Stupidly, this morning, I uninstalled the @(#*& Bonjour service. Lo and behold, all my networking functions on my laptop are now completely nonfunctioning.
Here's what I learned about this insane program.
- It's primarily bundled with iTunes, but can also come with Photoshop CS3 to help with Version Cue (a feature I don't need anyhow).
- If you disable it from the Vista Services, you will be fine.
- If you uninstall it completely, you will spend a few hours in Windows hell like me. It literally complete kills all possible networking. You won't be able to get an Internet or a Local Connection.
There's a small utility called TurnoffBonjour that just turns it off, so you won't have to uninstall it.
I am trying to uninstall Photoshop CS3, to see if that helps. If not, I will uninstall iTunes, Skype, etc. and reinstall them.
Damn it.
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Update:
3:16 - I have found a fix that has worked! I am copying it here in case anyone needs it.
Found it on techsupportforum.com:
Check and repair Winsock corruption.
Click Start. In the Start Search dialog box, type: cmd, and right-click cmd.
Click Run as administrator.
Type: netsh winsock reset, and then press the ENTER key.
Type: Exit and press ENTER.
Restart the computer.
Reset the TCP/IP protocol.
Click Start. In the Start Search dialog box, type: cmd, and right-click cmd.
Click Run as administrator.
Type: netsh int ip reset, and then press ENTER.
Type: Exit and press ENTER.
Restart the computer.
Microsoft also has some convoluted fix, which is pretty much the same as the previous one. The article is entitled: "How to determine and to recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and in Windows Vista"
I have to move my files over to the new laptop, and then I'll take a shower, and finish packing.
But here's the link anyhow:
Well, after two hours yesterday, and going on three today, I think I am very close to getting this laptop all set up.
See, the problem is that Windows ME is not bootable. And, if you formatted your entire harddrive, you know that you will not have even DOS installed on it. The solution, of course, is to use a bootable floppy, format the harddrive and get it ready for install. Then, launch the WindowsME setup from the CD-Rom. Straight forward.
But, because I have a swappable floppy and CD-ROM, it's impossible for me to do that. So, I had to track down a version of DOS that I can put on a CD, and have it be bootable. After three different tries, I finally found the correct version of DOS that supports large disks (for a comparison of different versions, click on this link).
I downloaded the correct version from ms-dos7.hit.bg/#msfv, and it's currently checking the partitions on my haddrive. But, since I don't really have any partitions, I don't know what it's doing. I might need to burn another disk to fix this. I've gone through about six CDs so far, because I don't have CD-RW disks to use. Grr..
Actually, strike that, I need DOS 8.0. I finally was able to download the correct version from Powerload Boot Disk Project. This actually seems like it's working. We'll see.
10:11 - Now FINALLY formatting. Looks like exactly what I need. Stupid Windows!
11:30 - I needed both disks mentioned above to get things set up. Not only that, but I also had the pleasure of reinstalling Windows 98 because stupid ME will not clean install since it's meant as an upgrade, and crashed at first install. Now, ME is at 61% install.
Meanwhile.... I uninstalled Bonjour.exe from my Vista laptop, and now my network has stopped working.
I should just stop, and like go back or something.
Labels: geek, OS, technology
