Pc wont go online

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:55 am

Had a lady to call me yesterday saying her pc wont go online. Shes using cable and running vonage. The vonage works just fine so I tried plugging the cable modem directly to pc and still nothing. Swapped out nics and nothing. Ran winsock fix and nothing. Uninstall some software, mainly internet games and whatnot. It got online for a few minutes afterward but now it its back to doing nothing I cant figure it out. I installed avg and it found 16 various virus and trojans but they didnt seem to be anything major. What else could I try BESIDES reinstalling windows?

Err · Post by **Err** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:36 am

Try re-installing the ethernet controller driver.

Badmojo · Post by **Badmojo** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:01 am

If it found 16 cockroaches you know the saying "for every one you see"

also being a cable modem if you directly connect without the power being off long enough you get that nasty mac address lock since most only allow one IP address anymore. Unfortunately theres no webpage redirect it just looks like ur getting connected but with no traffic oubound. I take it there was a router for the vonage/PC and this isnt the case? This has happened to me a few times switching routers and switches on the modem and i kick my self for forgetting everytime.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:04 am

Make sure her Hosts file hasn't been high jacked.. Also, try a good malware scanner to make sure she doesn't have some little crapper in the background eating stuff up.

eGo

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:01 am

Sounds like a spyware BHO hijack, or else the AV app removed a virus incorrectly and left the TCP/IP Stack damaged.

First off, IMO, anything that had that many viruses and that badly compromised should be wiped and have a fresh OS install put on it.

But if you want to try...

I'm assuming you're aware that you have to power-cycle (power off-power on) the cable modem every time you connect it to a different device? Cable modems lock themselves to the first MAC address they see.

As Ego said check the HOSTS file. Also check the IE LAN Connection Settings to make sure that there's no proxy configured. A lot of trojans use a proxy to intercept TCP/IP.

I would see if you can PING http://www.yahoo.com from the DOS console. If you can then TCP and DNS is working. You can confirm this by installing Firefox. It it works fine then the problem is with IE only. Use Hijack this or ToolBarCop to disable all BHOs and toolbars.

Refer to my DIY spyware removal page. These procedures should fix registry entries damaged by trojans: http://theflyingpenguin.com/spyware-removal.shtml

If TCP/IP seems to be broken (ping and Firefox don't work) and this is WinXP, there's a fix here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/WinSock_XP_Fix_d4372.html

You'll have to Google around for one for Vista.

Hope this helps...

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:47 am

FP ive used the winsock fix already. That was one of the first things i did. I cant ping to yahoo but I can ping back to the cable company. I guess its their dhcp server. Whatever is listed under default gateway i can ping to but nothing past that. Ill do some more digging when i get home. At work atm. Thanks fellas

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:26 pm

This may sound dumb, but did you unplug the modem and or router then plug it back in so it can see the new MAC address and issue out an IP? Not sure bout vonage routers/switches, but I know from lan gaming that a foriegn mac doesnt get an IP unless the mac is there when the modem or router are reset. Just a long shot I know.......

netstat -a=?

Qui Gon-Jinn · Post by **Qui Gon-Jinn** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 1:11 pm

FP.. your link to the http://theflyingpenguin.com/spyware-removal.shtml page is a no go.

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:51 pm

Qui Gon-Jinn wrote:FP.. your link to the http://theflyingpenguin.com/spyware-removal.shtml page is a no go.

working fine for me ~ maybe was temporary server glitch,,

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 6:15 pm

I brought it home with me and hooked it up to mine and it still wont get online. Guess I need to find out exactly what virus this thing has

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 6:51 pm

At this point I put forth the suggestion of backing it up and wiping everything followed by an OS reinstall.You have easily spent more time than it would have taken to do both those actions, and you can be sure that whatever you have not found is gone.

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:25 pm

Preach on brutha!!!! lol I knew I needed to do that just hoping I didnt have to fool with it but I fooled with it too long anyway. Grrr Dont you hate when you think I job will be simple fix and you can move on but it turns out to be a pain in the butt? Pays the same either way though I guess

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:02 pm

Agreed. Sounds like it's badly compromised.

My rule is if I spend 3 hours screwing with an infected system, that's 3 hours I could have used backing up their data and re-installing Windows.

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:15 am

Well I worked a few hours on it last night TRYING to reinstall windows but it doesnt seem to want to install. This thing is old. 433 celly with 64 mbs of ram trying to run xp. Its a little old ladies pc so Im trying to help her all I can. It gets through the initial setup process and when it gets to the first reboot it hangs at the post screen. Not sure what could be causing it.

MRCOMPUTER · Post by **MRCOMPUTER** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:47 am

Number #1 cause of hanging on the reboot screen is a bad stick of memory. That old a system thats probably it. Don't forget to pull the processor cooler and check the thermal paste. Dried paste can cause a timed overheat and related problems...

EDIT: I assume you have tried Win 98. Thats kinda low specs for XP..