| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Loss of Internet connectivity --- HELP! Thread poster: Tony M
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Tony M
France
Local time: 20:15
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
I am operating a Packard-Bell office PC running XP SP3, and Firefox v 9.0.1 (which I installed fairly recently, following an upgrade prompt)
I connect to my Sagem 'Livebox' broadband router via an Ethernet connection (and I also use a laptop via WiFi)
The office PC has been running fine for several months, originally with Avaast virus protection, but I recently uninstalled that to replace it with Computer Associates anti-virus software, for which I already had a multi-m... See more I am operating a Packard-Bell office PC running XP SP3, and Firefox v 9.0.1 (which I installed fairly recently, following an upgrade prompt)
I connect to my Sagem 'Livebox' broadband router via an Ethernet connection (and I also use a laptop via WiFi)
The office PC has been running fine for several months, originally with Avaast virus protection, but I recently uninstalled that to replace it with Computer Associates anti-virus software, for which I already had a multi-machine licence. However, following some unresolved registration issues, I uninstalled that in turn, and downloaded and installed Avira. I had some problems with the download, and as soon as it was running, it instructed me to upgrade to the latest version, which involved manually uninstalling the newly-installed (older) version first! All in all, I spent several hours fiddling around, rebooting, etc.
After the installation was successfully completed, I did a complete system scan, which revealed no viruses, but 2 Trojan horses, swiftly deleted! Sadly, Brad Pitt was nowehere to be seen...
At first, for a few hours, the internet connection was fine; but then quite suddenly, without anything specific happening, it just stopped working, and nothing I have been able to do since has brought it back.
From Firefox, I can directly access the local software in the router, which tells me everything is fine --- and indeed at that level it must be, since I can access the 'Net from this laptop via the Wifi link.
The network connection manager says I'm connected to the Internet OK --- but whatever I do, I can't access any pages, nor can my e-mail server (Thunderbird) access my mail servers.
I've tried all sorts of things, like disabling (and eventually even uninstalling) the anti-virus software and the Windows firewall, but nothing seems to make any difference, yet all the parameters appear on the face of it to be correct.
I realize I haven't given much detail for you to go on, but could anyone at least suggest where I should maybe start looking?
I was about to blame this new version of Firefox, but then I realized Thunderbird can't access the 'Net either.
Any help at all would be gratefully received! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jean Lachaud 
United States
Local time: 14:15
English to French
+ ...
| Check Internet Connections | Jan 21, 2012 |
Hi, Tony:
It is difficult to make a remote diagnosis. The first thing to check is to look at Internet Connections in the Control Panel.
Also, run a Command Prompt (Start | Run), type "ipconfig" and press the Enter key. Essential data (your computer IP address & its Internet adapter gateway address) should be displayed. You can then ask your network person/IP provider whether they are correct.
BTW, come to think of it: if your computer is connected to the in... See more Hi, Tony:
It is difficult to make a remote diagnosis. The first thing to check is to look at Internet Connections in the Control Panel.
Also, run a Command Prompt (Start | Run), type "ipconfig" and press the Enter key. Essential data (your computer IP address & its Internet adapter gateway address) should be displayed. You can then ask your network person/IP provider whether they are correct.
BTW, come to think of it: if your computer is connected to the internet by a cable, check the cable is properly plugged at both ends, and that it is good (using a spare patch cable, for example). If the internet connection is Wi-Fi only, try a cable. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Uninstall/reinstall your Ethernet/wifi card | Jan 21, 2012 |
Tony M wrote:
I am operating a Packard-Bell office PC running XP SP3, and Firefox v 9.0.1 (which I installed fairly recently, following an upgrade prompt)
I connect to my Sagem 'Livebox' broadband router via an Ethernet connection (and I also use a laptop via WiFi)
The office PC has been running fine for several months, originally with Avaast virus protection, but I recently uninstalled that to replace it with Computer Associates anti-virus software, for which I already had a multi-machine licence. However, following some unresolved registration issues, I uninstalled that in turn, and downloaded and installed Avira. I had some problems with the download, and as soon as it was running, it instructed me to upgrade to the latest version, which involved manually uninstalling the newly-installed (older) version first! All in all, I spent several hours fiddling around, rebooting, etc.
After the installation was successfully completed, I did a complete system scan, which revealed no viruses, but 2 Trojan horses, swiftly deleted! Sadly, Brad Pitt was nowehere to be seen...
At first, for a few hours, the internet connection was fine; but then quite suddenly, without anything specific happening, it just stopped working, and nothing I have been able to do since has brought it back.
From Firefox, I can directly access the local software in the router, which tells me everything is fine --- and indeed at that level it must be, since I can access the 'Net from this laptop via the Wifi link.
The network connection manager says I'm connected to the Internet OK --- but whatever I do, I can't access any pages, nor can my e-mail server (Thunderbird) access my mail servers.
I've tried all sorts of things, like disabling (and eventually even uninstalling) the anti-virus software and the Windows firewall, but nothing seems to make any difference, yet all the parameters appear on the face of it to be correct.
I realize I haven't given much detail for you to go on, but could anyone at least suggest where I should maybe start looking?
I was about to blame this new version of Firefox, but then I realized Thunderbird can't access the 'Net either.
Any help at all would be gratefully received!
Hello,
If you have the drivers of your Ethernet/Wifi Card , uninstall it and install it anew.
Also, there was a time where this happened to me because I didn't install all the updates of Windows...This was very long ago though ! Before XP !
Also you have to seek on the Internet the "total uninstaller" for the antiviruses you listed above.
Kind regards,
Mohamed
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Hi Tony,
Check the Event Log, might tell you what happened.
Bernard
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| random ideas | Jan 21, 2012 |
Hi,
rephrasing what you’ve told us to confirm what we can rule out:
- It’s not a hardware problem with your ethernet card because you can access your router
- It’s not a loose cable because you can access your router
- It’s not a hardware problem with your router because your laptop can access the Internet through the same router
- It’s not a network problem on your ISP side because your laptop can access the Internet thr... See more Hi,
rephrasing what you’ve told us to confirm what we can rule out:
- It’s not a hardware problem with your ethernet card because you can access your router
- It’s not a loose cable because you can access your router
- It’s not a hardware problem with your router because your laptop can access the Internet through the same router
- It’s not a network problem on your ISP side because your laptop can access the Internet through the same router
- It’s not a Windows firewall problem because disabling it did not make a difference
- It’s not a proxy problem because it affects Thunderbird
- It shouldn’t be an anti-virus problem because uninstalling it did not make a difference
Additional context that might help:
- What error messages (exactly) are given when you try to access the net through Firefox and Thunderbird?
Things you could try:
- From Firefox, try typing the URL http://74.125.226.49 into the address bar. What do you get?
. If you get Google (74.125.226.49 is one of Google’s addresses), this is not a routing problem
. If you get an error message, what does it say (exactly)?
- If this is not a routing problem, you might want to check your DNS settings. Perhaps one of the anti-virus programs has changed it.
[Edited at 2012-01-21 20:54 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 20:15
Member
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER SITE LOCALIZER | Reporting back | Jan 21, 2012 |
Thanks, guys, for your help so far!
I confess I'm way out of my depth here; I found the event log OK, but can't view it properly, and what I was able to see, I didn't understand anyway!
I have downloaded a 'total uninstaller', now all I have to do is get it across onto the other PC.
I think Ambrose has correctly summed up what I had arrived at by elimination.
I tried entering the Google address exactly as you suggested, and all I get is 'Connec... See more Thanks, guys, for your help so far!
I confess I'm way out of my depth here; I found the event log OK, but can't view it properly, and what I was able to see, I didn't understand anyway!
I have downloaded a 'total uninstaller', now all I have to do is get it across onto the other PC.
I think Ambrose has correctly summed up what I had arrived at by elimination.
I tried entering the Google address exactly as you suggested, and all I get is 'Connecting to...', and then after some time, the error message comes up with something like "Timed out: xxx is taking too long to reply"
I don't know enough to check the DNS (where to find it?), and even if I could, I wouldn't know if it was wrong or right, or how to correct it.
What seems odd to me is that it went off in the middle of a session, i.e. not at some specific point of running a prog. etc. The only thing that might have happened (but I have no way of checking) is that there was a brief glitch in my broadband connection causing a momentary loss of synchronisation --- this sort of thing is fairly frequent around here, but usually everything just goes back to normal shortly afterwards.
Sorry I can't be more specific, it looks like I'm going to have to call a little man in --- though there aren't many around here that I have any faith in, sadly 
Just one other thing; when I check the status of the internet connection (task bar icon), I see that there is a constant movement of packets sent and received --- since I reconnected my Ethernet cable a short while ago, to try Ambrose's suggestion, over 100,000 packetrs have been both sent and received. I've no idea what this really means, but it does sound like a lot of data for a connection on which nothing is happening!
[Modifié le 2012-01-21 21:34 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | routing problem | Jan 21, 2012 |
Tony M wrote:
I tried entering the Google address exactly as you suggested, and all I get is 'Connecting to...', and then after some time, the error message comes up with something like "Timed out: xxx is taking too long to reply"
Hi,
If you attempt to connect directly to a numerical IP address but still times out, then this will not be a DNS problem. It’s either a hardware problem (ruled out), a firewall problem (ruled out), or a routing problem. If I have not missed any possibilities, it looks like it’s a routing problem of some sort.
My Windows troubleshooting skills are a bit rusty, so I’m not sure what to suggest at this point. I assume you have already rebooted Windows multiple times (e.g., when uninstalling), so this is not a problem that is fixable by a reboot. Something might then be screwed up in the Windows registry. Perhaps Mohamed’s suggestion (uninstalling the ethernet driver and then reinstalling it) might be able to fix the problem. Let us know how it goes…
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 20:15
Member
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER SITE LOCALIZER | Follow up --- registry? | Jan 21, 2012 |
Thanks, Ambrose!
The re-install option isn't really open to me, as I don't have the original drivers etc. While I might be able to download them, I'm not really confident messing around at that level.
Yes, you're right, of course, I have re-booted loads of times, and it hasn't made any difference; however, one thing you said did just ring a bell: after uninstalling Avira, I ran my Uniblue Registry Cleaner, and it found and "fixed" several errors --- I didn't think this ... See more Thanks, Ambrose!
The re-install option isn't really open to me, as I don't have the original drivers etc. While I might be able to download them, I'm not really confident messing around at that level.
Yes, you're right, of course, I have re-booted loads of times, and it hasn't made any difference; however, one thing you said did just ring a bell: after uninstalling Avira, I ran my Uniblue Registry Cleaner, and it found and "fixed" several errors --- I didn't think this was surprising, given all the manipulations, but it could certainly explain how the registry might have got corrupted.
Should I try a system restore, do you think? Only I'm a bit afraid what side-effects this might have? ▲ Collapse
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Under XP, if you right-click on your network connection (Taskbar) you'll get the option Repair, has worked for me a few times and/or you'll get a more explicit error message.
You can also search for a repair utility in the MS KB
Bernard
[Edited at 2012-01-21 22:33 GMT]
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 20:15
Member
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER SITE LOCALIZER
Bernard Lieber wrote:
... the option Repair, has worked for me a few times and/or you'll get a more explicit error message.
Thanks, Bernard, have already tried that, but it insists everything is fine, hence no error message at all.
I'll try looking for that utility...
By the way, I tried a system restore back a month (when things were OK), but even that hasn't cured it. 
| | | | Germaine
Canada
Local time: 14:15
English to French
+ ...
| Probably silly, but... | Jan 22, 2012 |
Did you try a reset of the router? I lost my connexion this morning too, for no apparent reason, and after trying all the usual, the problem solved itself after I decided to turn off the modem and the router, then turn on the modem, and reset the router (using a pin pushed through the reset hole).
| | | | Jean Lachaud
United States
Local time: 14:15
English to French
+ ...
| Check the Network Card | Jan 22, 2012 |
Tony:
At this point, if it were me, I'd scrounge a known-good new network card and install it in the computer. Because your symptoms are beginning to look like the network card just died.
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Tony M
France
Local time: 20:15
Member
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER SITE LOCALIZER | Thabks Germaine and JL | Jan 22, 2012 |
Certainly not "silly" Germaine -- those as I can communicate OK with the router, and the other PC works fine through it in Wifi, I didn't think that was likely to do much good.
JL:
Sadly, that option is not readily open to me here at present; however, surely if the PC is managing to communicate OK with the router (via the Ethernet cable), surely that rather rulles out that possibility, doesn't it?
| | | | Rebecca Hendry
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:15
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Probably silly 2 | Jan 22, 2012 |
This might be another silly suggestion, but have you restarted the computer? My PC sometimes drops its Internet connection, and even though the router works fine and I can access the Internet wirelessly through my laptop, I need to restart the PC to get it to connect again.
Worth a try if you haven't tried it already!
| | | | Tony M
France
Local time: 20:15
Member
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER SITE LOCALIZER | Probably silly #2: re-boot | Jan 22, 2012 |
Thanks a lot Rebecca for your suggestion; as you say, it is sometimes all too easy to overlook the most obvious things!
However, sad to say, in all this sorry saga, I have indeed re-booted the PC several times --- so far only using the button, but the time is fast approaching when I shall have to resort to FootWear v43.E. Needless to report, it hasn't made one scrap of difference.
Interesting, though, that you had experienced a similar phenomenon, and I'm pleased to hea... See more Thanks a lot Rebecca for your suggestion; as you say, it is sometimes all too easy to overlook the most obvious things!
However, sad to say, in all this sorry saga, I have indeed re-booted the PC several times --- so far only using the button, but the time is fast approaching when I shall have to resort to FootWear v43.E. Needless to report, it hasn't made one scrap of difference.
Interesting, though, that you had experienced a similar phenomenon, and I'm pleased to hear that in your case the solution was a simple one! ▲ Collapse
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