Is it possible to reinstall the System Preferences without reinstalling Lion?

My System Preferences application works fine, except for the Network panel.  When I try to start Network the system essentially hangs, i.e., I get the spinning color wheel and I can do very little else without large delays.  All other panels work as expected.  I have tried this many times through numerous reboots and power cycles.  the problem first appeared last Saturday when I plugged in an ethernet cable for the first time in several months; ethernet had previously work fine.  So, can I reinstall System Preferences without reinstalling Lion in its entirety?  I have a 2007 Macbook (white) that cannot be upgraded to Mountain Lion.

Yes, I did too the first time. These improvements creep up on us.
Stephanie, I just responded to another posting of yours with a Time Machine question. Multiple postings divert resources and you may end up with contradictory information.
An install from the (grey) 10.6 disk will not erase your data. However, if you are using a TM backup that will write over everything and current data will be lost.
As I understand your two posts, I suggest install the operating system from the 10.6 disk.
Copy what data you can to your external hard disk.
Restore from the TM backup.
A restore from the Time Machine backup as I say will delete everything you have and replace it with the backup you select (depends on date). You can then transfer any files you copied to the hard disk if these are needed.

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