Help! My browsers can't access the Internet! Everything else can!

[ivand67]

Hi...

I recently had to uninstall SP2, re-install Windows with my SP1 disc,
and then re-install SP2 along with all the available updates from
Windows Update. I also installed new versions of Norton Internet
Security and Norton SystemWorks (2005).

Everything's fine now, except for one really annoying problem that I
just can't figure out: all of my programs can access the Internet
except for my browsers! I really don't know why - everything else can.
I'm typing this message right now because I'm using Windows Explorer
instead of Internet Explorer (opened up My Computer and typed in
google.com - this did not open Internet Explorer, rather, it just
turned it into an Internet Explorer window but under Task Manager,
iexplore.exe is not open).

It's not about the firewall or program control (for Internet access)
either - with the firewall disabled, the same problem happens.

I'm on my home network - I tried it with my wireless adapter, and
connecting my DSL modem straight to my computer, and it's all the
same. I checked for viruses with NAV 2005 last night (with all the
latest virus definitions), and nothing. I thought it was a virus or
maybe spyware, and that didn't work either. It's really weird.

I've tried it with all my browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera,
Mozilla and Netscape - none of them can open up a single page.
Internet Explorer crashes if I attempt to access a page too many times
in a single session. All the other browsers simply refuse to open up a
page. At the beginning, it seems like they are, but then right away
they stop and nothing happens.

I've ran Spybot and Ad-Aware SE 1.05 Pro with a full system scan,
updating the definitions for both programs before scanning of course.
Nothing. I've disabled the Windows Security Center and the Windows
Firewall, and still, nothing.

At this point, I'm clueless. There's no way to simply uninstall
Internet Explorer, and of course, I already tried that with Firefox
and Opera, and they still can't surf the Internet. All other programs
are working great with the Internet - for example, Azureus (BitTorrent
client), can download anything just fine - I'm going at 60 KB/s with
it which is higher than my average through BitTorrent.

If you have a clue of what it could be (disabled Windows service,
missing driver, whatever) please let me know. Any other comments,
suggestions and questions would also be appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Bryan Martin]

Uninstall norton and IE should work. While uninstalling it will ask do you
wish to save settings. Tell this no, that way if you reinstall you will
start from scratch.

 

[ivand67]

Bryan, thanx for your help but that didn't do it (and I didn't try it
now, I tried that yesterday, and Norton IS doesn't ask whether you wish
to save settings or not, BTW).

It was a WINSOCK problem. I found a link to the program after making a
thorough search of the Microsoft groups. I downloaded and ran a program
called Winsock XP Fix (version 1.2, Google for it if you see this
message and are having the same problem). It fixed the WINSOCK settings
and a bunch of other background Internet settings. I restarted, and
everything's working perfectly now.

Problem solved...