Question

Part of IE7 says "no connection..."

Asked by: royalm

We have an XP home pc that was severely infected with spyware and trojans.  It barely worked in safe mode.  It is now clean, and everything works great...except the "non-direct" route to the internet.

When typing in an address - Yahoo, MSN, Google, Embarq, etc, - it works fast and fine.  But when updating AVG, Adaware, Spybot, on-line poker, etc, it says it cannot connect to the server.  But in AVG Antivirus Free 7.5, when the no connection screen appears and begins its 30 second countdown, I can click on the www.grisoft.com link and get to the site easily.

It's like 7/8ths of the internet connections are fine, the other 8th isn't there.  Could this still be some xp file corruption?  I ran SFC /scannow, hijackthis, but did not do any winsock file work, release/renew, etc.  Ran Adaware07, Cleanup + manual deletion, AVG Antivirus/Antirootkit/Antispyware, CCleaner, ComboFix, SpywareHunter.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
MB

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Asked On
2008-04-29 at 11:33:30ID23363085
Topic

Internet Explorer Web Browser

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Answers

 

by: killbradPosted on 2008-04-29 at 11:37:24ID: 21464828

Check your hosts file and make sure it isn't filled with crap.
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

 

by: cuziyqPosted on 2008-04-29 at 11:38:09ID: 21464834

If the machine was previously infested with malware, and you've removed that problem (as opposed to just reinstalling everything), you likely installed some sort of firewall protection program that is either blocking access to the internet by those applications, or the specific sites they're trying to connect to have been blocked out.

It appears that eveything is working properly as far as being able to get to the internet is concerned.  You may still have some residual side effects of the infection hanging around.  But I suspect that one of the tools you used to clean it up and harden the machine have imposed the restriction somehow.

 

by: volsfanPosted on 2008-04-29 at 11:47:22ID: 21464909

Do you have a software firewall program like zone alarm running? I have had problems with that in the past blocking access even though you have alowed it. Disable or uninstall it and try again.

 

by: royalmPosted on 2008-04-29 at 12:11:39ID: 21465145

Hi all,

There is no software firewall installed, but its possible that the XP firewall is on.  I believe that it can be turned off because of the router which also may have a firewall (or it should at least!).  I'll disable/remove some of the maintenance programs that could have limited the comms and see what might happen.

I will have to check the hosts file to see if there is anything not 'kosher' in there.  Hopefuly I'll be able to tell.  This may take a day or so to complete...the computer is remote.  I'll get back as soon as I can!

Thanks
MB

 

by: war1Posted on 2008-04-29 at 12:15:16ID: 21465171

Hello royalm,

You internet connection may have been broken from removing adware. Run this script to fix your connection. The script reinstall winsock, TCP/IP stack, and HOSTS file.
http://downloads.subratam.org/WinsockFix.zip

Hope this helps!
war1

 

by: royalmPosted on 2008-04-29 at 12:40:07ID: 21465442

War1,

This may be what I was looking for...I knew I probably should have reinstalled the winsock but didn't.  I'm hoping to get to the computer tomorrow.  I've had my question under the wrong zone for many weeks, and have returned the computer, and hopefully he can bring it back tomorrow.

Thanks
MB

 

by: royalmPosted on 2008-05-02 at 06:58:31ID: 21486674

Hello again all,

I finally have the computer bac on my desk, and have checked out the hosts file - don't believe that anything there is out of norm, run the winsock fix, made sure the XP firewall is off, and removed/disabled the programs I used just in case they were the culprit.

Neither IE or updates can connect now even though it says it is, and I've installed a new NIC in place of the integrated.  

And I can ping my ISP, 66.94.234.13 (Yahoo), nd 72.14.207.99 (Google) with no loss.  Any ideas now?  This has me stumped, and I'll bet it's something simple that I've missed or can't remember....

Thanks
MB

 

by: volsfanPosted on 2008-05-02 at 13:17:30ID: 21489752

Are you connecting with wireless of cat 5 cable?

 

by: royalmPosted on 2008-05-02 at 20:33:11ID: 21491221

volsfan,

I've hooked into my network via a 4-port Linksys firewall router.  I have a 3M modem, and there are 3 other computers running off the same Linksys router...all cat5, no wireless except for broadband wireless ISP.

MB

 

by: royalmPosted on 2008-05-13 at 13:34:46ID: 21559034

I guess this question can be closed.  I am saving data, wiping the drive, and reinstalling XP.  I have tried all else that I can think of as well as the suggestions, and it didn't work.

Now it can update but can't surf or receive mail.  I also can't get into a few necessary utilities, so I'm starting over.

Thanks to all for your suggestions, though.

MB

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