Can’t connect to Internet after Windows Updates installed

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I recently installed the latest Windows Updates for XP and was asked to reregister my computer. Since then, I have not been able to connect to internet. All my settings seem to be correct. Tried System Restore which didn’t make a difference. Tried to reinstall the LAN driver to no avail. Any suggestions?

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Please do the following.

[*]Click “Start”, then “Run”. If you haven’t got the “Run” command on the Start menu, hit Windows logo key + R instead.
[*]Type: CMD and click OK to open a Command Prompt.
[*]Type: netsh winsock reset and hit Enter. You should get a message that the command completed successfully.
[*]Type: EXIT to close the command prompt.
[*]Reboot the computer.
[*]When it reboots to the desktop, use any browser to try and go on the Internet again.

If you can, download the free version of Malwarebytes from here and run a full system scan: http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free

After updating Windows XP, there is no requirement to re-register your computer. If you saw that message and clicked something, you may have installed malware.

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This is not a reply or help in any way, but I didn’t see anywhere to start a new thread. This sounds very much like my problem. Perhaps someone here can help me. I’m trying to help my neighbor access a certain website we both use daily. I have had intermittent slow connections, but almost always able to connect. For the last few days she has been getting an error stating a network problem has occurred, “connection timed out” and cannot get connected to the website.
We both use Win XP Sp3, we both have I E but use Firefox v12.0
This is what I have tried:
Type in the address in the address bar instead of using a link, no help
Clear cache and cookies, reboot, no help.
Run C/C Cleaner and anti-virus, defrag, reboot, no help.
Check network status: repair; no help.
Run from a cmd line: tracert http://www.xxxxx, all seemed well except line #9, timed out.
Run from cmd line: netsh winsock reset and reboot, no help.
Power down modem for 30 sec, powered up, no help.
She can get in most any website she tries, but not the one she is trying to access.
She tried her ISP customer service and was put on hold. When I left she was still on hold.
Now she wants to dump her whole box and start over! I told her to wait, maybe I can get her some help.
Summery: we both have virtually the same equipment, same OS, same ISP, same modem, same satellite dish, and both are members of the same website. I can get in, she can’t. This is not a user name/password issue, as she never gets that far. I thought it was just congestion at the website, but I don’t have a problem.
Any ideas? Thanks

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Hi newdeal,
You might have the same problem I’ve encountered not once but several times, but for different reasons.

Two quick procedures might solve your problem which is a poisoned DNS cache in either your router or the DNS cache resolver in XP.

To see if it’s the router, just reboot it & that will clear it’s DNS cache. When the router has completed the reboot, check the site which is given you a problem. If it’s fixed your done.

If your still in trouble it’s time to see if it’s the XP DNS cache resolver. To check & clear it, follow these steps:

Step 1 – Close all open web browsers and applications on your computer.
Step 2 – Open the Windows command prompt by pressing the Windows Key & the letter ‘R’ together and entering “cmd” in the text box followed by clicking the “enter” key or the OK button.
Step 3 – At the command prompt, (see example below) enter “ipconfig /flushdns” without the quotes, followed by pressing the “enter” key. After a moment, Windows will display a message similar to: “Successfully flushed the DNS ResolverCache.” Once the message is displayed, the DNS will be flushed removing all DNS entries. Don’t worry, the correct entries will be restored as you resume browsing.

Now try browsing to the site that was causing a problem.

Hope you have a solution…..

Keith

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Could you try following the troubleshooting steps in this Firefox article please: Error loading websites

Let us know how you get on.

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Thanks for your speedy reply Xircal, I have read the info and found a couple things I can check. I will forward the link to her and check back with her when she gets home.
BTW, After re-reading my post, I had to laugh when I realized I put http://www.xxxxx as a tracert! Not hardly an X-rated website; she’s 65 and I’m 63! We both go to the same website because we run a small business from there. Just so ya know…

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Thanks for your speedy reply Xircal, I have read the info and found a couple things I can check. I will forward the link to her and check back with her when she gets home.
BTW, After re-reading my post, I had to laugh when I realized I put http://www.xxxxx as a tracert! Not hardly an X-rated website; she’s 65 and I’m 63! We both go to the same website because we run a small business from there. Just so ya know…

Don’t worry about it. 😉

But the netsh command I mentioned to the original poster will only help if you cannot access the Internet at all. Malware often overwrites the Windows winsock file in order to take control of a machine so that it can be used in a botnet. A botnet in case you don’t recognize the term is a large collection of machines which an attacker called a “herder” controls and which is used in denial of service attacks on websites or even individual machines. It works by configuring each machine in the botnet to constantly ping a site until the server can not longer handle the number of requests which are arriving all at once and crashes thereby denying service to anyone else trying to go to that site.

But I gather your problem is only with one particular site, so that won’t help you. If you don’t want to post it on an open forum, you can send it to me in a PM if you like and I’ll take a look at it.

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I used that “netsh reset” command and everything else I did before reading your post, and didn’t think it would actually help anything, but didn’t think it would hurt either. I must concur with you that it seems to be at the website, but that doesn’t explain why I can connect and she can’t, unless it is her computer not configured properly. And if it is in her computer, what is it that is causing the error. I will continue looking and get back if need be. Please excuse my ignorance, but I don’t know what “you can send it to me in a PM” means. Thanks for the offer, but I would think posting in an open forum would produce more possible solutions. But thanks again for your help.

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I used that “netsh reset” command and everything else I did before reading your post, and didn’t think it would actually help anything, but didn’t think it would hurt either. I must concur with you that it seems to be at the website, but that doesn’t explain why I can connect and she can’t, unless it is her computer not configured properly. And if it is in her computer, what is it that is causing the error. I will continue looking and get back if need be. Please excuse my ignorance, but I don’t know what “you can send it to me in a PM” means. Thanks for the offer, but I would think posting in an open forum would produce more possible solutions. But thanks again for your help.

Sorry. “PM” is an acronym for “Private Message”. To send one, click my name (Xircal) and then you’ll see the link.

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Thanks so much for the help.

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Thanks for the “PM” heads up. Not exactly sure why that would be necessary unless it was because of this statement I made: “…. I had to laugh when I realized I put http://www.xxxxx as a tracert! Not hardly an X-rated website; she’s 65 and I’m 63! We both go to the same website because we run a small business from there. Just so ya know…”
The reason I used http://www.xxxxx in my post and not my actual website is because I didn’t think it was appropriate to promote my business website, which is not an X-rated site, but may appear to be because I used xxxxx. Is everyone confused now, or was this a non-issue going in? Like I said, thanks for the offer and all your help, and I’ll just leave it at that.

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Thanks for the “PM” heads up. Not exactly sure why that would be necessary unless it was because of this statement I made: “…. I had to laugh when I realized I put http://www.xxxxx as a tracert! Not hardly an X-rated website; she’s 65 and I’m 63! We both go to the same website because we run a small business from there. Just so ya know…”
The reason I used http://www.xxxxx is because I didn’t think it was appropriate to promote my business website, which is not an X-rated site, but may appear to be because I used xxxxx. Is everyone confused now, or was this a non-issue going in? Like I said, thanks for the offer and all your help, and I’ll just leave it at that.

I just deduced that the site you were referring to contained content that you didn’t want to make known publically, hence the suggestion of sending it to me privately. It didn’t occur to me that it might be sexually orientated or something of that nature.

Anyway, I’m pleased to hear you fixed the problem.

Good luck with your business.

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Actually that was Kcary2008.com that fixed his problem, not me. newdeal

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Actually that was Kcary2008.com that fixed his problem, not me. newdeal

Wupps! Time to pay a visit to the opticians methinks. 🙁

So yours is ongoing still then. So what’s your operating system and which browser are you (both) using?

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All that can be found in my first post. But I will be using the link and info you provided earlier to check things again. I will get back later if I can’t find a fix. 😎

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All that can be found in my first post. But I will be using the link and info you provided earlier to check things again. I will get back later if I can’t find a fix. 😎

Yes, I see that now. Sorry about that.

One other thing you might try and that is to restart Firefox in Safe Mode (not Windows safe mode) as follows.

[*]If you have the layout with the oblong orange bar top left, hit ALT to toggle the text links on, otherwise proceed as follows.
[*]Click Help, then “Restart with Add-ons Disabled”.
[*]Confirm when you get the prompt and then in the next menu which appears, click the button called “Continue in Safe Mode” without checkmarking any boxes.
[*]When Firefox restarts, all your add-ons will be disabled. Go to your site and see whether it makes any difference. If it does, then one of your add-ons is the culprit.
[*]That being the case, repeat step #2 and then in the menu, checkmark the top option called “Disable all Add-ons” and then click the button called “Make changes and restart”.

The next step is to simply re-enable them one by one until the problem recurs. Then you’ll know which one is the troublemaker.

Here’s a list of problematical extensions in case it helps: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Problematic_extensions

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Very informative, I will try all this later today when she gets back, thank you so much.

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You’re welcome.

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Apparently it was a pretty nasty bug that hid itself deep within the system somewhere. Now that it is gone, she is happy and life is good again. But I appreciate your help, as well as everyone else that offered their expertise. My friend and I have learned much and we’ll certainly keep all the valuable info we’ve received. God bless and thank you all. newdeal

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