Greyed-out options

[skeletonkeys]

I recently had to reinstall windows XP on my machine and since then my computer hasn't been able to connect to the net. I reinstalled the modem with the correct drivers (they worked before the crash) and it's in the device manage under modems, but when i try to make a new connection, the option to connect to the internet using dialup is greyed out.

Step by Step: (may have slight inaccuracies due to the fact that i am away from the pc)

open network connections
click make new connection
click connect to the internet
click set up my connection manually

At this point all the options with the exception of "always on connection" are greyed out.

Any ideas why?

Ta, Keys

[reboot]

Dial-up is NOT networking, don't get confused.
You're trying to make a network connection, and you have no network (LAN or WAN) to connect with.
Something could be missing from Dial-Up-Networking.
Go into Add/Remove programs, windows components, and take DUN out of Communications.
Restart.
Go to Start > Run > and type in: inetwiz
That should rebuild DUN, and allow you to make a connection.

[skeletonkeys]

Thanks reboot.

Didn't work on two counts I'm afraid.

I think your diagnosis was probably right, but I'm going to have to find another way to fix it.

First, communications >> DUN isn't in add/remove windows components, most likely because I have XP home, not pro.

Then, when I skipped to step two, the wizard said that any name I put in for the connection was invalid (it said must not start with a space or contain any periods). Why it would stop at this point of all places i don't know.

At this point I gave up.

Any other ideas?

Ta, keys

[Confused]

Don't you have "Phone and Modem options" under Control Panel. You can set up a dial connection there.
Chas

[reboot]

XP Home doesn't have DUN, under Communications, in Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel?

[Confused]

I don't have Home but do you mean that there isn't a "Phone and modem" icon under Control Panel with XP Home like there is with XP Pro. I'm not talking about Add/Remove programs.
Chas

[Alienware_Dude]

I have XP Home, and there is a 'Phone and Modem Options' icon in the Control Panel.

[skeletonkeys]

There is a Phone and Modem Options icon in the control panel, what isn't there is communications in add/remove windows components. Possibly that is the problem, I just supposed that it might not be in XP Home.

The phone and modem options are useless, I've tried everything in there.

inetwiz didn't work because of the stupid name thing.

I have set up a dialup connection many times before, it's not that i don't know how to, it's that the options to set up a dialup connection are either greyed out or missing.

[Confused]

How about Control Panel, Internet Options, Connections tab. There is a setting there to add dial connections. Is that the one greyed out?
Chas

[young&dumb]

did you have sp1 installed before the reinstall? if so it may fall under the same problem I had in another thread here (http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58030)

basically, see if ras man service is started.. if not try to start it, and if you get access denied that is probably your problem.

[skeletonkeys]

Confused: No, not greyed out, but when I click it, I immediately get a message saying something to the effect of "can't do that" and it stops there. Thanks anyway

young&dumb: Seems like you've hit the nail right on the head there, that's exactly my problem, although theres a slight difference in that I went from "XP home SP1" to "XP Home no SP" as opposed to "XP Pro no SP". Even so, I'm off to try out the workaround given by microsoft. I'll post the link here too in case anyone else reads this:

Microsoft's fix (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B329441)

Ta, Keys