[ceej]

Hi
Hoping someone can help. I have an advent laptop running on Vista that we mainly use on holidays. Last year we were connected to a hotel service and it crashed. Since then the laptop started throwing up security warnings on every single website visited and refusing to load, it would crash and freeze and not it is refusing to connect to anything at all, even at home. It says there are some driver issues but I can't find out what is wrong (and to be honest I am not sure I would understand if it gave up lots of tech info) and I do not have a clue how to fix it. It says it is connected to my home wifi (virgin media) but it will not actually connect to anything at all and the troubleshooting gizmo can't repair the issues. It used to work just fine at home and another (annoyingly slow) laptop will work on the home wifi so I'm guessing that the home wifi is not the problem)
I have had this thing a few years and can't find any of the discs that may have come with it. Should I accept that is is fried and buy something else? We have another trip coming up and this is driving me crazy because I need to be connected when I travel.
Huge thanks to anyone who made it this far and will hopefully be able to offer some advice...even if its only throew it in the bin.

Cheers
C

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Hi there I have taken the liberty of moving this to the malware forum

Could you let me know what version of windows you are running ?

A few things to do ..

Do you have access to a USB drive that you can use to transfer a programme to the other computer ?

Are you able to get to safe mode on the sick computer (reboot the computer and press and hold F8)
If so can you access safe mode

Then do the following :

On the clean computer download and install the following programme to protect it during any transfer processes

Download MCShield to your desktop and install
It will initially run a scan and show the result as a toaster by the system clock
Then in the control centre select scanner and tick unhide items on flash drives

Plug in the drive and McShield will start a scan

Then get the log which will be here :

Start > all programs > MCShield > logs > all scans

And post that

THEN

Download to the USB drive the following programme and run it on the sick computer


Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your USB, then transfer and copy to the desktop of the sick one .

Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system. If you are not sure which version applies to your system download both of them and try to run them. Only one of them will run on your system, that will be the right version.

• Right click to run as administrator (XP users click run after receipt of Windows Security Warning - Open File). When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.
• Press Scan button.
• It will produce a log called FRST.txt in the same directory the tool is run from.
• Please copy and paste log back here.
• The first time the tool is run it generates another log (Addition.txt - also located in the same directory as FRST.exe/FRST64.exe). Please also paste that along with the FRST.txt into your reply.

[Essexboy]

Hi there I have taken the liberty of moving this to the malware forum

Could you let me know what version of windows you are running ?

A few things to do ..

Do you have access to a USB drive that you can use to transfer a programme to the other computer ?

Are you able to get to safe mode on the sick computer (reboot the computer and press and hold F8)
If so can you access safe mode

Then do the following :

On the clean computer download and install the following programme to protect it during any transfer processes

Download MCShield to your desktop and install
It will initially run a scan and show the result as a toaster by the system clock
Then in the control centre select scanner and tick unhide items on flash drives

Plug in the drive and McShield will start a scan

Then get the log which will be here :

Start > all programs > MCShield > logs > all scans

And post that

THEN

Download to the USB drive the following programme and run it on the sick computer


Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your USB, then transfer and copy to the desktop of the sick one .

Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system. If you are not sure which version applies to your system download both of them and try to run them. Only one of them will run on your system, that will be the right version.

• Right click to run as administrator (XP users click run after receipt of Windows Security Warning - Open File). When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.
• Press Scan button.
• It will produce a log called FRST.txt in the same directory the tool is run from.
• Please copy and paste log back here.
• The first time the tool is run it generates another log (Addition.txt - also located in the same directory as FRST.exe/FRST64.exe). Please also paste that along with the FRST.txt into your reply.

[ceej]

Thanks for the speedy and detailed reply... Off to try...will be back later
Thank you so much

[ceej]

Carried out your instructions (I think) and have attached the results (hope that was the right thing to do?) now have fingers crossed that this will help you to help me out of a jam.
Many Thanks

Attached Files

•  Scan result of Mc Shield and Farbar Recovery Scan Tool.rtf   62.99KB   267 downloads

[Essexboy]

OK your USB is clean and at the moment there is no apparent malware however, we will need to check out the services and net connections now

Two quick programmes to run

Download and run farbar service scanner



Tick "All" options.
Press "Scan".
It will create a log (FSS.txt) in the same directory the tool is run.

Please copy and paste the log to your reply.

THEN

Please download MiniToolBox, save it to your desktop and run it.

Checkmark the following checkboxes:

• Flush DNS
• Report IE Proxy Settings
• Reset IE Proxy Settings
• Report FF Proxy Settings
• Reset FF Proxy Settings
• List content of Hosts
• List IP configuration
• List Winsock Entries
• List last 10 Event Viewer log
• List Installed Programs
• List Devices
• List Users, Partitions and Memory size.
• List Minidump Files

Click Go and post the result (Result.txt). A copy of Result.txt will be saved in the same directory the tool is run.

Note: When using "Reset FF Proxy Settings" option Firefox should be closed.

[ceej]

Thanks...have run those and attached the results

Attached Files

•  Farbar Service Scanner Version.rtf   36.91KB   273 downloads
•  MiniToolBox by Farbar Version.rtf   45.05KB   261 downloads

[Essexboy]

OK I can see the problem, there are a whole slew of windows services that are not starting and most are related to the network

So there are a few repair programmes to run, by themselves they will not cure the problem but, together I have high hopes

OK lets try a tool that I have used a while back that has now been updated

Go to MajorGeeks and download Complete Internet Repair

Once on the desktop unzip the folder :
Double click the file
Select extract all to desktop
Open that folder
Run CIntRep and the following will appear


Select all elements as shown and press Go
On completion reboot then run the next programme

Download Windows All In One Repair from Here to your desktop
Install the programme and run. Windows may try to block the programme but allow it to run as it is safe.



Select step 4 and create both restore point and registry backup



Select the start tab and press Start



Select all the items indicated in the list below and also tick the restart on completion box



Once done with both programmes retry the internet and let me know the result

[ceej]

have fallen at the very first hurdle...cannot download the majorgeeks repair... It will download to my healthy desktop pc but when I try to save it to the usb as I did with the previous downloads (to then run it on the sick laptop) it says "data error cyclic redundancy check" Any suggestions?

Is it worth trying the others without the first one?

Edited by ceej, 09 March 2014 - 08:31 PM.

[Essexboy]

Yes you can try that however the CRC failure may well indicate deeper problems. At this stage the best option would be to back up your necessary data and restore the computer to defaults. Advents have this option ..

Restart your computer. Then Press F10 repeatedly until the message "Starting System Recovery" is displayed.
In Windows by clicking: Start / All Programs / System Recovery / System Recovery.
The recovery will load and display a box with one option:
Non-destructive recovery: this option will restore Windows, supplied applications, and drivers. This option will not destroy your documents or programs. These will be backed up along with the registry. These are restored at the end of the recovery process.

[ceej]

I tried clicking the F10 repeatedly but all I got was a black screen with the follwoing

edit windows boot options for MS Windows Vista
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Partition: 3
Hard Disk:138575c2
[/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN

Edited by ceej, 10 March 2014 - 11:28 AM.

[Essexboy]

Start / All Programs / System Recovery do you have this option ?

Could you also try windows all in one repair and see if that runs

[ceej]

There was no system recovery but I did find a system restore and after a little faffing about managed to get it to restore to pretty much when I first got it. Once that was done it rebooted and I am able to get online with it again. I am hoping it is fixed enough for a holiday trip...if it dies on me while I am away I will probably throw it in a bin. Is there anything I should do now or is it a matter of fingers crossed and hope for the best?

[Essexboy]

OK that wa the bit I was after, obviously there are variations on it. How is the computer behaving in general ?

[ceej]

It appeared to be okay - I was able to access docs and photos and it connected to the web and was working as I would expect a laptop to work... but having walked away to eat dinner and come back to it no longer connects to the internet although the connect to says it is connected to my home wifi.
Windows network diagnostics says there might be a problem with one or more network adapters on this computer and offers a couple of suggestions which I will try now... I fear it is doomed. Will be back shortly...thanks for all your help sof ar I really do appreciate it

[ceej]

Okay rebooting the modem on the home system seems to have allowed the laptop to adjust its connection and its working again....(she says tentatively.) I will keep an eye on it and see what its doing tomorrow....my concern is if there is still a problem and it throws a wobbly when I am away I will be truly stuffed. I can't switch off a hotel system at the mains and wait two minutes...
Thankas again for your help. Much appreciated.