Here is my story:
I use a win3.x system every single day. I have other computers, but win3 is my old dog that keeps going... until...
Four days ago I was looking through my directories (not folders, directories) and I saw the signup.exe for my Shiva dialer. I set Shiva up manually from another computer when I had the current one built for faster/bigger win3. I had never used the signup.exe, so I decided to click on it and see what would happen. I went through the whole process of filling out my account information. I was amused, but deleted the .sr file it made. Afterwards, I decided to go back online with my usual Shiva .sr file. I couldn't get on. I could connect, but everything would give a DNS error. That was four days ago and I still cannot get anywhere online.
I've gone through every .ini and checked each line with my backups - no changes. I checked my winsock.dll against my backup - same file size and timestamp. I've rebuilt my registry file. I've deleted my swap and let it rebuild. Nothing works. I cannot figure out what that signup program did to my tcp/ip connection.
When I dial in, I connect. When I try ping, it won't resolve. When I try Eudora/Netscape/ws_ftp/etc. it won't resolve. I tried accessing websites through IP, to see if there was some chance that my ISP's DNS server was down, but that doesn't work either. The statistics windows shows packets/frames coming and going (slowly), but everything times out or doesn't resolve.
My ping window shows the correct winsock (Network TeleSystems), so I believe the winsock is loading. The Shiva directory has two files - protocols and services, that I don't remember if I've seen before, and c:\windows has a file nts.ini that points to them through this:
[Winsock]
ETCDIR: C:\NETSCAPE\DIALER\

I've tried both with and without the nts.ini file, rebooting in between - no difference. I have my comm driver designated as cybercomm.drv. I can't think of anything else that might help you. No one I know remembers the net in 1996, and they are only vaguely aware that Windows had an operating system prior to Win95.
I have (six times now) tried everything I can think of, with no luck. This is my seventh. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sage

google for winsockfix.exe.
even the the files are the same size, one or both might be corrupt.

I thought of that myself and overwrote the winsock.dll with my backup copy.

This is Win 3.11, but not Wfw - home version updated for y2k, but not running 32s.

It's fixed! The signup program had overwritten the nts.ini file. I found a copy on another computer and replaced it.

you could have used different windows and mise install dirs

incase of any trouble
I've got 3 win3.x computers ready to surf
and 4 more that that could be setup to surf in time of need.
I recomend you keep several on hand incase
of emergency...
and several more just for fun

I'm surfing with a win3.x pc that I just setup tonight
the
ViVa CommCenter-33.6 SP PnP
modem works just fine

windows 3.1 ROCKS!
DOS RULES!
those who say different...
are crazy fools!

Great to find another win3.x/dos fan. I love my win3 machine. Hoping to build another soon. That will be the third body for the dos/win3 soul - not many operating systems that actually have a soul...