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Brand new laptop unable to connect to internet

B

bovinda

Senior member
My buddy brought his new laptop over to try to get it set up, but we cannot get it to connect to the internet.

The hardware and OS: an Acer Aspire 1 laptop, with XP SP3. The router is a Netgear, with two other computers and a laptop able to connect to it fine.

The software: IE7. It was also preinstalled with McAffee.

The problem: when we open up IE, it says "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage." If I type in, say, www.google.com, it says "The address is not valid" and shows "http:///" up in the address bar. This happens regardless of what the connection is (wireless or thru ethernet to my router).

What we've tried: calling Acer; they say to call my ISP. But the other computers (both wired and wireless connect to my router fine).
Network Connections shows that the Acer is connected to the internet, whether I go by the wireless or the wired connection. Clicking on the diagnostics link suggests we also call my ISP, but doesn't give anything more helpful than that.
I've tried deactivating McAffee's firewall and antivirus, but it still has the same problems.

If I go to IPCONFIG in the command prompt, it says this:

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
Media state ... Media disconnected

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix ... :
IP Address ... :192.168.0.6
Subnet Mask ... : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway ... : 192.168.0.1

Not sure what else to do. It is able to recognize the router if I type in 192.168.0.1 as an address. Any and all suggestions are appreciated, I am not a network guru. 🙂 Thanks in advance.

 
Sounds like the browser is being hijacked with the http:///. Try resetting IE to defaults and uninstalling the mcrapee software that's on there and see how it is. It's definitely something with the Acer.
 
Sounds like an External DNS problem.

Try to put in the WAN side of the Router.

One of the following DNS IPs.

4.2.2.1

4.2.2.2

4.2.2.3
 
Originally posted by: JackMDS
Sounds like an External DNS problem.

Try to put in the WAN side of the Router.

One of the following DNS IPs.

4.2.2.1

4.2.2.2

4.2.2.3
Click to expand...

Sorry Jack, you lost me 😱 May I ask you to clarify for me? I'll google external DNS problem, but I'm not clear on how to enter DNS IPs... I'll try whatever you say!

(That's what I both love and hate about all this - you get to learn so much, yet it seems like I always still know nothing. Like life, I suppose... 🙂 )
 
I'd try kevnich2's recommendation as well. Try restoring IE to its default settings. You are on the right track checking to see what 'does' work and you've stated you can get to the router. When you say the other PCs can get to the router, can the wired ones get to the internet? I'm assuming when you say they connect to the router that they connect to the internet just fine as well.

What I want to know though is if the router is getting an actual IP from your modem/ISP. There should be some information available that shows the status of the connection of the router if you log into it. You will be able to see the actual IP provided for you by your ISP. Another thing you can check is to see if you can ping any websites. Start -> Run -> type "cmd" and hit enter. A command prompt window will come up and you can type "ping www.google.com" and hit enter. It'll say whether or not it reaches its destination. It's a quick way to test connectivity between networks.

You can try 209.191.93.52 (www.yahoo.com) OR 74.125.95.147 (www.google.com) . I'm not exactly sure whether this changes depending on where you are, but I imagine it should still work.

I'm surprised the ISP has not been able to give you any more information as to whether your modem is working correctly. From personal experience I've called before about a slow connection and they've been able to test things on their end. A tech was sent in and it was determined the coax cable was bad.
 
Thanks Tarrant...so I reset IE to the default settings (sorry kevnich, didn't mean to ignore you 😱 ), but same effect. I tried "ping www.google.com" in the command prompt and got "Ping request could not find host www.google.com. Please check the name and try again." Same thing with www.yahoo.com.

But when I entered their numerical addresses as you listed I could connect to them! Yahoo's didn't load up all the way and was taking a long time, but Google loaded up. When I tried to search for anything though, it went back to "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage." Entering "www.google.com" still generates "http:///" in the browser address bar.

The other PCs can connect to the internet through the router fine, wired or not.

I haven't called the ISP yet. In my past experience it's a big PITA. You guys are usually much more helpful. 🙂

Any more ideas...?
 
JackMDS might have something more on the DNS. As if it can't resolve xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx to www.google.com, that's a DNS issue for sure. I'll have to think some mroe on it. If it's brand new I'd assume it doesn't have any spyware, etc. that would cause the redirects.

Hmm...Oh. Check to see if IE is configured to go through a proxy. Don't see how that's possible if you restored the settings to default. Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections. Look for LAN Settings, click that and make sure that "Use Proxy Server for your LAN" is unchecked. I've ran into that before.
 
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
JackMDS might have something more on the DNS. As if it can't resolve xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx to www.google.com, that's a DNS issue for sure.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

Log to the Router's menus look at the WAN (Internet Side), and put the numbers that I gave you before into the DNS' IP part.

Q: What the Heck are these numbers?

A: Verizon's trusty, fast, DNS server.


 
Hey guys, thanks for helping me with this. So I went into my router settings and entered the WAN Setup menu. The only choices it has are:

Connect Automatically, as Required (checked)
Disable SPI Firewall (unchecked)
Default DMZ Servcer (unchecked)
Respond to Ping on Internet Port (unchecked)
MTU Size (set to 1500)

I don't see where to enter the DNS addresses...what am I missing?

Below the WAN Setup, there is also a "Dynamic DNS" menu, a "LAN IP Setup, and some others, but none of them have DNS entry areas, AFAICT.

I also double-checked Tarrant, no proxy server is set up.

EDIT: In case it's relevant, my router is a Netgear WGT 624.
 
Go into the LAN IP setup area and put in Jack's DNS numbers into the DNS entries there. Also, instead of trying "ping www.yahoo.com", try instead these three and report back the results:
"ping 192.168.0.1"
"ping yahoo.com"
"ping 4.2.2.1"

A DNS problem might be part of the issue but that wouldn't cause your browser to put in http:/// instead of http://, that is usually a browser hijacker that's causing that. You say this is a NEW laptop? Sounds like it might have some spyware on it, could have messed up DNS on the laptop as well?

Also, if the other computers are working ok, it's definitely not an ISP problem as if it was, they'd all be experiencing issues. Acer should have been more help though I would think.
 
Originally posted by: kevnich2
Go into the LAN IP setup area and put in Jack's DNS numbers into the DNS entries there. Also, instead of trying "ping www.yahoo.com", try instead these three and report back the results:
"ping 192.168.0.1"
"ping yahoo.com"
"ping 4.2.2.1"

A DNS problem might be part of the issue but that wouldn't cause your browser to put in http:/// instead of http://, that is usually a browser hijacker that's causing that. You say this is a NEW laptop? Sounds like it might have some spyware on it, could have messed up DNS on the laptop as well?

Also, if the other computers are working ok, it's definitely not an ISP problem as if it was, they'd all be experiencing issues. Acer should have been more help though I would think.
Click to expand...

As far as Acer is concerned, the laptop boots up. Good to go. The minute you mention "Can't get to the Internet" it's all of the sudden someone else's problem.

What does bug me, like you said, the HTTP:/// in the link. If it's possible via USB flash drive or something, run some spyware/malware scanners. Antivirus, whatever you go. Malwarebytes is pretty good I hear.
 
Originally posted by: kevnich2
Go into the LAN IP setup area and put in Jack's DNS numbers into the DNS entries there. Also, instead of trying "ping www.yahoo.com", try instead these three and report back the results:
"ping 192.168.0.1"
"ping yahoo.com"
"ping 4.2.2.1"

A DNS problem might be part of the issue but that wouldn't cause your browser to put in http:/// instead of http://, that is usually a browser hijacker that's causing that. You say this is a NEW laptop? Sounds like it might have some spyware on it, could have messed up DNS on the laptop as well?

Also, if the other computers are working ok, it's definitely not an ISP problem as if it was, they'd all be experiencing issues. Acer should have been more help though I would think.
Click to expand...

Thanks Kevnich, here are my results:

So "ping 192.168.0.1" gave me:
Pinging 192.168.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time =1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time =1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time =1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time =1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1 ms, Maximum = 1 ms, Average = 1 ms

"Ping yahoo.com" gave me:
Ping request could not find host yahoo.com. Please check the name and try again.

"Ping 4.2.2.1" gave me:
Pinging 4.2.2.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 4.2.2.1: bytes=32 time =30ms TTL=64
Reply from 4.2.2.1: bytes=32 time =29ms TTL=64
Reply from 4.2.2.1: bytes=32 time =29ms TTL=64
Reply from 4.2.2.1: bytes=32 time =29ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 4.2.2.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 29 ms, Maximum = 30 ms, Average = 29 ms

As for entering the DNS numbers, when I go into my router's LAN IP Setup menu, I'm not sure which field to enter the DNS numbers into (sorry, I'm totally new to this side of things).

The options under LAN IP Setup are:
Lan TCP/IP Setup (with subfields "IP Address", "IP Subnet Mask", "RIP Direction", and "RIP Version")
Use Router as DHCP Server (with subfields "Starting IP Address", "Ending IP Address")
Address Reservation (non entered)

Do I enter it under address reservation? From the descriptions on the side, none is the clear-cut choice. Thanks for your patience guys...just let me know what else I can try, and I will.
 
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
As far as Acer is concerned, the laptop boots up. Good to go. The minute you mention "Can't get to the Internet" it's all of the sudden someone else's problem.

What does bug me, like you said, the HTTP:/// in the link. If it's possible via USB flash drive or something, run some spyware/malware scanners. Antivirus, whatever you go. Malwarebytes is pretty good I hear.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I was posting while you were... 🙂 I'll transfer a spyware program like Malwarebytes via USB drive and try it out. He hadn't accessed the internet at all before he brought it over, but who knows. As for Acer, you're spot on about their tech support.

I'll post results in a bit - let me know if you have any other thoughts.

EDIT: I should note that it only displays "http:///" after I've manually entered an address. When just trying to go to the home page, it doesn't do that, in case that's significant.
 
From your post results, you definitely have a DNS issue and from what I can see, you might also have a spyware issue, which is why I asked if your sure this was a NEW laptop. That http:/// is bugging me as I only see that on computers with spyware/virus infections. I'd grab a USB flash drive and load on malwarebytes and maybe webroot antispyware/antivirus scan after you run malwarebytes. If you have a Linux Live CD, try loading that up and see if internet works thru there, just to show yourself the internet does work. Also, just out of curiosity, have you tried using internet in safe mode w/networking? To do that, restart the computer and start hitting F8, when advanced options comes up, use your keyboard to select safe mode w/networking and then try the internet.
 
Also,for entering manual DNS numbers, login to your router, click basic setup, scroll all the way down and where it says "Domain Name Server (DNS) Address", select Use these DNS servers and enter 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 or 4.2.2.3 in and click apply.
 
Originally posted by: bovinda
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
As far as Acer is concerned, the laptop boots up. Good to go. The minute you mention "Can't get to the Internet" it's all of the sudden someone else's problem.

What does bug me, like you said, the HTTP:/// in the link. If it's possible via USB flash drive or something, run some spyware/malware scanners. Antivirus, whatever you go. Malwarebytes is pretty good I hear.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I was posting while you were... 🙂 I'll transfer a spyware program like Malwarebytes via USB drive and try it out. He hadn't accessed the internet at all before he brought it over, but who knows. As for Acer, you're spot on about their tech support.

I'll post results in a bit - let me know if you have any other thoughts.

EDIT: I should note that it only displays "http:///" after I've manually entered an address. When just trying to go to the home page, it doesn't do that, in case that's significant.
Click to expand...

I've tried reproducing the error with a VM PC and cannot get http:/// to come out at all. But it's bugging me still because I've seen it before.

About the router, don't enter anything in if you're not sure where it needs to go. If there was a place to enter DNS entries you would have recognized it already. It may be hidden away in a menu somewhere (to prevent less knowledgeable people from making things worse 😉 ). I wouldn't want you to lock yourself out of the router and not be able to get back in.

I want you to take a quick look at something:
C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\

In this directory open up the hosts file via NOTEPAD. It should look similar to this:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

If you have any other entries below that, delete them. If not, close the file and don't save anything. Couldn't want to screw something else up. 🙂


Oh, and if you can, install Firefox. It's another web browser and we can see if this is a specific IE related issue or overall Windows.
 
Originally posted by: kevnich2
From your post results, you definitely have a DNS issue and from what I can see, you might also have a spyware issue, which is why I asked if your sure this was a NEW laptop. That http:/// is bugging me as I only see that on computers with spyware/virus infections. I'd grab a USB flash drive and load on malwarebytes and maybe webroot antispyware/antivirus scan after you run malwarebytes. If you have a Linux Live CD, try loading that up and see if internet works thru there, just to show yourself the internet does work. Also, just out of curiosity, have you tried using internet in safe mode w/networking? To do that, restart the computer and start hitting F8, when advanced options comes up, use your keyboard to select safe mode w/networking and then try the internet.
Click to expand...

Wow, so I ran Malwarebytes on there, and it looks like you were right, Kevnich - 11 potentially infected items from a quick scan. It has seven items identified as "Trojan.BHO" and four as "Trojan.Agent". McAffee, not coming through in the crunch time. I'll remove those, then try again, and I'll try in safe mode after that if it still hasn't worked. I'm also going to download an antivirus of some kind and run it. I'll post back with the results...weird...

 
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
I've tried reproducing the error with a VM PC and cannot get http:/// to come out at all. But it's bugging me still because I've seen it before.

About the router, don't enter anything in if you're not sure where it needs to go. If there was a place to enter DNS entries you would have recognized it already. It may be hidden away in a menu somewhere (to prevent less knowledgeable people from making things worse 😉 ). I wouldn't want you to lock yourself out of the router and not be able to get back in.

I want you to take a quick look at something:
C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\

In this directory open up the hosts file via NOTEPAD. It should look similar to this:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

If you have any other entries below that, delete them. If not, close the file and don't save anything. Couldn't want to screw something else up. 🙂


Oh, and if you can, install Firefox. It's another web browser and we can see if this is a specific IE related issue or overall Windows.
Click to expand...

I'm going to try everything you guys are suggesting. The wife is bugging me right now to get some dinner, so I'll post back again in a bit. Thank you so much for helping me through this so far - I never would've known about any of this. I'll post back soon.
 
So I installed Firefox this AM, but it has the exact same problem, only it doesn't revert to http:///in the browser address bar. When I enter www.google.com, it just says "Address Not Found", but continues to display http://www.google.com/ in the address bar. Entering the numeric address works (74.125.95.147), however.

I checked the hosts file too, Tarrant, it looked exactly like the example you posted (except it was Copyright 1993-1999). Otherwise identical...

A full scan with Malwarebytes didn't reveal anything other than what it found last night.

Here's Malwarebyte's log (edited for space) from last night on the infected files, just to make sure I was removing the right things:

...
Registry Keys Infected:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\kt_bho.kettlebho (Trojan.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{86676e13-d6d8-4652-9fcf-f2047f1fb000} (Trojan.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{83ff80f4-8c74-4b80-b5ba-c8ddd434e5c4} (Trojan.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{83ff80f4-8c74-4b80-b5ba-c8ddd434e5c4} (Trojan.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{83ff80f4-8c74-4b80-b5ba-c8ddd434e5c4} (Trojan.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\kt_bho.kettlebho.1 (Trojan.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\partner service (Trojan.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\partner service (Trojan.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\partner service (Trojan.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
...
Files Infected:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Partner\partner.dll (Trojan.BHO) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Partner\partner.exe (Trojan.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
...
 
OK, so I also went into basic setup and switched the DNS address from "Get Automatically From ISP" to "Use These DNS Servers", and entered 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 as primary and secondary, respectively. It results in the same errors, except when I enter Google's numeric address it won't display it on either IE or Firefox (IE says "IE cannot display the webpage" and FF says "Network Timeout"). The internet works okay on my other computers (I'm using them to access Anandtech right now). ...I'm not sure what that means...?
 
Is it possible to reload the factory cd & reinstall windows onto the laptop, obviously backing up any important files on it?
 
HiJackThis might be worth looking into at this point. It can look like a mess at first but there are some key things we need to look at to fix this with HiJackThis. I have PM'd you a rapishare link for the executable. The program is sometimes hard to find.

 
Originally posted by: kevnich2
Is it possible to reload the factory cd & reinstall windows onto the laptop, obviously backing up any important files on it?
Click to expand...

Thinking more about it. This may be the easiest way. However, if this doesn't fix the problem it could be one of those weird cases where it was something installed on the factory image (it's happened before).
 
As always, try Winsockfix as well.

Also, UNINSTALL McAfee. I've had so many problems with McAfee's proxy service (which is supposed to filter/protect all internet traffic) breaking the TCP/IP stack entirely, causing errors similar to this (can ping, but not surf to IP addresses).

Get rid of McAfee and install something else. Antivir or something. Even Norton Antivirus 2008/2009 (NOT NOT NOT Internet Security or 360) are better than McAfee.
 
Originally posted by: drebo
As always, try Winsockfix as well.

Also, UNINSTALL McAfee. I've had so many problems with McAfee's proxy service (which is supposed to filter/protect all internet traffic) breaking the TCP/IP stack entirely, causing errors similar to this (can ping, but not surf to IP addresses).

Get rid of McAfee and install something else. Antivir or something. Even Norton Antivirus 2008/2009 (NOT NOT NOT Internet Security or 360) are better than McAfee.
Click to expand...

I get wind of it being the other way around. Ditch Symantec and get McAfee. I think I prefer that way too. 😉 Different versions of Symantec, McAfee, etc. have their ups and downs. Do we even know what version or type of McAfee software this person is using? Not all of them come with the proxy service, and I highly doubt anything is jacking with TCP/IP stacks.

Want to walk the OP through resetting TCP/IP?

Sorry, I couldn't let my personal opinion of Symantec go unheard on the topic. I can't imagine telling someone to drop McAfee and go to Symantec. Others, maybe.


This also doesn't appear to be a problem via tcp/ip, proxy, or anything as "http:///" replacing broken links has started to become the focus of the issue.

EDIT: OP, did you get my PM? Did that link work for you?
 
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