"Lost Network Neighborhood and files after aborting NIC installation"

1/ go into control panel/network, remove anything you have in there (nic card, Tcp/ip, everything), close, reboot, then go back in and install

1/client       for ms network
2/protocol   tcp/ip, netbui, ipx, and reboot
3/ if the error messages are gone, then reinstall your nic

Start in safe mode (hit F8 on boot and select safe mode) Start, settings, control panel, system, device manager. Remove all instances of the network card and then proceed with oldgreyguy's recommendation.

I'm sorry, I guess I'm a little confused yet.  So I should remove the network card in the Device Manager and go into Control Panel|Network and delete all clients, protocols.  Do all of this in Safe Mode? Then reboot back into regular mode and add the client and protocols back and then install the network card drivers??
Thanks again; I DO appreciate this

There are two possible reasons for your problem:

= More than one driver is installed for your network card. This prevents either of them from working properly. The only way that you can see both drivers in the device manager is in safe mode. In normal mode windows will hide duplicates.

= A protocol or service has not been properly installed. To allow windows to re-install it you need to remove it and add it back in.

Use safe mode to remove the hardware driver and use normal mode to remove any left over networking software components.

BTW if the card is PCI you may want to try it in a different slot. This offers different pnp resources and will convince windows that it's 'new'

Have you run System Fike Checker to replace any files that may be damaged?
Go to Start/Run
Type in SFC and hit ok
You'll need the CD if you dont have a folder at C/windows/options/cabs.

Also reboot in safe mode.
Go to sytem properties/device manager
Expand all + and do away with any hardware you dont have in your system.
Remove all duplicate hardware, and let windows reinstall at bootup.
Remove the NICs.
Reboot.

Download a copy (free from MS) of RegClean, if you dont  already have it, and use it to clean up Reg. Basic maintenance.

I would try to repair the system before going much further.

One quick follow-up please?
1.) What happened with Network Neighborhood on the desktop?  Does this appear after I re-install everything.  I thought that was there whether a NIC was installed or not?  The icon is not on the desktop anywhere.  Did what happen remove this icon?  Thanks again; I really do appreciate everyone's help.

yes and yes.
When you get up and runing again all configered, NN will be there.

Thank you Dennis for your step by step procedure.  I appreciate it.  I am not using a modem, so I guess I can just ignore those steps; we're connecting directly to an "inhouse" network that someone in the office building is providing.

My main followup QUESTION:
1.) Can I remove the NIC drivers in the Device Manager and the Network Software Components under Control Panel|Networking in Safe Mode.  I believe bartsmit recommended removing the NIC drivers in Safe Mode and the Network software components in Normal Mode.  Comments on this?  

Thanks so much again; I really appreciate it.

Remove all in safemode. A failed installation at times creates ghost devices in device manager, so using safemode will enable you to see these ghosted devices.

As for dialup networking, this must be installed as well, even though no modem is present. There are protocols that you will need that require this part of the installation.

The .vxd drivers are being called by the registry.  The dll is either being called by win.ini or system.ini.  The safest thing to do is reinstall windows however I have solved similar problems by using regedit.  Making a mistake with the regedit options can destroy your os so be careful.  Start regedit and find VNETSUP.VXD VREDIR.VXD DFS.VXD.  When the references to those files are found delete the reference.  Then search for MSNP32.DLL with regedit and delete any references to the file.  Any of the files that are not found in regedit search for them in the two ini files listed above.  When all the references are deleted, reboot the system.  Then goto control panel / Network and reinstall the networking protocols and adapters that you need. I have walked many people through this on several occassions and it has worked well.  GOOD LUCK

thammond, you've been logged on to this site nearly a year without having either asked or answered a question in 10 months, and now you simply block a question with a proposed answer that should have, at the very least, been posted as a comment.

If you don't know what the site recommendations are, I suggest that you read them and find out. Your blocking this question removes it from the view of experts who may be able to provide a finite answer to this problem.

Dennis

Sorry Thammond but I really wanted to accept and award the points to Dennis (Dew Associates). His detailed step by step procedure was the most helpful and was about 85% right on the mark.  I fixed the problem today right after Dennis (dew associates)last comment before yours.  I appreciate you responding though - thanks.  But in all fairness I really need to award the points to Dennis.

I hope this opens it back up so Dennis (dew assoicates) can make a "Proposed Answer" so I can award him the points.  I will then comment about what I meant by the 85% and give the details on my experience with this problem.
Thanks,
Joe Boyd

Sorry everyone, I'm still a little new at this.  I see I can use the "Comments" and accept them as answers.  

Dennis,
Your step by step procedure was right on and helped me almost 100% of the way.  I really appreciated the step by step procedure.  I like the details and I also want to thank you for responding so quickly to my last comment.

I followed everything in your procedure exactly and it worked except references to two of the files in question weren't removed from the registry: VNETSUP.VXD and DFS.VXD still kept showing up in messages during boot up after removing the NIC, drivers, and network components.  This was after running Scanreg/Fix.  I even ran Regclean after this and the messages still showed up.  I did a search on the System.ini file and no references to these files was in it.  I then used regedit (nervously) and found the references in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE|System|CurrentControlSet|Services|Vxd|Vnetsup (and DFS) folders.  I deleted the entries.  Now it booted up fine with no error messages.  I then reinstalled the NIC card physically and the drivers and the network components like your procedure said and everything worked great!!

Thanks, you helped me immensely and I learned a lot in the process.  I really appreciate it!
Joe Boyd

Well done Joe...including the regedit! I would have pointed to that if need be, but you found it on your own.. Again, well done!

This is not the place to spam here and it is a place to solve eachothers problems.  However since dew associates is interested in flaming me in on a bb then I feel it is necessary for me to point out to dew associates and the rest of the group that he did not 100% solve the problem and in fact my answer had to be incorporated into solving the problem.  " I would have pointed to that if need be" is not a 100% correct answer.  I did not post it as a comment because I knew that my sollution was a 100% fix.

All in All Joe I am glad your situation is rectified and 85% is not 100% :)

Thammond, your comments aren't worth the time to respond to them. I suggest that you visit the home page and the help desk and read how to answer a question. Not only was your "answer" incomplete, it suggests that the questioners best solution is to reformat the drive. As you can see this was unnecessary.

One last comment from me if you all don't mind.  Actually Dew Accociates (Dennis) did more or less help me solve my problem 100% of the way and that was the key.  I used every bit of information he provided me to fix the problem, and this was before I received the information from thammond (I saw his comment after I got back and the problem was already resolved).  True, Dew Associates, didn't provide every complete detail that it turned out I needed, BUT, because of his step by step procedure (which I followed 100% of the way), in conjunction with the knowledge I had, did solve my problem 100%.  Thus, from my perspective they should get 100% of the credit.  Also, Dennis' procedure "led" me to the missing 15% if you will, because it triggered the knowledge I had on what to do.  So again, in my mind this all adds up to 100%  Thanks again.  
P.S.
I'm really not trying to blast anyone; I'm just trying to explain things from my viewpoint better.  Once again, I really do appreciate everyone's comments and help.

Not a problem Joe...the bottom line no matter what is that you solved the problem and you were able to glean some info for the future.