Internet access/browser problem - help!

V8burble

V8burble

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Just had my daughter on the phone, they (her and her 4 housemates) have had broadband and a wireless router put in 3 or 4 days ago. All working fine and all the girls happily reaseaching away for their degree courses (who am I kidding, they're on Facebook arn't they :bonk:). Anyway, she says that now her browser can't access the net, with the usual message 'Unable to display webpage' or whatever it normally says along those lines. However the router wireless connection is still connected and shows a good signal strength, Skype is still connected and she is able to make calls, but the browser is not having any of it. She says she's tried Firefox and Safari also. Others in the house have no problems. just her :crying:. Anyone got any thoughts?

She has AVG (the free version) loaded, but has not changed any settings, and remember it was working ok for her. I'm lost at this sort of thing :shrug:

She can't get at the router either, as it's in one of the girl's bedroom and she has gone away for the week.

Any help appreciated (y)
 
Two things

One.....try and get her to disable the wireless card and re-enable it. She may have a switch on the laptop for turning the wireless off and then on or may have to go into the control panel to right click and disable.

Failing that, I suspect the router may need to be power cycled (turned off and then on). This can be done from her machine but involves going into the routers interface.

PM me with the make of the router and I can guide you through power cycling it from your daughters machine
 
noneforit said:
Two things

One.....try and get her to disable the wireless card and re-enable it. She may have a switch on the laptop for turning the wireless off and then on or may have to go into the control panel to right click and disable.

Failing that, I suspect the router may need to be power cycled (turned off and then on). This can be done from her machine but involves going into the routers interface.

PM me with the make of the router and I can guide you through power cycling it from your daughters machine
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

The wireless aspect appears to be fine though... her Skype even works a treat, it's just the browser(s) that aren't :( I don't see that it's the router, for that reason, and that all the other girls don't have an issue.

She called again last night saying that she can also connect to it with her iphone, so I can only think that it's a problem with her laptop/browser settings (somehow)
 
Get her to open a command promote (windows key + R ) and type cmd - press OK

in the window that opens type IPconfig /all and press enter

look at the list for wireless connection (assuming she connects by wireless) and look at the IP address - i would expect it to start 192.xx.xx.xx if start anything else the laptop is probably not connected to the router.

If it starts 192.... then type Ping bbc.co.uk in the cmd window that opened and press return...
if you get reply from xx.xx.xx.xx. then the laptops probably connected to the internet

post back the results and we'll try move it on further.
 
V8burble said:
Thanks for your reply.

The wireless aspect appears to be fine though... her Skype even works a treat, it's just the browser(s) that aren't :( I don't see that it's the router, for that reason, and that all the other girls don't have an issue.

She called again last night saying that she can also connect to it with her iphone, so I can only think that it's a problem with her laptop/browser settings (somehow)
Click to expand...

What operating system is she using?
 
Dogfish_magnet said:
Get her to open a command promote (windows key + R ) and type cmd - press OK

in the window that opens type IPconfig /all and press enter

look at the list for wireless connection (assuming she connects by wireless) and look at the IP address - i would expect it to start 192.xx.xx.xx if start anything else the laptop is probably not connected to the router.

If it starts 192.... then type Ping bbc.co.uk in the cmd window that opened and press return...
if you get reply from xx.xx.xx.xx. then the laptops probably connected to the internet

post back the results and we'll try move it on further.
Click to expand...

If Skype is working as the OP states, she has an IP address.
 
odd unless the ISP's DNS server has an issue..

go to start -> run and type in:

cmd

click OK

in the black screen that appears type in:

ipconfig /flushdns

hit return. it should say "sucessfully flushed the DNS resolver cache".

try webpages again..
 
Thanks LOL

Will relay to her (she was out last night, so I expect she'll be up about lunchtime... oh to be a student again :LOL:)
 
V8burble said:
Thanks guys

DM - I'll try that

LL - XP I thnk, I'll check
Click to expand...

This could be any number of things depending on what OS is being used but let's start with some basics and then assume an XP machine.

1. Check that everyone else on that network using wireless does not have this problem (rule out the router)
2. If she knows somewhere else where she can connect to the net and replicate the problem she should do that (rule out ISP)
3. Remove and re add wifi card in Device Manager

Depending on the outcome or answers to the above, it's possible a more deeps seated issue with the TCP/IP stack or WINSOCK.

To fix this, it's a bit more technical (this assumes XP):

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

In the window that opens type the following, each followed by the Enter key:

To reset the TCP/IP stack to default, type: "netsh int ip reset reset.log" without the quotes.

To reset WINSOCK entries to the defaults, type: "netsh winsock reset catalog" agai, without the quotes.

Reboot the machine.

However, try the simple stuff first before delving into the bowels of the network protocols and API's :)

HTH
 
neil_g said:
odd unless the ISP's DNS server has an issue..

go to start -> run and type in:

cmd

click OK

in the black screen that appears type in:

ipconfig /flushdns

hit return. it should say "sucessfully flushed the DNS resolver cache".

try webpages again..
Click to expand...

This is another good one to try if she can't do step 2 in my last post.
 
Simple stuff :)
try at a dos prompt ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew This could reconnect the lappy to the router without having to access it. It may be also be that port 80 is not assigned so try disabling any firewall software and see if she can connect if so re-enable and setup port 80 as an exception in the FW software.

Hope this helps
 
Gosh lots to try now, thanks everyone (y)

I'm taking some furniture up to her this weekend, I'll print this all out and have a 'route' about and see if I can be the perfect dad :D
 
neil_g said:
odd unless the ISP's DNS server has an issue..

go to start -> run and type in:

cmd

click OK

in the black screen that appears type in:

ipconfig /flushdns

hit return. it should say "sucessfully flushed the DNS resolver cache".

try webpages again..
Click to expand...

CGeezer said:
Simple stuff :)
try at a dos prompt ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew This could reconnect the lappy to the router without having to access it. It may be also be that port 80 is not assigned so try disabling any firewall software and see if she can connect if so re-enable and setup port 80 as an exception in the FW software.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

IPCONFIG is just going to reset the IP address and if Skype is working that is not an issue. Firewall ports do not open and close themselves so unless she has installed a 3rd party one (another good question to ask her) I don't really see this being an issue. But I've been wrong before :)
 
LemmingLover said:
IPCONFIG is just going to reset the IP address and if Skype is working that is not an issue. Firewall ports do not open and close themselves so unless she has installed a 3rd party one (another good question to ask her) I don't really see this being an issue. But I've been wrong before :)
Click to expand...

huh? not sure why youve quoted the flushdns command there?
 
neil_g said:
huh? not sure why youve quoted the flushdns command there?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you are getting at there Neil. I did not mention flushdns in the quote you posted.
 
Ah - wrong quote. IPCONFIG has nothing to do with flushdns. All I was saying to one post was IPCONFIG is not needed as the machine clearly has and IP and to your, that it was a worthwhile thing to try if she does not get the chance to plug into another wifi network somewhere which would not only rule out bad cached dns entries but ISP issues etc also.

Apologies if that's not what came across :)
 
It's the drink :p
 
V8burble said:
Just had my daughter on the phone, they (her and her 4 housemates) have had broadband and a wireless router put in 3 or 4 days ago. All working fine and all the girls happily reaseaching away for their degree courses (who am I kidding, they're on Facebook arn't they :bonk:). Anyway, she says that now her browser can't access the net, with the usual message 'Unable to display webpage' or whatever it normally says along those lines. However the router wireless connection is still connected and shows a good signal strength, Skype is still connected and she is able to make calls, but the browser is not having any of it. She says she's tried Firefox and Safari also. Others in the house have no problems. just her :crying:. Anyone got any thoughts?

She has AVG (the free version) loaded, but has not changed any settings, and remember it was working ok for her. I'm lost at this sort of thing :shrug:

She can't get at the router either, as it's in one of the girl's bedroom and she has gone away for the week.

Any help appreciated (y)
Click to expand...

I recently set up a wireless network for our Toshiba laptop and discovered to my annoyance that it would disconnect from the Internet at seemingly random intervals. I Googled the lap top and Internet connection problems and it would seem I was not alone.

The odd thing was that I could still "ping" while the browser was frozen, so in theory still connected, and our wired PC would still be surfing OK as well through the same modem/router.

I tried Firefox and Google Chrome, same results.

I tried updating the wireless driver (Realtek) with no joy, but eventually I found a driver that had a totally different number sequence to the ones I'd been updating and it now seems to be OK (running Vista).

I am also using AVG and Zone Alarm.

One other thing I did recently (not sure if it's connected) was to turn off Windows Defender, it was causing the computer to take an age to start up and shut down.

HTH

David
 
If skype works fine then, as said before, IP addressing default gateway is fine.

It could be DNS or Antivirus/firewall software interfering. But if she's using the same DNS server (most likely the router) as the other housemates, they should be experiencing the same problems.

I'd try uninstalling all Antivirus and firewall software. You could do a system restore to when it was working. Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Restore.
 
Oh dear! :thumbsdown:

Just returned from my daughter's and it just goes to show... it's so much easier to diagnose if you are their with the laptop in front of you.

It's a Trojen!!!! slirsredirect to be exact. Now I've just got to work out how to get rid of the damn thing, and if I can without wiping all her Uni data (that of course isn't backed up) :(

Kids :bonk:

Edit:
Oh and it was actually Vista :bonk:
I'll have to do a lot of research before I try and tackle this one :help:
 
There are quite a few good virus scanners out there which are free :)

Try commodo, I use it and its great

If that doesnt do it try, malwarebytes anti malware as that picks up trojans

Hope it helps
 
As above use Malwarebytes anti malware http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php click on free download, Run the program and click on UPDATE, Do a full scan and have the program remove everything it finds, that should do the trick, after cleaning I would also suggest replacing AVG with AVAST or AVIRA antivirus as avg has been letting a few infections through lately, and is not as good as it used to be. Alan.
 
Thank you again guys, most helpful (y)

I brought her laptop away with me, so I'll have a chance to try and get it sorted out.

Much appreciated :)
 
I think this is going to take a bit more effort :(

Malwarebytes runs through its scan happily for about 1.5hrs, then hangs with (not responding) when looking at file C:\windows\winsxs\msil_napsnap.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.16386_en-us_cd254aa615122ce2\napsnap.resources..... goes off the edge of the frozen window then LOL. (tried a couple of times and it hangs at the same place requiring a reboot to bring back to life)

I tried the same Malwarebytes scan on my laptop and it ran through fine with nothing faound.

I need an expert, unlike me :bonk:
 
Have you managed to back up all the data? If so then the best thing to do is wipe clean and reinstall. Although there are lots of malware and trojan detection tools and software out there I would always go the route of wiping clean and starting over. Can be a bit of a pain but in the long run your better off.

If all the data is backed up then press F8 when laptop is booting up and select the repair your computer option. You should then be able to enter the laptops built in recovery partition if it has one, you just need to reinstall the software then.
 
hmmmm there are a few more programs that work well, one is superantispyware

Spybot also works well for me

Another thing that might be happening is that spyware could be starting up with the system and running in the memory. Check here for how to check what it starting up with the laptop.

Uncheck EVERYTHING which starts up with the laptop except the virus scanner as nothing needs to start up with the system, no matter what anyone tells you
 
V8burble said:
I think this is going to take a bit more effort :(

Malwarebytes runs through its scan happily for about 1.5hrs, then hangs with (not responding) when looking at file C:\windows\winsxs\msil_napsnap.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.16386_en-us_cd254aa615122ce2\napsnap.resources..... goes off the edge of the frozen window then LOL. (tried a couple of times and it hangs at the same place requiring a reboot to bring back to life)

I tried the same Malwarebytes scan on my laptop and it ran through fine with nothing faound.

I need an expert, unlike me :bonk:
Click to expand...

The file causing an issue here is related to the Network Access Protection snap-in and that is is doing this, is a clear sign of malware/virus activity. Try going to the folder in windows explorer, doing a right click and asking Malwarebytes to check just that folder (will save you the long wait) and see if it fails again. IF it does. Try another product like Superantispyware. Do not delete the folder or anything in it. If this fails try the following easy steps and if they do nothing for you, a reinstall may be in your near future.

1. Try a system restore to a date prior to the problem
2. Re-apply the latest service pack

HTH
 
LemmingLover said:
The file causing an issue here is related to the Network Access Protection snap-in and that is is doing this, is a clear sign of malware/virus activity. Try going to the folder in windows explorer, doing a right click and asking Malwarebytes to check just that folder (will save you the long wait) and see if it fails again. IF it does. Try another product like Superantispyware. Do not delete the folder or anything in it. If this fails try the following easy steps and if they do nothing for you, a reinstall may be in your near future.

1. Try a system restore to a date prior to the problem
2. Re-apply the latest service pack

HTH
Click to expand...

It does appear to be quite a clever bit of Malware... I've had a number of dedicated forums give ideas of fixes, but all come up against brick walls and some have come right and said there is not yet a fix :crying:. Even trying to re-install the latest service pack (downloaded and saved on another machine and transfered still fails with an error. It's looking like she may end up with a fresh Windows 7 install (as she's a student it's only £30 I think).

She thinks it all started from a USB flash drive in Uni. Just goes to show... always check before you bring anything onto your PC/laptop.

Thanks for everyone's efforts both in thread and PM, it's been appreciated (y)
 
A Win7 reinstall would be a very good outcome. Will out perform Vista for sure.
 
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