Article ID 20040205C
Subject Corrupt TCP/IP Stack in Windows 98(SE/ME)
Concept Fixing a corrupt TCP/IP stack in Windows 98 (SE/ME)
OS Windows 98 (SE/ME)

Standard Disclaimer: I this procedure screws up your computer more than it is already, I take no responsibility whatsoever. I am just documenting the fix that worked for me.

Many technical support people have already encountered a corrupted Windows 98 TCP/IP stack caused by spy-ware and the fix is pretty trivial, however, trying to determine if the stack is corrupted is whole different story. Symptoms of a corrupted stack include not able to resolve any internet URL, but can successfully ping the IP addresses of the DNS servers given to you. You can check to see your information by typing winipcfg from the run command in your start menu. The following window should come up:



Select the adapter that connects your computer to the internet, so if you have dial-up, select PPP. Now click on the "More Info" button. The following window should now appear:



I can successfully ping my DNS server (in my case 206.162.192.2), but when I type in any URL, like http://www.google.com, it will not resolve to an IP address and I get a page cannot be displayed error. Even better, when you type in the URL http://216.239.37.39 (www.google.com IP address) you get the same error message.

I found the best way to determine if your IP stack is corrupted is just to ftp to a known ftp server (206.162.201.200) by IP address and if you get an error message something like "Error: 4100004", your stack is corrupted. To fix, just do a google search for "Winsock2 fix" and follow the directions.

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