Weird computer issue

[1100011CS]

My friend brought me his laptop because he thinks he has a virus. The only symptom is that his browsers won't connect to any website. Happens in Chrome and IE. I can ping google.com and his IM client and other apps connect fine. I've ran a couple virus scanners and malware scanners and they aren't coming up with anything. Any ideas?

 

[iahawkhunter]

My friend brought me his laptop because he thinks he has a virus. The only symptom is that his browsers won't connect to any website. Happens in Chrome and IE. I can ping google.com and his IM client and other apps connect fine. I've ran a couple virus scanners and malware scanners and they aren't coming up with anything. Any ideas?

Wild shot here, but does he have something like Norton on it that could be applying an internet chastity belt? A friend of mine's first words of advice for internet connection issues is "turn off Norton.".

 

[serverguy]

Check the proxy settings for each browser.

 

[flynnhicks03]

Check the proxy settings for each browser.

+1. I've had mysterious proxy setting appear a couple of times, and that's the exact symptom. Took out the settings, and everything worked.

 

[drunkstepfather]

The old fake proxy server of: 127.0.0.1

 

[1100011CS]

Wild shot here, but does he have something like Norton on it that could be applying an internet chastity belt? A friend of mine's first words of advice for internet connection issues is "turn off Norton.".

He had AVG installed but I removed it before I started running my scans.

 

[1100011CS]

Check the proxy settings for each browser.

+1. I've had mysterious proxy setting appear a couple of times, and that's the exact symptom. Took out the settings, and everything worked.

The old fake proxy server of: 127.0.0.1

Yeah, that's the first thing I checked. Not it.

 

[cytech]

Did you check the DNS servers? Infections can set the DNS servers to something else to create the problem you are getting.

 

[aweb84]

Sounds like firewall settings on the machine.

Sounds like http might be turned off

would explain why you can ping and the IM clients are working.

 

[synapticwave]

is windows firewall blocking port 80 &| 443, IM and ping are on specific ports, so that could be it.

edit: aweb84 beat me to it.

 

[TykeClone]

Did you check the DNS servers? Infections can set the DNS servers to something else to create the problem you are getting.

He can ping google.com, so he is resolving DNS at the command line, but not at the browser.

I'm curious to know if he can point the browser to 208.85.225.99 (what I resolved google to) if he gets a web page.

 

[cjb1978]

He can ping google.com, so he is resolving DNS at the command line, but not at the browser.

I'm curious to know if he can point the browser to 208.85.225.99 (what I resolved google to) if he gets a web page.

To fix this problem, I simply had to clear the Windows XP DNS cache.
To do this, go to Start->Run and type “ipconfig /flushdnsâ€￾ .
(That’s ipconfig-space-slash-flushdns)
Something will briefly flash on your screen, and the DNS cache will now be cleared.

 

[TykeClone]

To fix this problem, I simply had to clear the Windows XP DNS cache.
To do this, go to Start->Run and type “ipconfig /flushdnsâ€￾ .
(That’s ipconfig-space-slash-flushdns)
Something will briefly flash on your screen, and the DNS cache will now be cleared.

I'm not sure that will do the trick :wink: He can resolve names from the command line but not (apparently) from the browser.

 

[Boxerdaddy]

He had AVG installed but I removed it before I started running my scans.

I had a friend who said that the newest AVG update had a virus in it. I don't use AVG so I didn't investigate but you might want to. Maybe you have but one thing that I found that usually works is combofix. Go to A guide and tutorial on using ComboFix and download it. (There's also a handy-dandy guide) Start your computer in safe mode for your best chance. (Restart your computer then hit f8 repeatedly til it asks how you want to start...i do SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING.)

You may know how to do that but wanted to lay it out for everyone else.

 

[TykeClone]

I had a friend who said that the newest AVG update had a virus in it.

I don't think it was a virus - just a "bad update"

I had someone who's machine was rendered unbootable by the update. I (think) I used their recovery CD to fix the issue and they were up & running right away.

AVG - Rescue CD | PC Rescue and Repair Toolkit

But that was not the behavior described in this thread.

 

[1100011CS]

It's definitely not a DNS issue. I think AVG left some crap on when I uninstalled it. So, I reinstalled, disabled everything, then uninstalled again. Is now works but not Chrome. I'm not home now but going to try Firefox later. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[1100011CS]

AVG Bug kills 64 bit computers | PC Pitstop

This is a 64-bit PC and I just finished reformatting/restoring it. ******* AVG.

 

[TykeClone]

AVG Bug kills 64 bit computers | PC Pitstop

This is a 64-bit PC and I just finished reformatting/restoring it. ******* AVG.

Did you try the recovery disk first?