monstro, did you do a manual check for any of the invalid registry keys after running the tool? Did you see any? If you didn’t, and are still having problems with your device manager and network, there might be something else going on.
I did not do a manual check (yet), nor did i reinstall SP3 (yet). Both of which i will do to see what happens. Someone else had reported the same results as I got & i don't know if they have had any luck either. I did do a registry backup prior to using the automated tool, so i can at least go back to starting point. I will post results as i get them.
Re: solution. The other day there was instructions for manually removing the registry keys along with a link to backup the
existing registry just in case. I thought that the link(s) in the solutions was where this info was located, but now it goes to
automated tool. Are manual instructions & backup link available anywhere?
Hello,
I have a similar problem like this one discussed in this thread here:
A few months ago I had a Windows XP SP2 installation with NIS2007. Then Norton released NIS2008 and I wanted to update directly to the new version. I downloaded the package, deinstalled NIS2007 (without SymNRT at this time) and installed NIS2008 (the first release). After the installation completed the system was running fine until the first Live Update. After rebooting after the first Live Update all network connections were gone (except the two virtual NICs from VMWare). There were no errors in the device manager and in the tray the network connections (the symbols of the to computer monitors) were there, too, so everything looked fine. But ipconfig.exe only showed VMWare-NICs. So I removed NIS2008 with SymNRT. After the removal, the network connections were OK again. So I installed NIS2007 again. Also after this installation and after several Live Updates the network connections worked properly. I thought, it would be a failure of NIS2008. Please remember: At this point it is still Windows XP SP2.
In April Norton released a new version of NIS2008 (v15.5.0.23). I thought that Symantec maybe fixed the issue with the network connections and restarted the whole process. I removed NIS2007, this time with SymNRT, cleaned up the registry, deleted all shared files of Symantec, which havn't been deleted automatically by SymNRT. Then I installed NIS2008 again. After the first Live Update: the same like before - no network connections except from VMWare Virtual Adapters. So again I removed NIS2008 and reinstalled NIS2007. Everything worked fine again with NIS 2007.
After that SP3 was released by Microsoft and I installed it on my Windows XP SP2 with NIS2007 - no problems up to here. After the installation of SP3 I thought, that it might be possible, that Microsoft is responsible for this behavior. So I tried again.....removed NIS2007 with SymNRT, installed NIS2008 - everything went fine. I ran the first Live Update and again: every network connection was gone! I searched the Internet for this problem again and found several hints, all pointing to the corrupted registry. I searched my registry of my WinXP SP3 and NIS2008 system with no network connections for keys and folders containing "$%&'()*+" and also "$". No single entry was found!!!
So I removed NIS2008 again and reinstalled NIS2007 again. Thats the point I am now. I am unable to update to any new release of NIS!
Do you have any idea, where my problem comes from or how I can install the newest version of NIS2008 without destroying all my network devices? I think the problem is detached from the Service Pack level, because the first installations resulting in no network connections where unter SP2.
Please don't hesitate to ask for further information!
Thank you in advance,
Josef
<< I have a similar problem like this one discussed in this thread here: >>
Have you looked at the messages here marked Solution (green) and gone past the manual workaround to the automated tool. There's an explanatory message after that for the automated tool that explains that the manual method only dealt with entries known to be directly related and that the automated tool finds many more (like 1500 for me after I removed many manually).
Even after the use of the automated tool there are some reports of continuing problems so Norton is still working on this.
Suggestions:
- Use SYMNRT again (make sure that it is the latest version by downloading it again from the website since they update it from time to time).
- Install the current release of NIS 2008 and keep on running Live update until it tells you there are no more updates.
- Run the automated tool.
- See if you get back your network connections, which is one of the problems described.
Hope that helps but if not keep an eye open here for further help.
huwyngr wrote:
[...]workaround to the automated tool. There's an explanatory message after that for the automated tool that explains that the manual method only dealt with entries known to be directly related and that the automated tool finds many more (like 1500 for me after I removed many manually).
[...]
First of all: thank you for your quick answer!!!
I don't understand the following: why should the automated tool find anything, which the search with the registry-editor doesn't find? I havn't found one single entry with even only a simple "$". I am just speculating, but I don't think that my problem results from invalid registry-entries, because it also happened under XP SP2.
Do you really think I should try this again? Don't get me wrong - I appreciate your help!!!! But I only want to check, if the work of 2 hours makes sense.
If you read the messages in this thread you will see the explanation.
The manual work around was a temporary fix for the most likely cause and concentrated on one location in the registry.
The tool searches the entire registry and removes it from all locations and IIRC even if other applications may have caused the corruption.
A word of caution -- backup your registry before running the tool. That's always wise but although it may be coincidence my Diskkeeper 2003 generates an error when I try to run it from the XP partition on my PC that it did not before. I've not don much troubleshooting on it but it says it can't find dfrgsnap.dll with indications that this could be a registry entry -- the file is where it shold be.
I may not bother to troubleshoot it since I'd planned to take a cheap update to Diskkeeper 2008 anyway so I've downloaded that but not installed it yet.
What you do is up to you. I suggested using SYMNRT because you seemed to be switching between 2007 and 2008 (and back?) and a complete cleanup seemed a good idea.
<< So I removed NIS2008 again and reinstalled NIS2007 again. Thats the point I am now. I am unable to update to any new release of NIS! >>
If you can't do anything what choice do you have?
As i stated earlier, I backed up the existing registry & then i ran the automated tool & deleted 4450 entries and still have blank device manager and no network icons. And i see where space_ferret posted the same results as me. As far as i can tell, both of us are in the same boat. Does the automated tool only work on Synmantic related entries in the registry or does it scan the entire Windows registry? And since it removed all those entries without repairing the problem, what would be my next choices of action?
I want to do a manual check, but i don’t have the instructions to do one. I’ve posted requests for them but not seen any.
sunnyc wrote:
monstro, did you do a manual check for any of the invalid registry keys after running the tool? Did you see any? If you didn't, and are still having problems with your device manager and network, there might be something else going on.
Sunny PMJI but when you ask about a "manual check" do you mean using the Solution posted in a message by Reese and flagged as Solution? If so it looks as if when you use a link like this one:
For 2008 products:
http://solutions.symantec.com/sdccommon/asp/symcu_contentredirect.asp?docid=20080516112507EN
which is the one I used earlier, that the text has been altered there to take you to download the SYMREGFIX tool and use that.
The manual search instructions are still at:
http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20080528154203EN
FWIW
But maybe you meant something else but monstro still has a problem.
These Steps that you, huwyngr, provided are regarding Norton 360; perhaphs you could provide the Web Link for N.I.S. since this is the N.I.S. Forum!
1 Like
It may not be clear unless you use the threaded view here but my message wasto the Norton Staffer sunnyc who asked a question that was not clear to me.
But in any case the message from Reese I referred to was about NIS 2008 and on the page from that that I used the link to which was marked All 2008 products:
Product(s): Norton AntiVirus 2008 OEM,Norton AntiVirus 2008 Online,Norton AntiVirus 2008 Retail,Norton Internet Security 2008 OEM,Norton Internet Security 2008 Online,Norton Internet Security 2008 Retail,Norton SystemWorks 2008 Basic,Norton SystemWorks 2008 Premier,Norton SystemWorks 2008 Standard
and N360 has it's own links that I did not refer to.
Please check this out by following the links since I just checked them again and that is how they worked.
monstro wrote:
I want to do a manual check, but i don't have the instructions to do one. I've posted requests for them but not seen any.
monstro,
I was never able to get the symantec registry automatic fix to work for me, but i was able to manually fix the errant registry entries in about 15 minutes by following the instructions below (taken from a microsoft technet forum). This method is quite a bit faster than deleting each bad entry one by one. After following this procedure, everything was back to normal with my computer:
"- Boot your PC into safe mode and login as the administrator
- Open regedit and do CTL-F for find and type $%& in the search box and hit enter
- When it finds a subkey structure with the bogus keys move to the root of that structure
IE if the keys are under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_ LIVEUPDATE NOTICE then move to that part of the key. So in this instance right click on KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_ LIVEUPDATE NOTICE and then select Export from the context menu.
- Navigate the save box to the desktop and save the exported keys there.
- Right click on the file on the desktop and select edit
- Highlight and remove all the bogus keys
- You should be left with a file with only valid keys for that key and sub keys, close and save the file.
- Go back to regedit and delete the whole of the keys and subkeys which you saved in this instance delete the whole of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_ LIVEUPDATE NOTICE
- Go back to the desktop and double click on the .reg file.
- This should have now re-created the invalid section of the registry with only the valid entries.
- Hit F3 to find the next invalid keys.
- Repeat the process
Hope this was useful.
-M Russell"
Message Edited by space_ferret on 06-08-2008 05:05 PM
Space_ferret wrote: I was never able to get the symantec registry automatic fix to work for me, but i was able to manually fix the errant registry entries in about 15 minutes by following the instructions below (taken from a microsoft technet forum). This method is quite a bit faster than deleting each bad entry one by one. After following this procedure, everything was back to normal with my computer:
I think i understand everything you wrote & i will try it. But i have one question. After you close & save the file to the desktop, then you delete the offenders in registry, then you say to dbl-clk on desktop .reg file. Does this put the the corrected files back in the registry automatically or am i missing a step? And if you have the link to the Microsoft technet forum, could you post it. I have been looking
thru their stuff & haven't run into this before.
PMJI at this point but the string I searched for, taken from the Norton document I linked to above is slighly different to yours:
I used: $%&'()*
compared with the $%& in your message
I don't know if it makes any practical difference in a CTRL + F search unless you check "whole word only" which one would not expect to do in this context, but I mention it since sometimes small differences can have unexpected effects. Your string would take out more than the Norton one if the curley brackets were significant in limiting the search.
monstro wrote:
I think i understand everything you wrote & i will try it. But i have one question. After you close & save the file to the desktop, then you delete the offenders in registry, then you say to dbl-clk on desktop .reg file. Does this put the the corrected files back in the registry automatically or am i missing a step? And if you have the link to the Microsoft technet forum, could you post it. I have been looking
thru their stuff & haven't run into this before.
Yes, double clicking on the .reg file will put the corrected files back into the registry. After you double click on the file, you should get a comfirmation box affirming that this is what you want to do.
Here is a link to the discussion on MS technet, the post i referred to being on page 10:
huwyngr,
On my computer, the first errant registry key in a given tree would be: $%&'(
then the next would be: $%&'()
and the next: $%&'()*
and the next: $%&'()*+
and so on, always adding an additional character at the end.
For this reason I assumed it was safe to delete the ones with less characters than $%&'()*, since they were obviously part of the same pattern. I've seen different suggestions on what search string to use, but on my computer searching with the shorter string didn't turn up any entries that weren't part of the above pattern, though if such an isolated key came up I would advise caution.
Hurrah & thanks to Space_ferret i was able to remove the bogus entries that the Symantec automated tool missed (tool did remove 4,450 but missed the 100+ i did manually today). Not only did i get my Device Manager & Network Icon back, i also eliminated the SLOW right-click problem this adventure into Windows SP3 caused. So anyone still having difficulties, please read Space_ferret's instructions on manual removal in this thread. It worked for me.
Many thanks for the explanation -- I appreciate it. I must print out your instructions and study them and then see how my present, auto-tooled registry compares.
Thanks again.
FIX FOR MINIPORT ERRORS
As mentioned in previous emails, I manually deleted the spurious registry keys (this was before the automated tool became available) and had got Win XP apparently working OK again eg Dev Manager seemed to operate properly but it now listed four Symantec Network Miniports with yellow exclamation points. The approach I had used, like spaceferret, deleted the LEGACY_LIVEUPDATE_NOTICE and I have since found that this caused the Miniports to show and to show as troubled. Reese analyzed the partial reg file I sent him and advised that:
"The reason that you are receiving those errors is because the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SymIMMP key is missing. If you uninstall using the Add/Remove Applications tool, run SymNRT to further cleanup and then re-install ..."
I did as he said and the Miniports disappeared from Dev Manager as is correct. So thanks to Reese and his staff, that is the fix for that problem .....
FIX FOR NETWORK PRINTER PROBLEMS
I still had one last problem. The network printer had vanished from Printers and Faxes and repeated uninstalls and reinstalls (with and without NIS 2008 running) couldnt bring it back. The installation program (for this HPJ6480 all-in-one) had installed this network printer OK about three months ago (before this SP3 fiasco) and the printer was still OK out on the network (showed up on a Network mapper and could still be accessed from another computer on the network). So finally I used Add Printer and created an HP TCP port named the "same" as others identified (via Printers and Faxes port pages) of the form HP_XXXXXXXXXXX_YYYYYYYY(Standard TCP). XXXXXXXXXXX is the IP address of the printer and YYYYYYYYYY are an idenfication of numbers and letters found on the other similar HP TCP ports. Then continuing using Have Disk and inserting the printer install CD, created the correct printer in Printers and Faxes ......... and it could be printed to etc. So I suspect there is still some SP3 original bad install damage that prevents the std printer installation process working but the above is at least a workaround until someone finds what the real problem is .....
DougN