Enchantermon on 29/5/2010 at 22:32
So my parents' computer is acting up...again. For some reason, Outlook Express can send and receive e-mail, but the browser (IE7) can't display any web pages. 404. The only firewall they have is Windows Firewall, which they never mess with. All the same, I had my mom turn it off, but it didn't change anything. Malware scan is clean. Virus scan is running now, but I expect it will also come back clean. I haven't tried uninstalling and reinstalling IE yet (if that's even possible in XP Home), but since I'm not actually able to be there to do anything (I'm talking my mom through troubleshooting over the phone), I'd rather not do that unless necessary. The cable company has been messing around with the equipment in the neighborhood, so it's possible that they've also been fiddling with their servers and something has gone amok.
After the virus scan finishes, I'm going to get my mom to try Safe Mode with Networking. Any ideas as to other things we could try? Thanks in advance.
theBlackman on 29/5/2010 at 22:49
Turn off the router (power off and disconnect the Kat cable), or DSL modem. Wait a minute and then reconnect, turn it on and let it reboot. Then try again.
Enchantermon on 29/5/2010 at 23:41
Tried that. No change. AVG scans ran, didn't find anything.
Oh, and never mind about the ISP; my parents have two laptops that can both browse the internet just fine.
TBE on 30/5/2010 at 00:05
My mom's computer did this after Windows Update. I diagnosed all weekend long when I was at her house, nothing worked.
My niece restored to an earlier time, and it worked fine again. Not sure if Windows Update installed wrong or something, or what. But a restore to earlier time worked fine. Try restoring?
Enchantermon on 30/5/2010 at 00:13
Yeah...trying that now. For a long time, System Restore would go through the process, but when the computer would restart it would report a failure and say that it was unable to restore to that date. We'll see what it does now in a minute.
EDIT: Nope, it failed again like it normally does.
EDIT2: Mom is going to download Chrome on one of the laptops and pull it over to the desktop to see if its a browser issue. I'll report back with the result.
Enchantermon on 30/5/2010 at 01:00
Okay, Chrome throws up: Error 102 (net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED): Unknown error
The only fixes I have found include checking for malware (done) clearing cookies (fresh install=no cookies), checking firewall and proxy settings (firewall done, no proxy here) and checking antivirus settings (AVG would be alerting if it was blocking Chrome). So it's not a browser issue...any other ideas?
EDIT: Reset the TCP/IP protocol stack. No change.
theBlackman on 30/5/2010 at 01:18
If the laptops all go through it may be internal such as a bad LAN chip or card.
If Explorer runs (Email works so it seems to) try a PING for any site and see what error codes you get.
START>RUN>CMD> type PING in the window that pops up and plug in any address by name or ISP number.
Enchantermon on 30/5/2010 at 01:21
Forgot to mention that; I tried pinging an IP and a hostname (8.8.8.8, which is a DNS server iirc, and google.com), and both responded.
A bad NIC is the only thing I can think of at this point, but if e-mail works, then that proves that the NIC works, too, does it not? I mean, the NIC passes all traffic the same no matter what the traffic is, right? I also had her ping the loopback (127.0.0.1) which also works.
theBlackman on 30/5/2010 at 01:30
Sorry. Last resort. Try a NEW KAT cable. Might just be a bad wire or connector in the cable or plug.. That's about all I can think of at the moment. That is if you are not totally wireless.
Enchantermon on 30/5/2010 at 01:34
I also just had her put the IP of our wireless router (which the desktop is wired directly into) into the address bar of Chrome and got the same 102 error. Interesting that Chrome says "connection refused" as if it's a permission or access error, but even with the firewall off the same thing happens. Is it possible that the NIC is somehow mangling HTTP packets while leaving everything else (ICMP, for example) alone?
Quote Posted by theBlackman
Sorry. Last resort. Try a NEW KAT cable. Might just be a bad wire or connector in the cable or plug.. That's about all I can think of at the moment.
She doesn't have any other cables at the house, unfortunately.
EDIT: Having a lightbulb moment, I had my mom take plug the computer directly into the cable modem. First, she connected to the modem with the cable that originally ran from the modem to the router. She got an IP address, but no internet. Then she connected to the modem with the cable that originally ran from the computer to the router. IP address, but no internet. Though there's really no way to prove this conclusively, both cables seem to be fine.
