Can only access the internet in safe mode!

Which XP service pack are you operating, 1 or 2. If 2, was your machine upgraded from SP1 to SP2 just before you lost network connections?

Also note is is best out virus/malware/spyware in Safe Mode on XP.

Housecall from TrendMicro is also a very useful online scanner and clean up tool:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

I would also like to know the answer to my earlier question about pinging by IP and site name. This will give a bit more insight into what is happening.

JamesO

Sorry I didn't answer you sooner James. I'm running service pack 2, and I'm pretty sure it updated itself not too long before this all happened. I did the "ping" with 70.168.47.91 and got the following:
Pinging 70.168.47.91 with 32 bytes of date:
reply from 70.168.47.91 : bytes= 32 time= 35ms TTL=242
reply from 70.168.47.91 : bytes= 32 time= 45ms TTL=242
reply from 70.168.47.91 : bytes= 32 time= 44ms TTL=242
reply from 70.168.47.91 : bytes= 32 time= 40ms TTL=242

Ping statistics for 70.168.47.91 :
Packets: sent =4, received=4, in mili-seconds:
Minium= 35ms, Maximum= 45ms, Average= 41ms


When I tried the www.cox.net it said "ping request could not find host www.cox.net please check the name and try again. When I try either
192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 it says "request timed out" . I don't know what any of that means, but I hope one of you do. Oh, and I did all of this in regular mode. Also, I havent installed any new hardware or software. But I've downloaded just about every virus scanner and cleaner you can think of since then, all in safe mode. I will try the trendmicro. Have to switch from laptop to desktop in safemode now, thanks so much for taking the time to look at this, hopefully you guys will find something that will work. I'll check back in when I'm finished with the trendmicro. If that doesn't help I'll try uninstalling the network card like Sceptre said.

Sounds like you have the exact same problem as I do on a machine I am trying to sort.

Try this to see if we can compare notes.

In Safe Mode: Start, Run, type "cmd", type "ipconfig /flushdns". You should get a response like "Sucessfully flushed the DNS resolver cache".

In Normal mode, try the same command. See if you get a response like "cannot locate DNS cache".

The other thing I noticed, when I boot in normal mode. I immediately open the command prompt (Start, Run, type "cmd") then ping www.cox.net. I can ping up until the machine boots the last 2 processes. I am trying to find what is stopping the DNS from working.

I did the Trend Online scan, Adaware, Spybot, Ewido, RegCleaner. A few items were found, however, was not able to fix anything yet.

Also tried under Network Connections to Repair, process stopped with unable to flush DNS!!

I would be interested to see how your machine responds to the flushdns command. It sounds like you may have the exact same issue that the machine I am trying to sort.

JamesO

okay, I tried the "ipconfig /flushdns" in both safe mode and reg mode and got the same response "Sucessfully flushed the DNS resolver cache".
I went to my network connections and tried to repair my local connection but I got a window that said: Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action cannot be completed: TCP/IP is not enabled for this connection. Cannot proceed.
It cant be that simple can it? How do I fix that? When I try to repair the network bridge Mac Bridge Miniport I get the response that it is renewing my IP address and then I get "Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action cannot be completed: Renewing your IP address
For assistance, contact the person who manages your network. Sadly, I manage my network :sad: Okay what now?

Here are some good suggestions I was given by someone else which I will be trying on my problem machine as well:

Check the Event Log after a normal boot and look for messages about
system services.

Disable all non-Microsoft programs and services in Msconfig and
reboot. One-by-one, enable those programs and services and reboot.
Keep doing it until one causes DNS resolution to fail. Then, you've
found the problem.

I may also try system restore, however, I really want to get to the bottom of this problem.

JamesO

Sounded good, but it didn't do anything for me. The other night I was playing around (which I can only do small doses or my computer would be flying out the window) and I tried to reinstall my microsoft broadband cd and for about 2 minutes I had it working in regular mode. Don't know what I did but that fast it went down again. The microsoft broadband networking website has a lot of things you can do to troubleshoot. I've tried a couple but haven't found it yet. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the tcp/ip connection. Let me ask you something, on the microsoft website they say to uninstall the tcp/ip and then restart your computer and reinstall it. They say to log on as an administrator (that's the only thing I have on my computer) go into control panel double click networks and click the protocol tab and click uninstall tcp/ip. My problem is in control panel I only have network connections and I can't find a protocol tab, am I not looking in the right place?

similarities - this may be of help

My nephew asked me to look at his PC as there was no Internet access - seems there are similarities so I thought I'd let you know the details:

He has an XP Home SP2 PC, broadband on a cable modem, McAfee Security centre 2005, uses IE and Firefox. But also uses some peer-to-peer stuff. :4-thatsba

He said that the Internet was working, then it stopped. Tried IPCONFIG /ALL, there was no valid IP address.

To resolve part of the problem (XP states that the network connection is unplugged when it WAS plugged in), cutting a long story short, I swapped from USB to ethernet cable modem connection and installed a new ethernet card.

Still no Internet connection although IPCONFIG /ALL stated that all was ok (ie there was a valid IP address etc.).

So I tried pinging for an IP address -

In 'normal' XP Home mode, I tried pinging "bbc.co.uk" - this didn't resolve.
I then tried the (bbc.co.uk) IP address - and this resolved.
Tried both in IE and Firefox and neither resolved.

So I went into safe mode and could ping and surf using IE to both bbc.co.uk and the IP address.

In "normal" XP home mode I tried to use StartUpControlPanel (think it's called that - a Mike Lin tool) to remove everything from starting up - and there was some real junk trying to load. One the I couldn't was NewDotNet - so I guess that is the (main) culprit - It seems that the Winsock has been damaged by NewDotNet.

I've found a forum with some suggestions for removing it (http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showtopic=52833).

I haven't implemented this all yet, but I hope this posting helps.

MrM

Mr. M,

Thanks for the post. It sounds like you have a very similiar problem as the machine I am working on. I have seen quite a few similiar posts on other boards, so this does not appear to be an isolated issue. Problem is, it is not machine, so I cannot get my hands on it on a regular basis. I will hopefully be back to visit with it next week.

Anyway, my problem is DNS. Everything works fine in Safe Mode. Cannot resolve names in Normal mode once it is fully booted, however, I can resolve by name until the last few items load. Once the machine is fully booted, I cannot resolve by name, I cannot flush the DNS, comes back with an error indicating it cannot located the DNS cache. I cannot perform a network repair, as the the routine stops at a DNS function.

I guess I could try a system restore, however, I really want to find the culprit and resolve the problem correctly. It seems the problem happened very shortly after XP SP2 was installed and some spyware was removed by someone else.

I tried killing active processes, however, there was no luck. I think I will have to go down the msconfig road to stop processes one by one from starting up. I will need to compare Safe Mode process vs. Normal Mode as everything is working in Safe Mode. I will probalby need to go over about 25 processes to find the bad one. We will see how lucky I am finding the bad process in the pool of good processes!

JamesO