IE6 no longer accessing internet

[Guest]

IE6 doesn't go to any web page any more. There is no error message or any
other inication of an error; it just hangs.

All of my other installed browsers (Firefox, NetScape, Opera, K-Meleon) all
are working fine.

What I have tried so far:
1 - security settings are the defaults
2 - Virus scan has been run
3 - Spybot S&D and Adaware have bene run
4 - I tried an earlier restore point with no success
5 - I tried the IE7 Beta and it also fails.
NOTE: I ran the connctivity check in IE7 and it said it successfully
connected to MS using HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.
Also, while trying IE7, I noticed that in he tools list was an object for my
Discover Deskshop service. This works......but it actually doesn't use IE
for it's screens.
6 - I uninstalled IE7
7 - I cleared the cookies, cache and temporary internet files

 

[Don Varnau]

Hi,
A few more things to try...
* From IE> Tools> Manage add-ons. Disable add-ons one or two at a time to
see if one of them is the culprit.
* Disable (for diagnostic purposes) programs such as pop-up blockers,
security, toolbars and other add-ons for IE, anti-virus, etc. Take a look at
any program that might be interfering with IE. You may have to reconfigure,
reinstall, or not reinstall, a program.
*** Turn on the Windows Firewall (from Control Panel or Security Center)
before disabling a third-party firewall.
* Run IEFix from http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFIX.htm or re-register the DLLs
listed in this article:
281679 - You Cannot Open New Internet Explorer Window or Nothing Happens
After You Click a Link: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=281679

Ad-aware and Spybot are good, but some malware must be found and removed
manually. Post a HijackThis log to one of the forums where HJT logs are
analyzed.
See these sites for help:
The Parasite Fight http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
Malware Removal and Prevention Overview - CastleCopsWiki:
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Overview
Bugs, Glitches & Stuffups: http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.html
Removing Malware:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
827315- Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=827315
What you can do about spyware and other unwanted software:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/spywarewhat.mspx

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE]

 

[Guest]

Hi,
A few more things to try...
* From IE> Tools> Manage add-ons. Disable add-ons one or two at a time to
see if one of them is the culprit.
* Disable (for diagnostic purposes) programs such as pop-up blockers,
security, toolbars and other add-ons for IE, anti-virus, etc. Take a look at
any program that might be interfering with IE. You may have to reconfigure,
reinstall, or not reinstall, a program.
*** Turn on the Windows Firewall (from Control Panel or Security Center)
before disabling a third-party firewall.
* Run IEFix from http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFIX.htm or re-register the DLLs
listed in this article:
281679 - You Cannot Open New Internet Explorer Window or Nothing Happens
After You Click a Link: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=281679

Ad-aware and Spybot are good, but some malware must be found and removed
manually. Post a HijackThis log to one of the forums where HJT logs are
analyzed.
See these sites for help:
The Parasite Fight http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
Malware Removal and Prevention Overview - CastleCopsWiki:
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Overview
Bugs, Glitches & Stuffups: http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.html
Removing Malware:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
827315- Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=827315
What you can do about spyware and other unwanted software:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/spywarewhat.mspx

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE]

IE6 doesn't go to any web page any more. There is no error message or any
other inication of an error; it just hangs.

All of my other installed browsers (Firefox, NetScape, Opera, K-Meleon) all
are working fine.

What I have tried so far:
1 - security settings are the defaults
2 - Virus scan has been run
3 - Spybot S&D and Adaware have been run
4 - I tried an earlier restore point with no success
5 - I tried the IE7 Beta and it also fails.
NOTE: I ran the connctivity check in IE7 and it said it successfully
connected to MS using HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.
Also, while trying IE7, I noticed that in he tools list was an object for my
Discover Deskshop service. This works......but it actually doesn't use IE
for it's screens.
6 - I uninstalled IE7
7 - I cleared the cookies, cache and temporary internet files

Thanks for response, Don,

I've printed out your suggestions, and started trying to go through them
step by step as best I can.

So far.....
- All add-ons currently disabled (in small groups) no change to IE
- popup blockers, toolbars, etc disabled
- IEFIX.EXE downloaded and ran successfully.
- Ran HiJackThis, and have a log....now I have to find out where to post it
for help.

But everything right now is as before.....IE6 starts OK, but just won't go
anywhere I tell it to. No error messages are returned or anything else like
that. Other four browsers haven't started to fail yet.

I'm tryig to rerun "sfc /scannow" again. The other day when I ran it, I was
unable to find a XP SP2 CD when one was asked for. This is a Gateway
machine and they give you practically nothing except a CD that will revert
your system back to factory shipped status.

But then I remembered I had a slipstreamed CD with SP2 on it from another
machine, and it was acceptable to IEFIX, so maybe "sfc" will also approvie of
it.

Joe

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Thanks for response, Don,

I've printed out your suggestions, and started trying to go through them
step by step as best I can.

So far.....
- All add-ons currently disabled (in small groups) no change to IE
- popup blockers, toolbars, etc disabled
- IEFIX.EXE downloaded and ran successfully.
- Ran HiJackThis, and have a log....now I have to find out where to post
it
for help.

But everything right now is as before.....IE6 starts OK, but just won't go
anywhere I tell it to. No error messages are returned or anything else
like
that. Other four browsers haven't started to fail yet.

I'm tryig to rerun "sfc /scannow" again. The other day when I ran it, I
was
unable to find a XP SP2 CD when one was asked for. This is a Gateway
machine and they give you practically nothing except a CD that will revert
your system back to factory shipped status.

But then I remembered I had a slipstreamed CD with SP2 on it from another
machine, and it was acceptable to IEFIX, so maybe "sfc" will also approvie
of
it.

Joe

**Post your log to
http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7,
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30, or other appropriate forums for expert
analysis, not here.**

 

[Guest]

**Post your log to
http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7,
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30, or other appropriate forums for expert
analysis, not here.**

Thanks for response, Frank,

I'll search out those locations later this evening.

I ran into a snag when running "scf /scannow" again. It asks for my
Windows XP CD2 to recover some files. However, I have a Gateway laptop that
came only with a CD that restores the system to as-shipped state. That
wasn't accepted by "sfc".

Earlier, I had run IEFIX as Don suggested, and that accepted my slipstreamed
XP2 from another system, but that wasn't acceptable to "sfc" either.
Although the label matched what "sfc" asked for (X1APCCP_EN) "sfc" still said
I had put in the wrong CD.

The retail version I have is XP Pro, whereas the two newer Gateway machines
(one desktop and one laptop) have XP Media Center on them. This might well
be the cause of these problems trying to recover sdamaged files with "sfc".

I've asked Gateway what they expect a customer to do when asked for a CD
they didn't supply, but they haven't answered that yet. All they suggested
was to go back to some earlier restore point, which would require
reinstalling any applications installed after that.

Joe

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Thanks for response, Frank,

I'll search out those locations later this evening.

I ran into a snag when running "scf /scannow" again. It asks for my
Windows XP CD2 to recover some files. However, I have a Gateway laptop
that
came only with a CD that restores the system to as-shipped state. That
wasn't accepted by "sfc".

Earlier, I had run IEFIX as Don suggested, and that accepted my
slipstreamed
XP2 from another system, but that wasn't acceptable to "sfc" either.
Although the label matched what "sfc" asked for (X1APCCP_EN) "sfc" still
said
I had put in the wrong CD.

The retail version I have is XP Pro, whereas the two newer Gateway
machines
(one desktop and one laptop) have XP Media Center on them. This might
well
be the cause of these problems trying to recover sdamaged files with
"sfc".

I've asked Gateway what they expect a customer to do when asked for a CD
they didn't supply, but they haven't answered that yet. All they
suggested
was to go back to some earlier restore point, which would require
reinstalling any applications installed after that.

Joe

Most computer manufacturers put an \i386 folder somewhere on the computer.
This holds the needed files from (the same folder on) the real Microsoft CD.
If you browse to that folder when sfc asks for the CD it generally works.

 

[Guest]

Thank for response, Frank,

I did think of that yesterday when I examined the Gateway restore CD more
closely.

I found that both the laptop and the Gateway desktop do in fact have an i386
folder, actually several ;-). They provide a base one plus addiotional ones
for things unique to Media Center, etc. Plus, the restore CD has one too.

The problem I found though is that SFC doesn't give me a chance to browse to
the location where they are. I thought I remembered that SFC did give such
an option in earlier versions of Windows, but when I ran it on the laptop, it
just kept telling me that I had the wrong CD installed and had no option to
look for the files elsewhere.

At one point it did say that it wanted the CD with a label of "X1APCCP_EN"
which happens to match the retail copy of XP Pro (and the slipstreamed update
with SP2) but it didn't like them either.

I just tried invoking SFC without any option and all I got was a brief flash
of a command prompt window. I thought that might bring it up with some sort
of option to specify where to look for missing files.

Have they changed the way SFC operates or is this just something strange on
both my XP machines?

Joe

 

[Don Varnau]

Hi,
See this article:
How to use SFC.EXE (system file checker)
http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html
The registry edits may let you use the i386 folder on the HD.

Don
[MS MVP- IE]

 

[Guest]

Thanks for response, Don,

I recently found something via an advanced search at Gateway, that pointed
me to the following MS KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;909059

where it says that thenproblem I was seeing is a known problem with SFC on
Media Center 2005 PCs. Further investigation showed that the files reported
in the event log were indeed the ones MS mentions in that article.

Then, eventually someone at Gateway came up with what looked like a
promising lead:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918165

One of the eight symptoms listed is exactly what I am seeing with IE.

But none of the causes listed can be found on my system, and I double
checked my own firewalls settings to make sure the Verify Class ID app had
the proper authorizations. I tried removing that security fix temporarily
and the IE problem remained.

Joe

 

[Guest]

I have an update to the IE problem.....

But first I want to thank all who have assisted me so far with many very
detailed suggestions.

Now for the update: I decided that I had spent enough time trying to fix the
laptop as it was loaded and I restored it to it's as-shipped configuration
using the very lengthy gateway recover process (almost three hours to get it
to a point where it then still needed to install a collection of 35 Microsoft
updates and security fixes.

Then, I slowly stated to repopulate the machine with my customizations,
taking periodic full image backups as I went along, and checking IE for the
failure at each step.

After reaching approximately the halfway point, I found the trigger for the
failure. I say trigger because it's not necessarily a direct cause and
effect. But the applications that triggered the failure was Fresh Download
from freshdevices.com.

I could restore IE to working order by simply uninstalling Fresh Devices
using the Add/Remove Programs menu.

I then went and used a backup that I took before starting the recovery
process. There again, I could fix IE by uninstalling Fresh Download.

But this trigger is not a definitive cause and effect, as I have a desktop
that also has Media Center 2005 installed, and it has no problem with Fresh
Download.

I've passed along this information to the FreshDevices group. Their FAQ only
mentions that with IE you have to enable third party extensions in order for
it to work, and I do have that enabled on both machines.

Hopefully this information may assist others, and if I find any more in the
way of an explanation of why Fresh Download causes this failure, but not on
all installations, I'll forward that as well.

Thanks again,
Joe

 

[Guest]

Hi Joe
If you lived in Melbourne, I'd buy you a beer. I guess I'll just have to
nominate you for sainthood. This has been dirving around the twist for 2
weeks. Glad someone had the patience to figure it out. Uninstalled Fresh
Download, which I've used for a couple of years no worries, and lo and
behold, no worries.
Thanks for the guidance, Randal

 

[Guest]

Randallm

A litle more information......I happened to think of something else to try,
and found the following:

The Fresh Download FAQ mentions that you have to hae third party extensions
enabled, which I did, But there is also an Integration panel in the options
menus wher you specify which browsers you want the program to work with.

I noticed that IE was not checked. When I checked it, IE was able to access
the web pages normally.

But here's the strange part: the next time I went to the integrations page,
IE wasn't checked any more, but it still worked! I noticed that Opera also
wasn't checked earlier, and even though I checked it as well, it had also
been cleared.

I passed along these oddities to the Fresh Device team, but they haven't had
tme to investigate it and answer yet.