Wildcat Rudy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2011
Messages
22
Background: I'm running Windows 7, 64 bit, with IE9.

Symptom: Internet access works fine with everything, except any program that seems to be tied to Internet Explorer. Programs such as command line utilities (Powershell, etc.), other browsers (Chrome, etc.), FTP, Usenet reader, Tweetdeck, Dropbox, etc. all work properly. However, IE9, desktop gadgets and a couple of other programs cannot access the internet. It is like a component in IE9 (such as a driver file, a service, registry setting, or something else) is missing or mis-configured.

This all started one day when I had shut the computer down. When I restarted it, the network interface was not working at all--I could not even ping the router. I ended up having to go to Device Manager, delete the network card, have Device Manager detect it again, and reinstall it. Everything on the network came up properly but, at that point, IE and everything else tied to it (like gadgets) were no longer working.

Here is what I've done so far...

1. Looked at ipconfig /all and everything looks good.

2. HijackThis showed nothing that I did not recognize; it did complain about some common missing files, but it turns out that these entries are caused by using 64-bit Windows.

3. In addition to Windows Defender, I also run Avast antivirus. I ran a full scan in both programs and nothing bad turned up. I also downloaded a couple of others (Spybot S&D, Malwarebytes, etc.) and they did not find anything either. The only oddity is that in Avast, it complains that it cannot start the Web Shield protection, and I've even uninstalled and reinstalled Avast.

3A. I also disabled Avast, and also tried the computer with Avast uninstalled. No difference.

4. IE is not set to offline mode. (That's a common issue I've found. ;) )

5. Ran the System File Checker--all files check out OK.

6. Looked at the Event Viewer immediately after trying to use IE, but no errors are thrown. (Unless I need to set Event Viewer to log additional events.)

7. I did a full reset of IE9, per Microsoft's instructions.

8. Just about all Windows updates have been applied, except for the past month or so that I've had this problem--I did not want to make things worse. (They are downloaded but NOT installed, in other words.)

9. I also reset Winsock using netsh winsock reset.

10. I disabled the Windows Firewall in case a corrupted entry was in the table; no luck. I do not run any other firewalls. The router has a firewall, but that has been in place for almost a year.

11. As for other things I've done, I have looked through the Local Security Policy, running services, etc., and don't really see anything out of the ordinary.

I did try this at one other Windows forum, but when I made one mention of checking registry settings, I got "talked down to". I am more of an advanced user, so I prefer to work via command line, policy settings, etc. rather than mess around with "for dummies" fixes like the other site was pushing me toward. ;)

I have seen other complaints about this same problem, but have read through them all and none of the fixes applied, or some never were resolved.

It's a minor problem for me (I rarely use IE), but still, I'd like to have it working.

Thanks!
 


Solution
I would only use the Microsoft Provided driver as a driver of last resort. I would first attempt to identify the Manufacturer, Model Name, Model Number and Revision Number and use the manufacture's website to obtain the latest driver and install that manually.
I would also completely remove any third party firewall products (Comodo, ZoneAlarm, etc) and any third party internet security suites / antivirus software (Avast, Avira, AVG, Norton/Symantec, McAfee, etc.,) by first using the programs and features applet in the control panel and follow that up by the vendor specific proprietary removal tool, Link Removed. If yours is not in the list, try to Google for it to make sure you remove any remaining remnants even going so far as...
Believe it or not, I'm still alive.

And my IE is still dead! :D I've been so busy over the past several months that I have put this on the back burner. Today I had to catch up on my Windows 7 updates, and even got Service Pack 1 installed with no issues. Except that IE is still dead.

Here is something that was triggered by what Saltgrass mentioned earlier: I cannot ping either "Localhost" or 127.0.0.1 on this computer. I get the following when I ping both:

C:\Users\xxxx>ping localhost

Pinging Rudy [::1] with 32 bytes of data:
PING: transmit failed. General failure.
PING: transmit failed. General failure.
PING: transmit failed. General failure.
PING: transmit failed. General failure.


Ping statistics for ::1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),


C:\Users\xxxx>ping 127.0.0.1


Pinging 127.0.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 10.0.1.100: Destination host unreachable.
Request timed out.


Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 1, Lost = 3 (75% loss),

10.0.1.100 is the IP address assigned to my computer. Running ipconfig /all gives me:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Rudy
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:


Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCI GBE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : C8-3A-35-D3-68-67
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::19ce:8a4d:676e:c139%2(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.100(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, August 05, 2012 11:00:00 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, September 12, 2148 6:01:53 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 80230965
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-13-44-B5-63-E0-CB-4E-E0-4F-22


DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled


Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:


Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e76:2cdd:3b1b:9c49:3f21(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::2cdd:3b1b:9c49:3f21%3(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled


Tunnel adapter isatap.{AEBC07EF-1075-478D-82B3-F79EC5E0D664}:


Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

I don't know if I mentioned it earlier in this thread, but I even tried resetting the TCP/IP stacks manually at the command line.

I also have access to two different network adapters--one on the motherboard, and the other via an Ethernet card. Regardless of which one I use, neither brings IE back to life.

Thinking back a couple of years, the only network-related issue I remember was when our Internet service went out at the house, and I tried tethering my computer to my Droid. I remember installing a Motorola driver to get the phone to be recognized by the computer, and another software package to enable the networking via the phone. I don't recall if it ever worked or not, it was so long ago. But it makes me wonder if something in those software packages (which have long since been uninstalled) affected anything. I can't really pinpoint when IE and related programs quit working, unfortunately.

If I could do a repair installation of Win7 that kept all the user accounts and user settings, I'd do that as a last resort. But when I did this on XP about 10 years ago, it was like having to start over. With everything I have installed, and relying on this for work, I don't have days available to get everything back to where I need it.
 


I threw in the towel on trying to fix this one problem, so I performed one of those in-place upgrades (to the same version) which worked to restore everything, along with keeping all of the programs and settings. That was earlier in December. Later that month, I took advantage of the $15 upgrade offer to Win8 and made that upgrade between the holidays. Everything's working smoothly so far, and despite all the ranting and raving about Win8, hardly anything has changed on my desktop and even my Quick Launch bar is exactly as I left it.

I still wish I knew what the problem was that caused the partial connectivity. It would have been good to reference for future repairs.
 


Back
Top