[arguswilson]

Greetings!

Here is my problem:

When I boot up, the computer starts to load and then freezes on the desktop. (Its worked fine for years.) If I unplug the ethernet cable and then reboot, the computer works fine. As soon as I plug the ethernet cable back into the computer, it freezes again. This means, of course, that I have no means of connecting to the Internet to run any Internet-based diagnostics.

I have run Malwarebuytes' Anti-Malware and it found adware.popcap, which I deleted. But the problem still persists--when the Ethernet is plugged in, the entire computer freezes.

Hitting ctrl-alt-delete does not work.

I appreciate any advice to solve this issue.

[happyrock]

Hi arguswilson...welcome to Geeks To Go...
unplug the ethernet cable... boot up and check your device manager for any yellow ! or ? marks ...
to check... Click on Start and then Run...Type in devmgmt.msc and then press Enter

[arguswilson]

Dear Happyrock:

Device Manager does not show any problems.

-Argus

[happyrock]

try a different Ethernet cable...
nojoy...
Click on Start and then Run...Type in devmgmt.msc and then press Enter
click on the + beside network adapters...get a screenshot and post it for us...
how to post screenshot...go here...

[arguswilson]

Since I cannot access the Internet, its difficult to post a screenshot. The network adapters tab shows two items: a firewire card and an Intel Pro/100 network connection. Neither have any yellow ! or question marks. Both appear to be functioning properly according to the device manager.

[happyrock]

DID YOU TRY A NEW CABLE...
Lets try and see whether you have equipment related problems. In this step, we will allow the equipment to self-diagnose and resolve the problems.

If you suddenly lose connectivity over your High Speed Internet line, have a slow connection or are unable to browse the Internet despite indications that you are connected, it is possible that your modem is not communicating properly with the Internet network.

Save all your current work, close all open applications, then shut down your computer ...unplug router and modem

Power up the modem first and after it gets initialized and all the lites are steady..
power up the router...after all the lites are on...
power up the computer

The above steps should take care of your problem

no joy then try this..

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2.

For these commands click on Start.... Run..... type in...CMD ....press enter....to open a command prompt box

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults...type in ... netsh winsock reset catalog .... press ...enter

Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults...type in...... netsh int ip reset reset.log ... press ...enter

[The Skeptic]

It looks like a hardware problem to me, either with the cable or, more often, with the ethernet card.

1: If you have another computer try to connect it to the cable. If it works then the problem is not with the cable and/or modem but with the computer itself.If you don't have another computer then you may find it easier to take the modem and cable to another computer at a friend's house.

2: Buy a PCI ethernet card and install it in your computer. These are cheap and in most cases do not need any driver. Just turn the computer off, install the card in an empty PCI slot and reboot. Windows will recognize the card and install the driver automatically.

[arguswilson]

Yes--I plugged another computer into the same cable and it worked fine--no problems whatsoever.

I will try the reset instructions you offered. Thanks.

[arguswilson]

I followed the TCP/IP stack repair options. It did not resolve the problem.

So I purchased a new ethernet card. Drivers installed without any problem. But as soon as I plug the ethernet cable into the card, the entire computer freezes--same as before. If I unplug the ethernet cable from the ethernet card, the computer appears to work without any problem.

Thanks in advance...

[happyrock]

while your shut down ...plug in cable and boot up...what happens...

[The Skeptic]

I am not sure where the problem is but I still tend to believe that it is in the hardwar. Maybe faulty leads on the motherboar, I simply don't know.

In addition to what happyrock suggested please try the following:

1: Boot into "safe mode with networking" and see if the problem persist. If it does go to the next step.

2: Download Puppy Linux or any other of these tiny linux operating system that run from the RAM (they do not install on the hard disk). Enable networking option and see how the computer behave. You can use the link in my list below. The purpose of this step is to test the computer outside windows environment. If the problem persist then we can safely say that it is in the hardware. If it runs well then the problem is of software origin.

3: Download and install the chipset driver for the motherboard.

4: does your modem/router has wireless capabilities? If it does and if we do not pinpoint the problem, then I suggest that you get a USB wireless network adapter and run the computer this way.

[arguswilson]

I booted into safe mode with networking and everything works fine. So I guess that means that I have a software problem??

[happyrock]

Please download VEW the Event Viewer Tool by Vino Rosso from here and save it to your Desktop...
Double-click VEW.exe
Under 'Select log to query...put ticks in both application and system
Under 'Select type to list... select both error and critical
Click the radio button for 'Number of events...Type 5 in the 1 to 20 box
Then click the Run button.

Notepad will open with the output log.

Please post the Output log in your next reply

[The Skeptic]

Yes, it is a software problem which, I must admit, I have never seen before (No big deal. Almost every day I see problems which I didn't see before). Please follow happyrock's instructions.

[arguswilson]

Here it is:

Attached File(s)

•  VEW.txt (2.39K)
  Number of downloads: 761