard NICs are NVIDIA based cards...should this have worked...because it didn't :)

I tried it nonetheless...just in case...now I see Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC listed but with an excamation point next to it. I chose this one because it seemed to be the most generic.
 
I tried this, but my onboard NICs are NVIDIA based cards...should this have worked...because it didn't :)

I tried it nonetheless...just in case...now I see Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC listed but with an excamation point next to it. I chose this one because it seemed to be the most generic.

at this point I'm tired of messing with this and it seems more and more likely that even if I can fix this that it will just be a band aid...so I've got all my data backed up and I'm going to rebuild (reinstall windows). I do have one more question though...

Once I get everything back in wroking order, can I just create a system image and a system repair disk so that if something like this were to happen again I could go right back to the point of the image?
 
Absolutely, although I have found that the Windows Back Up utility seems to do an adequate job, I much prefer Acronis True Image for this type of work and it's usually reasonably priced between 30 and 40 dollars U.S., just out of the box it seems to be quicker, the size of the .tib is smaller than the .vhd that windows backup creates, without any adjustments to eithers compression ratio(s). You can try the Windows built in backup and see how you like it, I have used it with some success so you may find it satisfactory for your personal needs.
 
I tried this, but my onboard NICs are NVIDIA based cards...should this have worked...because it didn't :)

I tried it nonetheless...just in case...now I see Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC listed but with an excamation point next to it. I chose this one because it seemed to be the most generic.

Very, sorry. I took the realtek info from the original poster's information when the thread was initiatially started. My sincere apoligies. I assume that you did go to the MoBo manufacturer's website (in the case of integrated NIC(s), or to the actual Adapter manufacturer's site and attempted to use the drivers from their to get the adapter(s) installed.
 
Absolutely, although I have found that the Windows Back Up utility seems to do an adequate job, I much prefer Acronis True Image for this type of work and it's usually reasonably priced between 30 and 40 dollars U.S., just out of the box it seems to be quicker, the size of the .tib is smaller than the .vhd that windows backup creates, without any adjustments to eithers compression ratio(s). You can try the Windows built in backup and see how you like it, I have used it with some success so you may find it satisfactory for your personal needs.


** Update: I rebuilt my machine lastnight and all is good in the world once again. Both NICs are showing in Network and Sharing as expected. I have successfully joined my homegroup and I'm able to share my media over the web...which was what led me to discover my initial problems in the first place :)

Back to my questions on imaging my machine at a certain state. I have a copy of Acronis True Image 7.0. Do you think that is an OK version to use, seeing as it is pretty old at this point? Or do you think I should update to the latest / greastest version?

Thank you to everyone who attempted to help me! Hopefully this time I'll get my image and if something were to happen in the future I can just restore pretty quickly.

Thanks again!:D
 
I don't believe that version 7 will work for Win7, I am currently using 2010 and I believe that I was able to get 2009 to work. I have not experimented with any of the version 7 or 8 builds but I don't suppose it would hurt, it will probably either work or not (probably fail the install) I would think that in the interest of not starting a new install out on the wrong foot, an upgrade to True Image Home 2010 would be a good idea.
Also on another note, perhaps to prevent windows update from causing another hardware issue you might want to;
type "advanced system" in the search box and hit enter
select the hardware tab
click the device installation settings button
Choose the "No let me choose what to do" radio button
And then the "Never install driver software from Windows Update" radio button
Just something to keep inadvertent driver installation looking to the future
 
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