Network Adapters gone after MS update

[Jason Carlton]

Hi all,

New to the board, and glad to find it! Precious little help out there for Win7.

I have a HP G60-630US laptop, running Win7 64-bit. A couple of nights ago, Microsoft loaded a critical update. After that, all of my network adapters had errors, and I had no network connectivity on wireless or wired. Hovering over the network icon said "No connections are available" (wired or wireless).

I tried doing a System Restore first, which had no impact. I then went to Device Manager, and found errors with the following:

Atheros WiFi Adapter
Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
WAN Miniport (IP)
WAN Miniport (IPv6)
WAN Miniport (Network Monitor)

And under Non PnP, errors with:
NativeWiFi Filter
QoS Packet Scheduler
WFP Lightweight Filter

I uninstalled, then reinstalled, the WiFi Adapter and Realtek adapter (I've tried both with the driver downloads from HP, and the newest drivers on the manufacturers' sites). Then, using devcon, I reinstalled the following adapters:

MS_NdisWanIp
MS_NdisWanBh
MS_NdisWanIpv6
MS_IrdaMiniport
MS_IrModemMiniport
MS_PptpMiniport
MS_PppoeMiniport
MS_L2tpMiniport
MS_agilevpnminiport

This removed the Network Adapter errors from Device Manager, but I still have errors with the Non PnP devices. I have no idea how to reinstall them. I also show that WLAN is on, but still there's no network connection. I still get the same "No connection available" error, and troubleshooting gives me this error (for both wired and wireless):

Windows couldn't automatically bind the IP protocol stack to the network adapter.

I tried resetting the IP and Winsock, but this had no impact.

Under Network & Sharing Center, I tried clicking on "Change adapter settings", but this just gives me a blank page, with no adapters at all.

However, "msinfo32 > Summary > Components > Network > Adapter" shows that WAN Miniport (SSTP) is there, along with the others, but "Adapter Type" for all of them say "Not Available", and the IP Address, IP Subnect, Default IP Gateway, and DHCP Server all say "Not Available".

Last but not least, I can ping myself with no packet loss, but nothing else. So I don't think the NIC is bad; there has to be a conflict with that last MS update, but I just can't find it.

ANY insight at all would be greatly appreciated. This laptop belongs to the office manager, and I've been working on it for 3 days now! She's getting no work done, and neither am I, so this is becoming a bit of a problem.

TIA,

Jason

 

[chev65]

Microsoft does provide support for problems caused by Windows updates. There is a good chance they will know what caused this problem and how to fix it.

 

[Jason Carlton]

For anyone following this in the future, I'm working with Microsoft here:

Network adapters disappeared after critical update

 

[chev65]

Thanks for the update Jason, this looks like a tough one to solve. If you run out of options I might consider reinstalling Windows 7 and clearing the cmos on the problem machine and starting over again.

 

[Jason Carlton]

Unfortunately, chev, I've read where other people with a similar problem had reinstalled Windows, but it still didn't solve the problem. I purchased a USB network card, thinking that would bypass the problem, but it didn't work, either.

This absolutely blows, though; the laptop isn't 3 months old, and it's starting to look like an expensive paperweight

 

[madtownidiot]

what you should try, since a system restore didn't work, is uninstall the offending updates, uninstall the network adapter drivers, remove them from device manager, then restart windows and let the OS "find" the "new hardware".. It's worked on a few machines I've worked on recently.. you may have to install the drivers afterwards, but it should fix your problem

 

[Jacee]

Did you happen to install the 'critical' update for Cisco wireless Lan Controller?
MS--September 9th and 14th updates
US-CERT Current Activity

 

[Jason Carlton]

Thanks for the info, madtown. I did all of that on the first day, and that corrected the errors under Device Manager, but I still show no adapters under Network and Internet/Network Connections.

Jacee... maybe. I thought that I had set the laptop to not automatically install ANY updates, but it turns out that neither of my Win7 laptops remember that setting and update automatically, anyway. So, it did install a critical update on the 14th on its own, but I don't know what those updates were.

I do not have a Cisco wireless lan controller, though (at least, not to my knowledge). The adapters are Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter, and a Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller.

 

[chev65]

I would definately reinstall the OP system and avoid that update like the plague.

You may need to clear the cmos first but that will fix the problem as it will give you a clean slate.

 

[Jason Carlton]

I don't suppose you know of an easy way to clear the CMOS on the HP G60-630 laptop, do you? Getting to the mobo isn't an easy task, and I'm sure it would void the warranty.

 

[madtownidiot]

Breaking the loctite on the wrong screw on the bottom of your laptop would probably void the warranty, so if you're worried about that, send it in to be fixed. That's the best advice I can give you.
I could fix it if I had it sitting in front of me, but I doubt I could walk you through it here.
I'm not even going to try to explain how to find the CMOS battery, cause I don't know where it is on that model, but if you're willing to give it a try check under the removable panels on the bottom, then check under the keyboard. Make sure you disconnect the main battery and the AC adapter 1st. If you find it, disconnect the CMOS battery, short out the pins the wires leading from it are connected to and hold down the power button for at least a minute. Then reassemble everything and power up. If the system time hasn't changed, you'll have to repeat the process and then leave the CMOS battery disconnected for at least a week, unless you find the right capacitors on the MOBO itself.. and even that won't guarantee it.

 

[Jason Carlton]

Nevermind. A system recovery has seemingly done the trick (for now).

 

[chev65]

With most laptops there is a hole in the side which allows you to clear the cmos. The system recovery must have found some overwritten or corrupted files and fixed them which is a standard fix for this sort of problem. Glad you have it working again.