Vista - Network Changes to Local Only but Ping works..

[gord]

Hi all,

I have had this laptop brought to me and its got quite an odd problem.

Basically when I got it I had to strip out AVG and ZoneAlarm as they were blocking net traffic. Now its using Windows FW and Avast.

The thing is, on a restart its fine for 10 minutes. Then, all of a sudden it decides it doesnt want to talk to the internet any more. The network centre reports its broken at the internet link, but still connected to my local network.

Cant access the router or anything.. BUT can ping google.com and the router and ultimately, this brings the Network centres internet icon back.. only before trying to use IE to access a webpage to be told.. no internet connectivity any more.. and so the circle begins..

Anyone have any ideas? Virus territory? Ive done a Malware scan..

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[gord]

Not behind a web proxy or anything? Are there any dodgy DNS settings? Could be malware I suppose but I would want to rule out a few other things first. Does the same thing happen in other web browsers?

Will download FireFox tonight and see if it does the same. No web proxy, all other networked computers (mine) are fine.

No dodgy DNS settings, but I will recheck tonight.

 

[gord]

Ok.

a) tried to download firefox in the 5 minute initial window of internet through IE, but upon download completion the file never comes down.. doesnt appear in the dl location

b) tried installing FF from a USB stick, installs fine.. but it just wont load.. the process starts etc but I cant see the FF window

c) static IP with MS DNS does exactly the same as usual.. after the initial internet use period it just stops working, even though windows did keep reporting we were connected to the net

d) cant connect to router during issue

e) safe mode w/ networking appears to work, just testing for longer, but will even load FireFox.. at which point Ive also found more remains of the ZoneAlarm and AVG installs.. im thinking they are screwing things up.

 

[gord]

Try disabling IP V6.

Yeh saw that in the connections settings so I turned off IPv6. No difference.

Try rebooting the router?

Router is fine. All other machines love it.


But progress time. Ive removed other traces of programs and it found a virus after that, which I think was hiding in AVG...

Anyway, now it just won't connect to network at all.. reinstalled both adapters.. but it just wont negotiate the network. The wireless even picks up the network.. but it wont apply itself..

ipconfig /all just doesnt display any adapters...

im starting to think a windows reinstall would be best..

 

[gord]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

In the end nothing worked, just formatted, installed Win 7 RC and its now flying along.