HELP! Strange internet problem, urgent!

Peslo

Hi all, Cris anseo.
I have a problem with accessing webpages that I cannot get my head around. Please bare with me coz i really do need any help i can get on this one!!

Firstly, I have a Dell laptop running on Windows XP. I have Eircom broadband, with a wirelss router.
**Two things that I MUST make clear is that the router is not the problem and that i am having the same problem on the laptop with both the wireless connection and the ethernet.**

THE PROBLEM: When i go to open ANY webpage on Internet Explorer, the loading bar gets to half-way then it stops and stays blank for ages or comes up with page cannot be displayed. Messenger does not work either, HOWEVER, i can receive email (I use Windows Live Mail) and the automatic Microsft Updates download and install by themselves as per usual !

I have phoned Eircom, who have assured me it's not the router on the basis that I am using it right now to connect to the internet via PS3! I think they are right, as the problem seemed to be with IE and MSN

Peslo

Continued.....
The guy suggested it may be a problem with the hardware such as a faulty driver.
Device Manager showed no issues or conflicts with either of the network adapters.
At this stage my mind was like a plate of spaghetti and i desperately need the internet back on the laptop. So I made the painful, ardous phonecall to Dell Technical Support. To cut a REALLY long phonecall short, the hardware is fine, and that my suspicion that it may be a software problem was correct.
BUT, now they want me to pay 70euro for their software support team to fix it over the phone, despite having paid for an extended warranty that is still good for a year and a half!!!
I am not prepared to pay that for some lousey over the phone advice!!
I'm sure that this is probably a tiny problem, and I am hoping somebody here today has had some experience with this, or if anybody has any suggestions, I would be grateful!!

Nichololas

Try with a different browser?

Hobbes

check your machine for spyware.

davidoco

Have you a third party firewall like ZoneAlarm that just got an update.?

Also open Windows Explorer and type a www ddress in the address bar.

Peslo

Hey thanks for the support guys. I still have another post coming with some technical details and with what i have tried so far.
I am posting using the internet on my PS3 and I don't have a keyboard for it so its taking an eternity!!!
I was editing my second post there while most of you replied, if you wanna read over it again! (I keep on hitting the word limit on each post hence the multiple posts).
Thanks,
Cris.

Tom Dunne

Ok, so you can get e-mail and Windows updates, so how in the name of jaysus can it be a driver problem? If it was a driver problem it would either work, or it wouldn't work. It doesn't half work.

So, it sounds like one of two things:

Virus/spyware (as Hobbes suggested)
or
Over-enthusiastic security software that is blocking more than it should.

What security software have you installed?

When was the last time it was updated?

When was the last time you ran a scan?

calex71

As suggested try with another browser if you have one installed.

I know you probably tried but no harm to mention, clear the cache in internet explorer.

Can you ping any web sites?? ie go to start / run / type cmd and hit enter
then type ping www.boards.ie

While your there no harm to try typing ipconfig /flushdns
make sure Internet Exp is closed when you do that.

I assume you have Internet explorer 7?
try this is the rest doesnt work

1. Start Internet Explorer 7.
2. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
3. On the Advanced tab, click Reset.
4. In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, click Reset to confirm.

Peslo

The techie stuff: The laptop pings the gateway(router), a website (eg Google) and it's own ip adress with 0% loss.

IE works in safe mode with networking .

I have McAfee Security Centre AND Norton Security Scanner, both showed no infections.

I disabled the firewalls to see if they were blocking it. There was no change.

I rest IE back to it,s default and manufactures settings. No change.

I have deleted all the temp internet files and stuff. Still no change.

I'm sure there's one or two things i left out, i'll post them up if i remember! Ihighlighted the iportant stuff ,such as the fact that it works in safe mode. Can anbody tell me what this indicates???

Cris.

P.S. just ask if you need to know more.

Sherifu

From that information i'd guess your pc is infected.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055274237

Col_Loki

The majour thing to Rule out would be your Web Browser. IE can get Hijacked pretty easily by spyware like the guys were saying....PM me your Email address and ill send you Firefox.

If you rule in/out your Browser then atleast it narrows down what the problem might be. Would be quite strange for Security products to be blocking port 80 and letting Email etc through.....but then again if you have McAfee anything is possible.

So get Firefox emailed to you and take it from there would be my suggestion.

[EDIT]

Just looking at your last post, i would say IE is the problem, probably Spyware. go to www.mozilla.com in safe mode, pop firefox on, and then get scanning for Spyware. (Spybot aint bad, Smitfraudfix is a good one to run also).
PS You should NOT be running two Antivirus Scanners on your computer.

Peslo

Col_Loki wrote: »

The majour thing to Rule out would be your Web Browser. IE can get Hijacked pretty easily by spyware like the guys were saying....PM me your Email address and ill send you Firefox.

If you rule in/out your Browser then atleast it narrows down what the problem might be. Would be quite strange for Security products to be blocking port 80 and letting Email etc through.....but then again if you have McAfee anything is possible.

So get Firefox emailed to you and take it from there would be my suggestion.

[EDIT]

Just looking at your last post, i would say IE is the problem, probably Spyware. go to www.mozilla.com in safe mode, pop firefox on, and then get scanning for Spyware. (Spybot aint bad, Smitfraudfix is a good one to run also).
PS You should NOT be running two Antivirus Scanners on your computer.

Thanks, I sent you my email address.
I was tryin to get Firefox or Opera, but obviously couldn,t download it!!

Peslo

Col_Loki wrote: »

[EDIT]

Just looking at your last post, i would say IE is the problem, probably Spyware. go to www.mozilla.com in safe mode, pop firefox on, and then get scanning for Spyware. (Spybot aint bad, Smitfraudfix is a good one to run also).
PS You should NOT be running two Antivirus Scanners on your computer.

I am doing this now, cant believe i did not think of it!
Nice one man

Peslo

Col_Loki wrote: »

[EDIT]

Just looking at your last post, i would say IE is the problem, probably Spyware. go to www.mozilla.com in safe mode, pop firefox on, and then get scanning for Spyware. (Spybot aint bad, Smitfraudfix is a good one to run also).
PS You should NOT be running two Antivirus Scanners on your computer.

I am doing this now, cant believe i did not think of it!
Nice one man

Peslo

Peslo wrote: »

I am doing this now, cant believe i did not think of it!
Nice one man

NO JOY!!! It aint working! Same problem as IE! the webpages wont load.
Heres what i did :
Start Windows in safe mode with networking .
Open IE.
Log onto Mozzila and downloaded Firefox 3.
Restarted Windows, opened firefox, but still have the same problem as IE!!!!

Was i supposed to download a spyware remover while in safe mode and then run it in safe mode?? or run it in normal Windows XP?

PLEASE HELP!

-annex-

Try repairing winsock.

Click Start - Run
Type cmd and press enter
A command prompt will appear. Type in the following command and press enter:

netsh winsock reset

Now reboot your machine.

Peslo

-annex- wrote: »

Try repairing winsock.

Click Start - Run
Type cmd and press enter
A command prompt will appear. Type in the following command and press enter:

netsh winsock reset

Now reboot your machine.

what will that do??? any changes i should know about first?

-annex-

It will reset the TCP/IP stack to the state it was when you installed Windows. It's likely you have a corrupted LSP that is preventing full internet connectivity. This command will get rid of that.
If you installed any LSP's for Novell Netware services etc you'll need to reinstall them, but if your system is just a regular home computer you won't need any of that and nothing else will be affected.

Peslo

I just tried that but it is still the same

Peslo

Hobbes wrote: »

check your machine for spyware.

how?
will i go into safe mode and download a programme??
If so which one? i have Windows Defender is that any use??

Col_Loki

Spybot & Smitfraudfix. Run Smitfraudfix in safe mode, Spybot normally runs in normal mode. Thats the next step i reckon.

-annex-

Follow the steps in the sticky below for malware removal:
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055274237

I've just noticed you said that IE works in Safe Mode. If that's the case you probably have incorrect TCP/IP settings somewhere. You can try the command below to reset all IP information, default gateway information, and DNS server information.

Go back to the command prompt and type
netsh int ip reset reset.txt

Press enter, and when finished reboot again. I'd advise you do this first before spending half the day on malware scans as this could be a simple issue.

Adam

Have you ever used a mobile broadband modem with this laptop? e.g. o2/3G/Vodafone?

Peslo

Col_Loki wrote: »

Spybot & Smitfraudfix. Run Smitfraudfix in safe mode, Spybot normally runs in normal mode. Thats the next step i reckon.

cool, i will do that soon. i have Windows Defender running at the mo, it couldn't do any harm!
what do you think of ~annex~ suggestion of resetting all IP information??

Overheal

woa woa woa stop the procession people....

Peslo wrote: »

I have McAfee Security Centre AND Norton Security Scanner, both showed no infections.

you cant run 2 anti-virus programs on the same machine.

Uninstall one or the other. Personally, while the majority of people hate both McAfee and Norton; Im more inclined to think more people hate McAfee.

edit: AND windows defender? Thats another antivirus >_>

Disable Defender/tell it you have an Antivirus program that you will monitor.
and Uninstall either McAfee (reccomended) or Norton.

Peslo

Overheal wrote: »

woa woa woa stop the procession people....



you cant run 2 anti-virus programs on the same machine.

Uninstall one or the other. Personally, while the majority of people hate both McAfee and Norton; Im more inclined to think more people hate McAfee.

edit: AND windows defender? Thats another antivirus >_>

Disable Defender/tell it you have an Antivirus program that you will monitor.
and Uninstall either McAfee (reccomended) or Norton.

McAfee came with the laptop.
Norton came with Eircom broadband. It's not a full version, all it is i a virus scan, it doesnt offer a firewall or real-time protection.
Windows Defender is just an antispyware tool!

Peslo

-annex- wrote: »

Follow the steps in the sticky below for malware removal:
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055274237

I've just noticed you said that IE works in Safe Mode. If that's the case you probably have incorrect TCP/IP settings somewhere. You can try the command below to reset all IP information, default gateway information, and DNS server information.

Go back to the command prompt and type
netsh int ip reset reset.txt

Press enter, and when finished reboot again. I'd advise you do this first before spending half the day on malware scans as this could be a simple issue.

are you sure? coz the modem is working fine. ican receive email ok.

Tom Dunne

Overheal wrote: »

woa woa woa stop the procession people....



you cant run 2 anti-virus programs on the same machine.

Agreed.

Also, if the problem is still occurring with Firefox then that strongly suggests something is interfering with port 80 traffic (i.e. web browser traffic).

I fear you are jumping all over the place and not getting anywhere.

Start from the top.

Disable ALL anti-virus/security software - can you still access the internet? If you can, you know where the problem is.

Either way, you must only have one running, I would say Norton. Make sure and uninstall the others (not disable, uninstall). Personally, I think McAfee is the culprit here.

Did you try the ping test mentioned in an earlier post?

Also try a tracert (i.e. start->Run->cmd [enter]-> tracert www.ireland.com and one or two other websites). Post up the results.

Adam

Peslo wrote: »

are you sure? coz the modem is working fine. ican receive email ok.

I noticed you thanked my post, but never answered the question...

Sherifu

Peslo wrote: »

McAfee came with the laptop.
Norton came with Eircom broadband. It's not a full version, all it is i a virus scan, it doesnt offer a firewall or real-time protection.
Windows Defender is just an antispyware tool!

If it's just a scanner and not real-time it's fine. And defender is like you say.

Overheal

how do you interpret tracert data Tom?

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>tracert www.ireland.com

Tracing route to www.ireland.com [195.7.33.37]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     8 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  10.104.208.1
  3    11 ms    10 ms    11 ms  164.230.95.24.cfl.res.rr.com [24.95.230.164]
  4    21 ms    19 ms    19 ms  gig4-0-0.orldflaabv-rtr3.cfl.rr.com [24.95.228.1
89]
  5   212 ms   216 ms   210 ms  te-3-1.car1.Orlando1.Level3.net [4.79.116.137]
  6    16 ms    16 ms    14 ms  ae-2-6.bar1.Orlando1.Level3.net [4.69.133.78]
  7    27 ms    37 ms    32 ms  ae-8-8.ebr1.Atlanta2.Level3.net [4.69.137.150]
  8    25 ms    25 ms    24 ms  ae-12-51.car2.Atlanta1.Level3.net [4.68.103.3]
  9    23 ms    23 ms    23 ms  192.205.34.61
 10    47 ms    46 ms    48 ms  tbr2.attga.ip.att.net [12.122.96.70]
 11    46 ms    47 ms    47 ms  cr1.attga.ip.att.net [12.122.17.89]
 12    48 ms    47 ms    47 ms  cr2.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.122.1.174]
 13    47 ms    47 ms    47 ms  cr2.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.3.37]
 14    48 ms    46 ms    47 ms  tbr1.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.16.134]
 15    46 ms    47 ms    47 ms  12.122.86.165
 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 17   118 ms   117 ms   118 ms  83.71.115.141
 18   118 ms   120 ms   118 ms  159.134.125.202
 19   120 ms   123 ms   117 ms  159.134.203.179
 20   117 ms   121 ms   118 ms  www.ireland.com [195.7.33.37]

Trace complete.

C:\Windows\system32>

-annex-

Peslo wrote: »

are you sure? coz the modem is working fine. ican receive email ok.

It's worth a try regardless. It certainly won't do any harm. If you've entered in manual IP configuration, the most you'll have to do is re-enter it.
If it doesn't work it is almost definitely a malware issue. Follow the steps in the sticky I posted and post a log in the Virus and Malware Removal forum. Someone will help you in there.
I must also stress DO NOT run Smitfraudfix unless under the instructions of an expert who has looked at your logs and directed you to do so. Running it without actually being infected can cause serious problems.

Peslo

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Agreed.

Also, if the problem is still occurring with Firefox then that strongly suggests something is interfering with port 80 traffic (i.e. web browser traffic).

I fear you are jumping all over the place and not getting anywhere.

Start from the top.

Disable ALL anti-virus/security software - can you still access the internet? If you can, you know where the problem is.

Either way, you must only have one running, I would say Norton. Make sure and uninstall the others (not disable, uninstall). Personally, I think McAfee is the culprit here.

Did you try the ping test mentioned in an earlier post?

Also try a tracert (i.e. start->Run->cmd [enter]-> tracert www.ireland.com and one or two other websites). Post up the results.

yeah, ping test is fine.
i'm unfamiliar with tracer, i ajust ran two there. they've both completed ok. what sort of results are you looking for??

Overheal

Peslo wrote: »

yeah, ping test is fine.
i'm unfamiliar with tracer, i ajust ran two there. they've both completed ok. what sort of results are you looking for??

like what i posted above.

calex71

what happenes if you put 195.7.33.37 in the address bar in internet explorer?

Peslo

Overheal wrote: »

like what i posted above.

pretty much! It seems ok to me but what does it mean

Overheal

Peslo wrote: »

pretty much! It seems ok to me but what does it mean

I have no earthly idea. But tom does. which is why he asked you to paste the results up!

Peslo

Windows Defender says everything is hunkey dory! Do i need a second opinion? or what next

Tom Dunne

Overheal wrote: »

how do you interpret tracert data Tom?

Briefly, it shows how far you are getting.

i.e. are you getting past your router, are you getting past your ISP, are you getting onto the Internet and only so far, or are you getting to your destination?

Peslo wrote: »

yeah, ping test is fine.
i'm unfamiliar with tracer, i ajust ran two there. they've both completed ok. what sort of results are you looking for??

You are not helping here. I asked you to post up the results. EXACLTY what you do and what you see on the screen.

Again, the fact that mail, ping and tracert are working (well, until you post the results, we will assume they are) suggests something is blocking Internet Explorer/Firefox. As I have been saying all along.

calex71

Peslo wrote: »

Windows Defender says everything is hunkey dory! Do i need a second opinion? or what next

did you try putting 195.7.33.37 in the address bar in internet explorer yet?

Peslo

Overheal wrote: »

I have no earthly idea. But tom does. which is why he asked you to paste the results up!

i obviously cant do that coz i'm browsing from my PS3!!!
and to hell with anyone one thinks i'm typing them up using a controller!

Sherifu

Peslo wrote: »

i obviously cant do that coz i'm browsing from my PS3!!!
and to hell with anyone one thinks i'm typing them up using a controller!

What do they look like, does the trace finish or time out?

Peslo

calex71 wrote: »

did you try putting 195.7.33.37 in the address bar in internet explorer yet?

whats that? it doesnt work

Tom Dunne

Peslo wrote: »

and to hell with anyone one thinks i'm typing them up using a controller!

Bah, I give up.

Good luck.

Peslo

Sherifu wrote: »

What do they look like, does the trace finish or time out?

it finishes

Overheal

Peslo wrote: »

i obviously cant do that coz i'm browsing from my PS3!!!
and to hell with anyone one thinks i'm typing them up using a controller!

well you said the results were about the same as mine so from that lets assume your internet is not the blame here. when your trace completed though was ireland.com reached?

So we have to move on and continue ruling things out.

I was about to suggest running Kapersky and HijackThis but without being able to browse to either of those on the internet they aren't going to do you much good

You said the internet works in Safe Mode with Networking; does this mean you can see webpages in safe mode? Why are you still on your PS3 then?

-annex-

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

Have you tried this yet?

calex71

you have disabled mcaffee and norton at this stage right?

Peslo

-annex- wrote: »

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

Have you tried this yet?

yeah, but it doesnt seem to do anything! nothing comes up after i press enter. do you have the command right?

Peslo

Overheal wrote: »

well you said the results were about the same as mine so from that lets assume your internet is not the blame here. when your trace completed though was ireland.com reached?

So we have to move on and continue ruling things out.

I was about to suggest running Kapersky and HijackThis but without being able to browse to either of those on the internet they aren't going to do you much good

You said the internet works in Safe Mode with Networking; does this mean you can see webpages in safe mode? Why are you still on your PS3 then?

so i can post and do all this troubleshooting on the laptop

Peslo

calex71 wrote: »

you have disabled mcaffee and norton at this stage right?

no not yet