DHCP Service "Starting" ... !!!

Hi All,

I have a friend who up until 4 days ago could access his home network and internet.

He was using a USB speedtouch moden and was being provided his internet through BT. He has now switched to Sky and has been given a Netgear DG834 wiress router. (that isn't necessarily important, but I thought I'd give you the background too).

Basically, he has plugged in and set up his router (and all of the needed lights are on (ADSL connection, power, green tick etc)) and has plugged his PC into the router.

here are the facts:
he cannot connect to the internet/network,
he cannot ping the router or perform a loopback (127.0.0.1)
his network card drivers are installd and working

The reason he is not getting all of the bove is because in the services snap-in for Windows XP, the DHCP service is stuck on "Starting". Because it is starting, I cannot restart or stop the service to try and try and "refresh" it so to speak.

I have tried everything I can think of, but there is no way to get this service fully started, if I stop it and start it manually, it will just hang on the green progress bar.

My questions are:
a, Any ideas how this could have happened (Virus, Spyware etc)
b, Does anyone know how to fix/work-around this
c, Is it bad enough to suggest a format (the PC has seen better days anyway)

Any help would be very gratefully appreciated,

Thanks

David
davidprince9Asked:
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SysExpertConnect With a Mentor Commented:
1) Try SFC /scannow from a DOS window.

This will fix any system files..

You may need an XP CD handy.

Definitely get SP2 installed !


I hope this helps !
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SysExpertCommented:
1) Hard to say, but I would reset the TCPIP stack as a start.

Also boot into safe mode and check the services.

Disable the DHCP client temporarily.


I hope this helps !


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davidprince9Author Commented:
Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I have booted into safe mode, where the DHCP is disabled to begin with and I have started all of the processes which DHCP needs to be able to start and then tried starting DHCP and the same thing happens, it just says "starting" and then safe mode with networking and it still happens!

I forgot to mention that I've already tried to reset the TCPIP stack and unfortunately, still no luck.

to be honest, I am not 100% sure how services work,  but I know that the DHCP service is a part of svchost. Could it be that this executable has become corrupt? is there anyway I can test whether this is the case? like another service dependant on svchost and see if that works?

The computer isn't exactly up to date! he does not have SP2, his virus database was rather old and he has no spyware/malware protection. (Although I ran scans after the problem occured).

Thanks
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davidprince9Author Commented:
Thanks again for the quick reply (and sorry you won't get many points for this (as I am a newbie)), but we're just going to format the PC. It could do with one anyway, but I thought I would ask a, because it would be a quicker and more convenient solution, and b, incase it ever comes up again and I need it for any other reason (computer technician).

As for SP2, it doesn't like something with the current setup of the PC and continuously blue screens with it installed in safe mode and normal mode but haven't really looked into it, but at the moment the plan is to back-up, format, install SP2 on the clean install to prevent any problems.

Thanks :)
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davidprince9Author Commented:
sorry for late points, thnaks anyway
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