Verizon DSL Crashed my computer

[scotandrsn]

I was looking to fix the security settings on my Verizon DSL Modem/Wireless Router (Actiontec). When I tried to access the modem's settings, I was prompted for an admin login. I apparently changed it from the default some time ago, and couldn't remember it.

No problem, I'm doing extensive changes to the modem's settings anyway, so I reset the modem to the factory defaults. I enter my online account information just to make sure I've got that much correct. The modem won't connect to the internet at first, and the troubleshooting tips in the manual suggest a reboot of both computer and modem, which seems to work.

So I use Firefox to access the internet, which takes me to my Verizon homepage. Any other destination reroutes me to to some Verizon activatedsl.com domain or other, which asks me what I'm trying to do. I select that I'm refreshing my settings after a modem reset, and it proceeds to download a 5.5MB file. This file begins to set all sorts of things, which triggers Spybot.

Spybot?!? (I've been laptop-based for sometime now, and haven't touched this old Dell desktop in ages until I recently upgraded the memory.) Do I still have that damn thing on there? I quickly disable it, but on its way out, it denies 5 registry changes the Verizon software is trying to perform. The Verizon program now can not function at all, and I can't get on the internet.

I reboot, and after the Windows startup screen and progress bar, nothing. Blackness. Try to restart with the last known good configuration, no luck. Safe Mode, no luck.

Digging out my Windows install CD, I get into the recovery console. I've checked the disk, fixed the boot drive, and decided not to fix the master boot record.

Any thoughts?

[johnwill]

Call Verizon to start.