Hi:

Here are the details!


First, my computer is working normally as far as surfing the net, writing emails, downloading stuff, using my printers and scanner, ICQ,. Sounds, cameras work normally.

I have XP by the way and broadband. And a 100 NIC card and my own modem.

But In Device Manager recently I noticed the following entry:

Network Adapters:
Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC.
WAN Miniport Network Monitor.

Next to the WAN Miniport line was a Yellow circle with a ! in it. OK, what was happening was this: the list of devices would be on the monitor and suddenly they would vanish (except for the very first entry), only to immediately reappear. This sequence repeats itself every 10-20 seconds.

So I double clicked the WAN Miniport entry and up comes the WAN Miniport Network Monitor Properties window, General Tab. A message said: "This device is not working properly as Windows can't load drivers--Code 31. Click the Troubleshoot button." I do that and get taken to XP's Help and Support page. That says "uninstall and reinstall your device" and it gives me precise detailed steps for both procedures. (But I fear WAN Miniport is not a device!!!) Re reinstalling, I get told to use the Add Hardware Wizard.

So I click the Drivers tab and click the Details button. There are 3 other buttons btw: Update, Rollback and Uninstall. The drivers tab lists 2 drivers which are:

C;\Windows\System32DRIVERS\ndistapi.sys
C;\Windows\System32DRIVERS\ndiswan.sys

I tried 3 System Restore Rollbacks but none of them corrected the problem. While I CAN access the windows/menus that result from clicking on Device Manager entries and while I can surely use my computer, I would like to get the entries to stop disappearing and reappearing.

Questions:

1. Am I correct that trying to uninstall and reinstall a non-physical device is inappropriate?

2. Is deleting the driver with the letters "wan" in it the way to go...and then insert my XP disk and reinstall XP? I mean that driver must be on the disk as XP was installed by the dealer from that CD when I bought this computer. Should I uninstall BOTH drivers, do you think?

3. This reinstall of XP--that should automatically reinstall the driver(s), right?

4. Or how would you advise me to proceed?

5. By the way, what IS the WAN Miniport Network adapter?


John