connection problem

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I have a 5 computer network with a router and dsl modem. The problem happens with the machine running XP Home SR2. No problems with the Windows 98 machines.

Sometimes it seems my connection dies. Like right now. I can’t connect with a second window or by clicking on a link in the forums. I get a page not found message. But I can go to other pages here in the forums in this window. I also can’t connect with Eudora Email. A reboot fixes the problem for a while. I turned off the popup blocker and firewall (XP’s) No other firewall is installed. Anyone have any ideas?

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Assuming you are using Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options, General tab. Select Delete Cookies, and then Delete Files to delete all your temporary Internet files (Note, this also will force the manual entry of usernames and passwords for sites requiring them on your next visit, so make sure you know them). If using Mozilla Firefox, go to Tools, Options, Privacy, and Clear All. No need to scan thousands of temporary files.

Temporarily turn off System Restore to enable the scanner to clean any infected restore images. See here for instructions. This keeps malware hiding in restore images from coming back and reinfect your systems.

Now scan for spyware. To ensure you have the latest scanner versions, download and install SpyBot Search and Destroy V1.3 from here. Before scanning, use the program

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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Hi Bill,
I did everything in your post and didn’t turn up anything at all. I do use ad-aware and spybot but hadn’t gotten the new versions. Thanks. I am still stumped on this one. The problem doesn’t happen every time. Just certain days it seems. But to often to ignore. What stumps me is the loss of my eudora email also. It seems like a connection problem. But if I go to another computer on the network I find it working fine. But thanks for the advice and information.
John

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Hi Bill,
I did everything in your post and didn’t turn up anything at all. I do use ad-aware and spybot but hadn’t gotten the new versions. Thanks. I am still stumped on this one. The problem doesn’t happen every time. Just certain days it seems. But to often to ignore. What stumps me is the loss of my eudora email also. It seems like a connection problem. But if I go to another computer on the network I find it working fine. But thanks for the advice and information.
John

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Bill,
Which of the two firewalls do you like best? Have you tried both?
John

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I use ZoneAlarm, as do most of my collegues. It is easy to use and set up. Plus it has been around for awhile which means there are lots of folks that know how to use it. Several forums offer support. I have not used the Sygate firewall but those that I know that do like it.

I think it is just a matter of preference as neither appears to be better than the other. So all I can say really is get one, NOW – if you are not using one.

As far as your connectivity problem, try swapping ports on the rounter and see if the problem moves. Also, try another Ethernet cable. I have seen some pretty weird problems with cables that make only partial contact.

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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I will get the firewall and give it a try. As for the other problem. —–
Oh oh, I jusr put new connector on my ethernet cable to that computer. It seems to work, but maybe not. I will check that. I don’t remember if the cable connector came before or after the problem started. I will try a different port in the router though. Thanks, I will let you know the results.
JOhn

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I will get the firewall and give it a try. As for the other problem. —–
Oh oh, I jusr put new connector on my ethernet cable to that computer. It seems to work, but maybe not. I will check that. I don’t remember if the cable connector came before or after the problem started. I will try a different port in the router though. Thanks, I will let you know the results.
JOhn

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I use ZoneAlarm, as do most of my collegues. It is easy to use and set up. Plus it has been around for awhile which means there are lots of folks that know how to use it. Several forums offer support. I have not used the Sygate firewall but those that I know that do like it.

I think it is just a matter of preference as neither appears to be better than the other. So all I can say really is get one, NOW – if you are not using one.

As far as your connectivity problem, try swapping ports on the rounter and see if the problem moves. Also, try another Ethernet cable. I have seen some pretty weird problems with cables that make only partial contact.

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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Bill,
Which of the two firewalls do you like best? Have you tried both?
John

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OK, I still have the same problem. I replaced the network cable. I moved the cable to another port in the router. I moved the laptop that is giving me the problems to another location and plugged into a connection that is not having any problems. And the problem is still here. So I know it is a problem internal to the computer and not with the network.

My virus checker, the internet virus checkers, ad-aware, and spybot find nothing wrong.

Now, I have gotten myself into a pickle. By turning off the restore points as was suggested, I lost all the restore points so I can’t go back by using a restore point. I don’t think that was such a good idea. I also deleted (dumb on my part) the service pack 2 backup file so I don’t think I can uninstall service pack 2.

I did everything in your post.

Now, one of the clues I am puzzled by is that my Eudora email program also looses connection. So I doubt the problem is just Internet Explorer. What happens is that I will be on the internet and click on a link or a bookmark and get a page not found message. Once I get that message I no longer seem to have a connection until I reboot the computer. Today it is especially bad. Clicking refresh does nothing.

Any other ideas? Anyone? Reinstall service pack 2 from the CD? I only have the restore cd’s that came with the Toshiba laptop. I’m stumped.

Thanks for any help.
John

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Sorry about the restore options – it is one of those things that if we did not turn them off and there was some thing bad in there, it would have come back.

I agree you have verified it is in that computer. You said that is a laptop, is the NIC a PC Card or internal to the laptop? It sounds like the NIC to me, assuming the computer is clean and you said you ran everything.

Does device manager show any conflicts? Perhaps a removal and reinstall (rebooting in between) of the NIC drivers is in order – or try another network card?

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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Well, I checked in device manager and there are no conflicts. As far as the internal nic goes, it seems to work fine on the intranet. No problems there. I did upgrade the drivers for the card but it didn’t seem to help.

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[indent]

---

As far as the internal nic goes, it seems to work fine on the intranet. No problems there.

---

[/indent]Huh? I thought losing connection to the Internet was the problem. What have we been troubleshooting?

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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Yes loosing connection to the internet but not to my home network itself. Maybe I used the wrong term. I thought intranet was my home network as opposed to internet for the outside world. Sorry to be confusing. As I was saying I can work inside my own network with the nic without any problems.

Is it possible that the ISP itself could be a problem with XP and not with Win98? I ask because my college kid who comes home on weekends just told me he has the same problems on his XP SR1 laptop, but solved it by using Linex on the internet. Or could having a Linex machine on my network router cause me problems on my XP machine?

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My bad! You did indeed say intranet – which is your local “inside” network – as opposed to internet – which means the world. Sorry. Should have waited to finish my 2nd cup of coffee and read it again.

Well, if your Intranet works fine, meaning you can see and share files on other computers on your network, but you lose connectivity to only the Internet, then it is not the hardware.

And if your other 4 computers behind the same router are working fine, then it is not your ISP.

SP2 is not designed to fix a broken PC, so I would not attempt that.

So, it seems to me to be boiling down to either malware (virus, trojan, worm, etc.) or a firewall issue. And it seems if it was a firewall issue, then rebooting would not fix it and it would be consistent, but you said, “The problem doesn’t happen every time. Just certain days it seems.”

So, that leads me back to malware. Did you try a2, Trojan Hunter, and the on-line virus scanners?

If those scanners, and AdAware and SpyBot, do not turn up anything then I think it may be a HiJack issue and you need to run HiJackThis. If you run those scans and still have the problem then I suggest you go over to CastleCops (formally ComputerCops) and download: HiJackThis! from CastleCops

Create and Unzip to a folder not on your Desktop or the Temp folder, double-click HijackThis.exe, and hit “Scan”.
Unzip the download (using WinZip) or something similar.
When the scan is finished, the “Scan” button will change into a “Save Log” button.
Press that, save the log in a text file, and post it in the CCSP “Spyware – Hijack this” forum: here

Note that some of what it lists will look harmless but may be required, so do NOT fix anything yet.
We have trained experts there who will be happy to help you analyze the results. Note that they get several hundred logs a day to analyze so give them a couple days to get back to you.

As far as going to Linex may work but that opens a whole new bucket of worms. And note too that laptops are very proprietary, you may have a very difficult time getting linex drivers for yours.

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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I’ll try a2, trojan hunter, hijack-this, and the online scanner (again). I wasn’t planning to use Linex. Just thought I would mention the fact that the kid uses it and has no problems with the connection along with win98 having no problems. Thanks for all the tips so far. I’ll report back what happens with the other malware programs.

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Great. Sorry you’ve been running around in circles here – this is certainly an odd problem.

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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I was unable to get either online virus scanner to work. Maybe because of the connection problems. Spyhunter and a2 found nothing. Hijack-this only showed one thing I didn’t recognize (O12 – Plugin for .spop: C:Program FilesInternet ExplorerPluginsNPDocBox.dll). I posted the log file to the forum you suggested. I was hoping to turn something up but nothing so far.

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oops, I meant trojanhunter not spyhunter.

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Does the machine in question go into hibernation or standby before the problem appears?

Joe

--Joe

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No, it doesn’t go into hibernation or standby. The problem appears while actively using the connection.

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No, it doesn’t go into hibernation or standby. The problem appears while actively using the connection.

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oops, I meant trojanhunter not spyhunter.

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NPDocBox is a component for Acrobat Reader and is Okay – I think. I saw your log on CastleCops and added some history – hopefully one of the HJT pros there will get a chance to look at it soon.

Note: I saw earlier in this thread were I first suggested you do the on-line virus scans that you did all the scans I suggested. Then more recently you said you were unable to do the on-line virus scans due to this connectivity problem, Were you able to do it earlier?

I also do not see where you have your own virus scanner – do you? And is it current? I assume you do and that it came up clean, right?

Bill

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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Hi Bill,
No, I was never able to get the online virus checkers to work. I use F-Prot anti virus program and it is kept current at all times. I did run a scan with F-Prot when we started this thread. I recently installed the newest version of F-Prot and did a scan and found nothing. The background checker with F-Prot is always running.

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Here’s a link I found in an MS newsgroup. Repair/Reset Winsock settings was in response to a Toshiba laptop having Internet connections problems after SP-2 was applied.

Joe

--Joe

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Thanks Joe, I will read that over and see if anything applies.
John

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Thanks Joe, I will read that over and see if anything applies.
John

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Here’s a link I found in an MS newsgroup. Repair/Reset Winsock settings was in response to a Toshiba laptop having Internet connections problems after SP-2 was applied.

Joe

--Joe

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Hi Bill,
No, I was never able to get the online virus checkers to work. I use F-Prot anti virus program and it is kept current at all times. I did run a scan with F-Prot when we started this thread. I recently installed the newest version of F-Prot and did a scan and found nothing. The background checker with F-Prot is always running.

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NPDocBox is a component for Acrobat Reader and is Okay – I think. I saw your log on CastleCops and added some history – hopefully one of the HJT pros there will get a chance to look at it soon.

Note: I saw earlier in this thread were I first suggested you do the on-line virus scans that you did all the scans I suggested. Then more recently you said you were unable to do the on-line virus scans due to this connectivity problem, Were you able to do it earlier?

I also do not see where you have your own virus scanner – do you? And is it current? I assume you do and that it came up clean, right?

Bill

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

Reply | Quote

I was unable to get either online virus scanner to work. Maybe because of the connection problems. Spyhunter and a2 found nothing. Hijack-this only showed one thing I didn’t recognize (O12 – Plugin for .spop: C:Program FilesInternet ExplorerPluginsNPDocBox.dll). I posted the log file to the forum you suggested. I was hoping to turn something up but nothing so far.

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Hi Bill,
I have been on line with Microsoft with this problem. After some preliminaries I recieved the following instructions.

——————– “I believe this is not browser problem. The connection failed before the
Internet Explorer error message.

Please let me know your Internet Service Provider and I will check if
they have any known problem with Service Pack 2.

Meanwhile, please use the following steps to test this issue:

1. Click Start, click Run, type “ncpa.cpl” (without the quotation
marks) and press Enter.
2. Right-click the connection with an overlaid yellow symbol and click
Properties.
3. Click on the “General” tab, highlight “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”,
and click Properties.
4. Click on the “Alternative Configuration” tab, select the “User
configured” radio box.
5. Type 192.168.0.2 in the “IP Address” field.
6. Type 255.255.255.0 in the “Subnet mask” field.
7. Click OK twice. ———————

I did the above but in step 7 I was only able to click once and the configuration box went away. I didn’t notice anything happen and it didn’t fix the problem. I am not sure what I was supposed to see. I replied and told the support guy what happened. I’ll see what he says next.
John

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Having a similar problem after upgrading Win 98SE machine to XP SP2. Were you ever able to resolve your situation?

Thanks,

Dr. Andy

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No, I never did solve the problem. I’ve just had to learn to live with it. And do hundreds of reboots as I surf. Microsoft tried to help also but weren’t able to figure out the problem.

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No, I never did solve the problem. I’ve just had to learn to live with it. And do hundreds of reboots as I surf. Microsoft tried to help also but weren’t able to figure out the problem.

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At the time when the computer doesn’t seem to be working can you try:

Start > Run > netsh diag gui > OK
When the window appears click on “Set scanning options” and check all the boxes except Verbose
Click “Scan your system”
This will run a whole series of different network tests, which may pinpoint where the error is happening
Wait a few minutes for the tests to finish
Let us know what results you get, particularly which tests PASS

StuartR

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Stuart: Thank you for the recommendation. Results – Passed: Modems / Network adapters / DNS services / Default gateway / DHCP services / IP address
No result noted: WINS servers / Network Client Network
Default OE Mail = Not configured
Default OE = Not configured
Internet Explorer Werb Proxy = Not configured

From TDI Monitor, after 3 to 5 minutes, port 80 times out when trying to access the Internet. Then port 80 set as an exception in the XP SP2 firewall, problem still exists. Turn XP SP2 firewall off, problem still exists. During all this, can always successfully ping to http://www.yahoo.com from command prompt. Wireless connection through router works flawlessly.

Dr. Andy

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How interesting.

This shows that at the time of the problem, the network itself is working perfectly! So we have a problem that is just affecting web browsing.

Are you using Internet Explorer, or a different web browser?
Do you have any sort of software firewall running on your PC?
What sort of Router / Firewall / other equipment do you have between your PC and the Internet?

StuartR

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Same situation with IE 6 or Firefox 1.0.
XP Pro SP2 firewall installed. Same result with firewall ON or OFF. No other firewalls that I am aware of. This is a home machine used by 3 other family members. None of them have knowlingly installed another firewall product.
Using MS Wireless Access Point / Router (MN-500 I believe) with SBC (California) DSL into router and Ethernet cable to desktop.
Wireless connection to notebook works fine (that’s what I am using to reply, because I lose the connection on the desktop before I can finish this reply)
MS Outlook email on the desktop works fine.

Thank you for your continued interest. (My other family members have used up their collective patience during the 5 days since this problem began following the Win XP Pro SP2 upgrade!)

Dr. Andy

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I’m pretty stumped too. I take it the Wireless connection to the laptop is from the same MN500?

I have absolutely no idea what could be causing this.

StuartR

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I’m pretty stumped too. I take it the Wireless connection to the laptop is from the same MN500?

I have absolutely no idea what could be causing this.

StuartR

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Have you looked at How to troubleshoot wireless network connections in Windows XP Service Pack 2 ? You can get a long list of things to check by searching the MS KB for “wireless networking”

Joe

--Joe

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The problem does not manifest itself if I boot in Safe mode with networking.

Is there a manageable way to determine what is loading in a normal boot and causing the problem?

Disabling all Startup items had no effect.

Thanks,

Dr.Andy

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You can use Autoruns from Sysinternals to see everything that is started when you boot.

Joe

--Joe

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I believe I have stumbled onto a solution to my problem – a faulty uninstall of ZoneAlarm almost two years ago. When a router with a hardware firewall was installed a couple of years ago, we uninstalled ZoneAlarm. However, unbeknownst to us, the TrueVector portion of ZoneAlarm was not uninstalled. Apparently during the upgrade from Win 98SE to Win XP SP2, TrueVector was picked up as a “Service” that I found using the Services tab on the msconfig utility. I disabled that service but still could not get an internet connection to last for more than 2 to 5 minutes. Finally, I downloaded and performed a clean install of the current free version of ZoneAlarm. Interestingly, the installation program suggested I could also do an upgrade install. After a restart and setting up ZoneAlarm, I have not lost the internet connection.

Thank you to all for your insights and suggestions. Best wishes for a joyous holiday.

Dr. Andy

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Glad you got it worked out.

Joe

--Joe

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Glad you got it worked out.

Joe

--Joe

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Thanks for sharing the solution, another thing to suggest next time we see something similar.

StuartR

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Thanks for sharing the solution, another thing to suggest next time we see something similar.

StuartR

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I believe I have stumbled onto a solution to my problem – a faulty uninstall of ZoneAlarm almost two years ago. When a router with a hardware firewall was installed a couple of years ago, we uninstalled ZoneAlarm. However, unbeknownst to us, the TrueVector portion of ZoneAlarm was not uninstalled. Apparently during the upgrade from Win 98SE to Win XP SP2, TrueVector was picked up as a “Service” that I found using the Services tab on the msconfig utility. I disabled that service but still could not get an internet connection to last for more than 2 to 5 minutes. Finally, I downloaded and performed a clean install of the current free version of ZoneAlarm. Interestingly, the installation program suggested I could also do an upgrade install. After a restart and setting up ZoneAlarm, I have not lost the internet connection.

Thank you to all for your insights and suggestions. Best wishes for a joyous holiday.

Dr. Andy

Reply | Quote

You can use Autoruns from Sysinternals to see everything that is started when you boot.

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

The problem does not manifest itself if I boot in Safe mode with networking.

Is there a manageable way to determine what is loading in a normal boot and causing the problem?

Disabling all Startup items had no effect.

Thanks,

Dr.Andy

Reply | Quote

Have you looked at How to troubleshoot wireless network connections in Windows XP Service Pack 2 ? You can get a long list of things to check by searching the MS KB for “wireless networking”

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

How interesting.

This shows that at the time of the problem, the network itself is working perfectly! So we have a problem that is just affecting web browsing.

Are you using Internet Explorer, or a different web browser?
Do you have any sort of software firewall running on your PC?
What sort of Router / Firewall / other equipment do you have between your PC and the Internet?

StuartR

Reply | Quote

Stuart: Thank you for the recommendation. Results – Passed: Modems / Network adapters / DNS services / Default gateway / DHCP services / IP address
No result noted: WINS servers / Network Client Network
Default OE Mail = Not configured
Default OE = Not configured
Internet Explorer Werb Proxy = Not configured

From TDI Monitor, after 3 to 5 minutes, port 80 times out when trying to access the Internet. Then port 80 set as an exception in the XP SP2 firewall, problem still exists. Turn XP SP2 firewall off, problem still exists. During all this, can always successfully ping to http://www.yahoo.com from command prompt. Wireless connection through router works flawlessly.

Dr. Andy

Reply | Quote

At the time when the computer doesn’t seem to be working can you try:

Start > Run > netsh diag gui > OK
When the window appears click on “Set scanning options” and check all the boxes except Verbose
Click “Scan your system”
This will run a whole series of different network tests, which may pinpoint where the error is happening
Wait a few minutes for the tests to finish
Let us know what results you get, particularly which tests PASS

StuartR

Reply | Quote

Having a similar problem after upgrading Win 98SE machine to XP SP2. Were you ever able to resolve your situation?

Thanks,

Dr. Andy

Reply | Quote

Hi Bill,
I have been on line with Microsoft with this problem. After some preliminaries I recieved the following instructions.

——————– “I believe this is not browser problem. The connection failed before the
Internet Explorer error message.

Please let me know your Internet Service Provider and I will check if
they have any known problem with Service Pack 2.

Meanwhile, please use the following steps to test this issue:

1. Click Start, click Run, type “ncpa.cpl” (without the quotation
marks) and press Enter.
2. Right-click the connection with an overlaid yellow symbol and click
Properties.
3. Click on the “General” tab, highlight “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”,
and click Properties.
4. Click on the “Alternative Configuration” tab, select the “User
configured” radio box.
5. Type 192.168.0.2 in the “IP Address” field.
6. Type 255.255.255.0 in the “Subnet mask” field.
7. Click OK twice. ———————

I did the above but in step 7 I was only able to click once and the configuration box went away. I didn’t notice anything happen and it didn’t fix the problem. I am not sure what I was supposed to see. I replied and told the support guy what happened. I’ll see what he says next.
John

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I’ll try a2, trojan hunter, hijack-this, and the online scanner (again). I wasn’t planning to use Linex. Just thought I would mention the fact that the kid uses it and has no problems with the connection along with win98 having no problems. Thanks for all the tips so far. I’ll report back what happens with the other malware programs.

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My bad! You did indeed say intranet – which is your local “inside” network – as opposed to internet – which means the world. Sorry. Should have waited to finish my 2nd cup of coffee and read it again.

Well, if your Intranet works fine, meaning you can see and share files on other computers on your network, but you lose connectivity to only the Internet, then it is not the hardware.

And if your other 4 computers behind the same router are working fine, then it is not your ISP.

SP2 is not designed to fix a broken PC, so I would not attempt that.

So, it seems to me to be boiling down to either malware (virus, trojan, worm, etc.) or a firewall issue. And it seems if it was a firewall issue, then rebooting would not fix it and it would be consistent, but you said, “The problem doesn’t happen every time. Just certain days it seems.”

So, that leads me back to malware. Did you try a2, Trojan Hunter, and the on-line virus scanners?

If those scanners, and AdAware and SpyBot, do not turn up anything then I think it may be a HiJack issue and you need to run HiJackThis. If you run those scans and still have the problem then I suggest you go over to CastleCops (formally ComputerCops) and download: HiJackThis! from CastleCops

Create and Unzip to a folder not on your Desktop or the Temp folder, double-click HijackThis.exe, and hit “Scan”.
Unzip the download (using WinZip) or something similar.
When the scan is finished, the “Scan” button will change into a “Save Log” button.
Press that, save the log in a text file, and post it in the CCSP “Spyware – Hijack this” forum: here

Note that some of what it lists will look harmless but may be required, so do NOT fix anything yet.
We have trained experts there who will be happy to help you analyze the results. Note that they get several hundred logs a day to analyze so give them a couple days to get back to you.

As far as going to Linex may work but that opens a whole new bucket of worms. And note too that laptops are very proprietary, you may have a very difficult time getting linex drivers for yours.

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

Reply | Quote

Yes loosing connection to the internet but not to my home network itself. Maybe I used the wrong term. I thought intranet was my home network as opposed to internet for the outside world. Sorry to be confusing. As I was saying I can work inside my own network with the nic without any problems.

Is it possible that the ISP itself could be a problem with XP and not with Win98? I ask because my college kid who comes home on weekends just told me he has the same problems on his XP SR1 laptop, but solved it by using Linex on the internet. Or could having a Linex machine on my network router cause me problems on my XP machine?

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[indent]

---

As far as the internal nic goes, it seems to work fine on the intranet. No problems there.

---

[/indent]Huh? I thought losing connection to the Internet was the problem. What have we been troubleshooting?

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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Do I understand you correctly that you have INTRANET connectivity but your INTERNET connection goes down all the time? When you lose your INTERNET connection do you still have access to your INTRANET? Thanks!

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Do I understand you correctly that you have INTRANET connectivity but your INTERNET connection goes down all the time? When you lose your INTERNET connection do you still have access to your INTRANET? Thanks!

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Well, I checked in device manager and there are no conflicts. As far as the internal nic goes, it seems to work fine on the intranet. No problems there. I did upgrade the drivers for the card but it didn’t seem to help.

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Sorry about the restore options – it is one of those things that if we did not turn them off and there was some thing bad in there, it would have come back.

I agree you have verified it is in that computer. You said that is a laptop, is the NIC a PC Card or internal to the laptop? It sounds like the NIC to me, assuming the computer is clean and you said you ran everything.

Does device manager show any conflicts? Perhaps a removal and reinstall (rebooting in between) of the NIC drivers is in order – or try another network card?

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

Reply | Quote

OK, I still have the same problem. I replaced the network cable. I moved the cable to another port in the router. I moved the laptop that is giving me the problems to another location and plugged into a connection that is not having any problems. And the problem is still here. So I know it is a problem internal to the computer and not with the network.

My virus checker, the internet virus checkers, ad-aware, and spybot find nothing wrong.

Now, I have gotten myself into a pickle. By turning off the restore points as was suggested, I lost all the restore points so I can’t go back by using a restore point. I don’t think that was such a good idea. I also deleted (dumb on my part) the service pack 2 backup file so I don’t think I can uninstall service pack 2.

I did everything in your post.

Now, one of the clues I am puzzled by is that my Eudora email program also looses connection. So I doubt the problem is just Internet Explorer. What happens is that I will be on the internet and click on a link or a bookmark and get a page not found message. Once I get that message I no longer seem to have a connection until I reboot the computer. Today it is especially bad. Clicking refresh does nothing.

Any other ideas? Anyone? Reinstall service pack 2 from the CD? I only have the restore cd’s that came with the Toshiba laptop. I’m stumped.

Thanks for any help.
John

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Assuming you are using Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options, General tab. Select Delete Cookies, and then Delete Files to delete all your temporary Internet files (Note, this also will force the manual entry of usernames and passwords for sites requiring them on your next visit, so make sure you know them). If using Mozilla Firefox, go to Tools, Options, Privacy, and Clear All. No need to scan thousands of temporary files.

Temporarily turn off System Restore to enable the scanner to clean any infected restore images. See here for instructions. This keeps malware hiding in restore images from coming back and reinfect your systems.

Now scan for spyware. To ensure you have the latest scanner versions, download and install SpyBot Search and Destroy V1.3 from here. Before scanning, use the program

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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I decided to retry this question with a few new twists. I never did solve the problem. I was blaming SR2 but I found out that is not causing the problem. I built a new computer and installed XP with SR1. Brand new clean install. I now have the browsing problem on 2 computers. Excactly the same. I can go to only 1 or 2 web sites before I get the “page not found’ message. After that I can go nowhere until I reboot. Both machines running xp have the problem and both machines running 98 do not. I am certain the probem is not malware or a virus as the computer did this right away before I went anywhere. I surfed only to safe sites, my internet provider, and yahoo, and the lounge. I am not using any firewall and have F-Prot for a virus protector. Unintalling F-Prot does not fix the problem. As I said in my last series of posts, I have stumped microsoft with this one too. I connect through a peer to peer network to a linksys router-hub and then to a dsl modem. I have fogotten how to use a comand prompt to ping a site but I would be interested to try that when this thing seems to be not connected. Anyone have any new ideas I might try?

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One thing worth trying. When the network is working correctly collect the data from a network diagnostic run, then compare this with data collected when it is not working.

To collect the data go to a command prompt and type “NETSH DIAG GUI” wait a few moments and a dialog box will appear. Click on set scanning options and check every box except for Verbose. Then click on Scan your system and wait for the testing to finish. When it finishes click “Save to file” and save the results.

StuartR

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That sounds interesting. Thanks Stuart, I will try that first chance I get.

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After all this time I found the problem with the help of my providers tech support. They have tried to resolve this before, but this time I got ahold of another techie who walked me right to it. He had me open the router settings. Told me to go to the WAN section and read the addresses. 2 of the DNS adresses were old and no longer used. Evidently that isn’t an issue with Win 98 but it is with XP. I entered the new adresses and haven’t had a problem since. Thank Stuart for all your help. And to all the others too.

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Weird! Thank you for sharing this.

StuartR

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Persistence pays off. Whew!!! Glad it is working.

Joe

--Joe

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