Found the cause....
The Windows 2000 TCP/IP performance counters (Perfctrs.dll) are attempting to extract I/O control information from a network device, but no network device (network adapter, modem, and so on) is present in the system.
This problem can also occur when the performance counters attempt to extract I/O control information, but the network stack has not completed loading. This is a timing issue and does not necessarily indicate a problem.