help? missing registry parameters.

Question

hello,i am new to this, but after posting on several others and searching endlessly for information online and other forums such as this, i have found no post/thread specific to my situation, so i am going to start a new thread. i would really appreciate any help you can provide!our home has a cable connection and two computers, a laptop that connects wirelessly using an 802.11g 4-port router, and a desktop with a wired connection. the laptop never has had any problems; it will connect directly through the cable modem, wired and wirelessly through the router. the desktop has been having issues forever...it would randomly connect to the network, work for weeks at a time, but then stop. it would always work connected to the cable modem. after trying just about everything i (and everyone i know and spoke with) could think of, i reformatted the desktop (there were other problems too...). while drastic, everyone agreed that i had tried everything.i did not have the recovery disk, so after reformatting with xp sp2; i went online with the laptop and got the necessary drivers and utilities (mostly from the dell site) on a flash drive. i installed everything and set the tcp/ip settings in the properties of the local area connection (which always has limited or no connectivity), but i still cannot get online with that computer. (i can still get online with a direct connection to the cable modem.)after trying many, many things, someone suggested that i check the 'enable proxy' parameter in the registry, which was when i noticed that it didn't exist. (not that i can see...can that be hidden???) neither do most parameters associated with dhcp. this makes sense why i cannot get an ip from the router, but i can find very little info (and i have stumped many of my friends) on what to do if the values of them are incorrect. i cannot even log into the router from the computer (nor can i see the computer on the network from the laptop).there is no weird software (beyond some weird broadcom suite i installed by mistake but i have checked...it's on my laptop and causing no problems). i have a degree in computer science, so i am not a novice...although i did leave a lot out of this message (had i included everything i have done this would be the worlds longest post...4 months now). i also have been working out of the field for awhile (3 years), and when i did was in software design...most of my networking skills are a bit dated (but i have always known at very least enough to have all my computers at home online with no problems).his desktop used to be used at his office so i do not have the exact specs on it...it's a dell optiplex gx280 - basics; p4 2.8GHz, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB maxtor HD...nothing specific; recently totally reformatted with wp sp2 and original drivers. (but there are some things i have discovered in all of this, so please ask anything that may clarify!) that also means it was on XP Server network, but the reformat would have taken care of those settings, right?   basically, what are some causes for a varible to be missing in the windows registry??? (example, 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servi ces\Netbt\Parameters\Enable Proxy', there is a listing under parameters, just certain varibles are missing). thanks so much!!!thank you,jennifersorry i can't post the ipconfig /all, but i cannot get online using the computer with the problem! (it looks NOTHING like my laptop's...including the auto appended dns suffix)

msgale · Answer

I can not speak directly to your problem, since I no longer run XP.  I do know that although the registry is finate the number of registry key is infinate.  Therefore the fact that you do not have the specific key may not be your problem.  I checked on Vista Ultimate and the key you listed does not exist on my PC.  Did you 'google' for the key?

compgirl2 · Answer

okay, so i reformatted again. i swear i must have missed something silly.

i have a running list of drivers and utilities i installed (i do not have the restore or anything, so it is a clean windows install otherwise). if the dss, chipset, and ethernet card are installed and you run the network wizard (or select the appropriate settings), am i correct in thinking that i should at least be able to log into my router?

let me know - am i missing an elephant in the room? i have installed other basic drivers but nothing that would cause a problem.

please help. if i have to share my laptop any longer i am going to CRY (haha). thank you :)

Larry R · Answer

If you install Windows, then the DSS, chipset and ethernet, the system should be up and running and able to connect to the network.  You would have poor video resolution, no audio, and any other hardware may have problems if it requires its own software/drivers, but otherwise the system would work.

msgale · Answer

Actually, if you installing a version of the OS of the same vintage as your computer most everything will work wiithout downloading any additional drivers.  I say this for the following reasons, every PC I own except my PWS 7400, have been loaded from retail versions of Microsoft Operating Systems.  That is ten systems in total.  The only driver that I had to install was the one for 802.11n PCMICA card.

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