Network

Question

Cable Modem Installed - Friday - Smooth and was working perfectly Saturday - poof! - Cannot access online... Test it on laptop to see if I have access to cable modem - Works perfect so it tells me it's my PC   I have done many things that I cannot remember them all with an assistance of our uncle so bear with me if I have some incomplete information.. .   We have test ping and indicated no host found We have manually input DPHS (spelling?) and DNS - We know the address for these two in order to access the online since the provider provided us the information but still no success.   There is two option to this - Registry or network itself.  We tried to delete the network so we can reinstall it and it will not let us do it.  We wanted to test it by deleting and reinstall to see if it clean out whatever is causing this malfunction.   Yes - I have norton 2003 running as it was recently installed due to virus I have encountered and clean them all off including running ad-ware and spybots to remover all these spyware.  Coolwwwsearch was the major one and we finally got it removed.   According to cable provider - They think our socket isn't working.   I forgot what this is called but you go to a screen where you can see the numbers for RECEIVED and SENT - Sent is always Zero and Receive numbers goes up and up...   A friend is recommending us to reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything to have a clean slate but as I understand this is the last resort.  I even ran the diagontics (Dell Resource) and test everything went passed... Our uncle is computer technician and has asked us to try this and that on the common basic things that you would have check ipconfig, etc and worked together on this... He is stumped.   Any idea/suggestion??  Again, bear with me if I missed some details you are interested in and like I said, we tried many different things in different areas so I am confused what I really did in order to provide you exact info you might like..

Wcline99 · Answer

Jim - to answer your question about firewall and Malware - Yes and Yes I have ran the spybots and ad-ware to delete them all as many times as I can.. the only major problem I had was with the coolwwwsearch which keeps coming back...  The uncle and I got it disable.

jwatt · Answer

Wcline99,

If you're running XP, try downloading and running winsockxpfix. If that doesn't work, try lspfix.

It sounds like you have a machine that's directly connected to a cable modem. Note that when switching the cable modem from one machine to another, you need to power the cable modem down for a few minutes, then connect it to the other machine, power up the cable modem and wait for it to complete connecting to the cable system, and then power up the other machine.

Do you have a personal firewall installed? Have you scanned the machines for malware, using Ad-Aware and Spybot as described in this article?

If you want to be able to access to the Internet from both machines simultaneously, you should consider obtaining a broadband router.

Jim

Wcline99 · Answer

Before everyone misunderstood this.. I don't OWN laptop... I borrow it to test the cable modem to pinpoint which is the problem - Cable Modem or PC... Cable Modem is in working order since I can access via laptop... I am only using one computer which is PC with XP Software..

Since I cannot access the online - Are the download files you are recommending - Can I save these on disk using the PC at my work... Sometimes the files are too big so I have no idea how big this files you are recommending.. The work PC doesn't have CD-R/W - This lies a problem

jwatt · Answer

Wcline99,

WinsockxpFix.exe looks like it'll just fit on one floppy (1,445,888 bytes). LSPfix.exe is much smaller (186368 bytes).

Ad-Aware SE 1.05 is more of a problem - it's 2,636,408 bytes long. Spybot's 1,425,377 bytes long, and so it'll fit on a floppy. The only problem is that in order to obtain the most current definitions for both Ad-Aware and Spybot, the downloads need to be installed and then updated. That increases their size beyond what will fit on a floppy.

Hopefully the problem is corruption of the Winsock2 "layered service provider" stack, and WinsockXPFix or LSPfix will resolve it.

Jim

jwatt · Answer

the only major problem I had was with the coolwwwsearch which keeps coming back... The uncle and I got it disable.

Wcline99,

Some variants of CoolWebSearch can be extremely difficult to exterminate. If fixing Winsock2 with lspfix/winsockxpfix doesn't work, I'd suggest downloading, installing, and running CWShredder (328488 bytes). If that doesn't clean things up, the next step is to download and run HijackThis (183169 bytes), a malware analysis and removal tool, and submit the log it produces for analysis.

Jim

Wcline99 · Answer

Small note I want to mention if this is vital for you to know so you can answer this..

Bogus IP address keeps popping up on our IP config. Manual override/manual manpiulation doesn't work. Is this entirely different issue from the recommendation of winsock, etc that might fix this?

jwatt · Answer

Wcline99, By 'bogus', do you mean an IP address that begins with 169.254? If so, it's an 'autoassigned' IP address that XP assigns when it can't make contact with a DHCP server. If all this happened at once and is related to a possibly incompletely removed CoolWebSearch infection, then the Winsock2 LSP fixers might do the job. Jim

Wcline99 · Answer

The IP you said sounds right but I cannot confirm this until I see my notes at home since I am at work.    You are saying I should use winsockxp or LSP first BEFORE cwshredder?  Should I run the cwshredder first before I try the winsockxp or LSP to ensure coolwebsearch has been taken care of?  I couldn't really find much about this variant as it is called 'COOLWEBSEARCH.YEXE'.  I hope CWShredder can take care of this.. There is many variants I have seen with coolwebsearch (internet surfing to find out more details) but really cannot find much with 'YEXE'.   Spybots and Ad-Ware are all updated as it was download and used on Friday prior to lost of the network.  I pretty much clean out everything including the virus except coolwebsearch.   I will try all of this tonight and pray for the best and appreciate your help/feedback..   William

jwatt · Answer

William,

Because CoolWebSearch infections can be so virulent, I'd suggest getting a second opinion on the order of attempting the LSP fixers and CWShredder. Why don't you post a note in the Virus/Spyware Information and Removal board and see what others think?

Be sure to explain the whole history of the problems with the machine as well as the current symptoms.

Jim

troyr68 · Answer

OS - XP , ISP - Charter

I dint know where to start. First off, Im so mad at Dell and their telephone support. Second off, My PC has a integrated ethernet. Lets cut to the chase shall we. I can not surf the net through my ISP. The cable modem is locked and loaded and just flat out ready to go, I show a connection with the PC and the cable modem. The ethernet lights are on, one steady green and a blinking orange. Everytime I release I get a 169.254. If I could just get it to release I could then get my 10. so I could log onto my ISP web page to get my 24. Charter has been to my house, hooked their laptops and went as far as to hook my laptop up to the cable modem and surfed the net just fine. We then put a ethernet card into a empty slot. The PC still did not want to surf the net. All it want to do is give me the 169.254. My PC is still under warenty. Dell says its the ISP. The ISP says its Dell. Im leaning realy hard towards that the PC is messed up. Dell has hung up on me. Told me they would call back and never did. Walked me through the same old endless process of open this, close this, change this, change that for hours on end. Why wont they help me after 4 months, why? Im not going to pay another bill for a PC that wont work right, I just wont. Dell, where is your nearest repair shop? Dell, why is it that I cant find a dirrect mailing address to you and I only find that you have a PO Box in TX? THe next time I buy a PC it wont be from Dell or anything with MS. So much for the oranges I guess an Apple a day keeps the Dr. away.

Troy Reppert (aka Todd Taylor)

St. Louis, MO

jwatt · Answer

Troy,

Your symptoms may be similar, but the chances of your problem being the same as Wcline99's are slim.

Please start a new thread by clicking on the "New Message" button when viewing the board's message list.

Jim

Wcline99 · Answer

Jim,

Thank you for your assistance.. Winsockxp did the trick as I now can surf... now I need to get help on booting up... very very slow... for past two weeks as it used to be snap... Which area would be the appropriate for this topic?

jwatt · Answer

Wcline99,

Given the past (and maybe present!) history of malware, I'd double-check the system with Ad-Aware and Spybot, and CWShredder. If nothing changes, download a copy of HijackThis, a malware analysis and removal tool, scan the machine, and post the resulting log in your thread in the Virus/Spyware Information and Removal board, along with an explanation of the current and past problems.

Here's an illustrated guide to installing and running HijackThis that you may find helpful.

Jim

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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