No browser will connect to web on Vista laptop?

Night Hawk · Feb 1, 2011

Here's a puzzler! The Vista laptop being looked at for a friend's better half was recently hit with a fake antispyware program and removed entirely. The owner could still get right online with IE 8 without problems until...

Since the dsl connection is by way of usb port not the wireless the network adapter in the device manager was found working properly. The connection when looked at in the Network & Sharing Center shows absolutely no problem leading to the conclusion that a registry problem and possible need to reinstall IE after removal would be needed.

Before all that however the latest Opera 11 was installed via download by other machine and transferred by flash drive. That was also unable to reach the home page or even the start page for that browser indicating there wasn't any problem with IE either.

Before consideration of an upgrade to repair install or full recovery since the Toshiba Satellite A205 model came with a set of recovery disks I thought I would mention this one here at VF in case someone else has run into a similar problem.

The 32bit Vista Home Premium was run here on the same type of dsl setup for over 2yrs without ever running into this type of problem. The one constant error message seen on this is "cannot connect to DNS server" which has been gone over several times even trying the Fixit tool from MS and looking at PageFix DNS Error Fix 2 tool found at How to Fix a DNS Error

The owner is worried losing files as well as the programs installed and some games for her kids when they use it. That tends to rule out performing a clean install or use of the full recovery option and seeing C wiped entirely.

ilikefree · Feb 1, 2011

Can anything get on line ex. Windows update?

Night Hawk · Feb 1, 2011

Absolutely "Nothing"! which has been bugging the H out of me trying to preserve the present install and going through everything to see why. I've tried enabling and then disabling the adapter as well as the file sharing and other network settings to no avail. The network troubleshooter simply reports "contact administrator".

Now i was asked to price a few upgrades for it which may be the final solution being a replacement of the pair of Samsung 512s it came with for a max of 2gb which is needed as well as a larger hard drive. The original will simply go into an external usb enclosure.

For the time being the laptop isn't being used since you are not able to get online with it in any way not even for any updates. It's used mainly for things like FaceBook, twitter, finding new cooking recipes and some basic online games for the kids.

The connection itself is solid at the same time being a direct hardwire to the dsl modem. But I still have to try the download at the link to see if that gets anywhere in a bit or tommorrow at least while the order is being placed for all that.

richc46 · Feb 1, 2011

Do you think that you can load up Ubuntu to save your stuff?
Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer - How-To Geek

If not, as a real last restort, you can remove the HD, put it in a good computer and save the stuff.

Night Hawk · Feb 1, 2011

This is someone else's laptop where I had already shown her how to back up the more important items. As my friend was pointing out however without being able to get online he reached a point where once everything is safe he stated simply wipe it!

The order however will entail a new larger drive to replace a 120gb model with something a bit larger possibly upto a 320gb depending on what they decide on. The old drive will simply be placed in an external enclosure hopefully with all files intact until the new drive is up and running.

As far as live data recovery Knoppix live dvds and Linux Mint live disks as well as other Debian based smaller distros can recover things. In fact here I make up a few live recovery sticks with usb flash drives. :D

The problem now however is finding out why this was seen since it never happened previously with that or when running Vista here with a similar connection. Recently someone else running an ethernet 10/100mbps connection using a Cat 5 cable was also seeing dropoffs with the same error coming up.

quannahcombs · Feb 3, 2011

try changing the TCP/IP in the internet protocol settings. here's the tutorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_z1nDh_xkM

I have found that the AT&T DNS servers work the best.

68.94.156.1
68.94.157.1

u0073520 · Feb 3, 2011

I have Vista and have the same problem We had a virus that was removed and it will not change the IP address. We have tried everything we can and it keep defaulting back to the same one. It will not connect to the internet at all.

Night Hawk · Feb 3, 2011

They're on an old 2Wire dsl setup that generally never runs into this type of problem once the network adapter item in the Device Manager is seen as working properly. Often a simple reboot will get you back online if the usb plug is out.

I ran the tool mentioned at the link earlier and saw no results with that one either. Finallly the time came when my friend simply said: "Wipe it!". At the same time howevver he was asking on what to upgrade the laptop with namely memory and a larger, faster hard drive is all you could do with it.

The drive wasn't reformatted since it will be replaced soon as it turns out but still saw a clean install and immediately back online once again. That suggests that the fake antispyware program made some hidden changes or left the back door open which saw the sudden drop. The security sweeps on the drive following the fresh install found no bugs tucked away however.

The Windows.old packed away anything in user sub folders and other non MS folders are still present for them to go through. Try spending a total of 11hrs. on a laptop with a 1.6ghz cpu, pair of 512mb sodimms, and a 120gb drive. The owner never went for updates with that sold before SP1 was available. :eek: That took a 90 minute total for that following 113 updates that took another 90min.!

Once SP2 was on taking slightly less time even more updates but the matter of getting online was solved for the time being. The YouTube video there will be noted. quannahcombs Welcome to VF by the way! :D

The new protections as far as antivirus, antispyware, and firewall should prevent a repeat of the malware problem that came up. But that would be an idea if the connection drops again for some other reason. thanks!

ilikefree · Feb 3, 2011

Make a new connection and try Namebench-1.3.1 to find the best DNS to put into IPv4 Properties.

namebench - Project Hosting on Google Code

Namebench is free open source software.

Night Hawk · Feb 4, 2011

That will make another reference to look into here. ilikefree If the problem comes up again or someone else runs into this problem on another Vista machine that would be one of the considerations for sure.

Unfortunately the problem in this case was found to be deeply embedded following the cleanup of a malware with possibly some other back door bugs and a fast temp clean install went on. While the malware was removed in Dec. connection lost a few weeks later. I suspect another bug on but no traces were found following the fast clean install without reformat of the drive that was seen to.
(the owner being a total novice never saw SP1, SP2, or any other updates installed in the 2yrs.+ of ownership)

When the latest Opera was downloaded on a working machine, transferred over, and installed that should have in normal circumstances connected immediately to the start page automatically despite IE being unable to simply by the auto detect and connect. But when that also failed it was apparent a fast clean install would necessary.

Sure enough connection was immediate once the network adapter's drivers were installed. Another clean install will be seen on a new drive that's been order along with memory to boost it up from a pair of 512s to 2gb and the drive being a larger and faster model. The original drive will go into an external enclosure and used for backup.

As far as the problem now this can be marked solved as far as the laptop when seeing to the reinstall of Windows. Hopefully the references here however can be used to bail someone else running into the same.

No browser will connect to web on Vista laptop?

Night Hawk

My Computer

System One

ilikefree

My Computer

System One

Night Hawk

My Computer

System One

richc46

My Computer

System One

Night Hawk

My Computer

System One

quannahcombs

New Member

My Computer

System One

u0073520

New Member

My Computer

System One

Night Hawk

My Computer

System One

ilikefree

My Computer

System One

Night Hawk

My Computer

System One