Network stuff is now missing - can't connect to internet!

[KWW]

How do I get the "Network adapters" grouping to show back up under "Comuter
Management" "Device Manager" when the components (the NIC, etc) are now
loosely grouped under "Other Devices" and have yellow exclamation marks (not
properly working)?

Helping a friend with his computer - it had over 300 spyware programs (a
couple of nasty ones that embedded themselves in the windows\system32
folder), a bunch of viruses, and had not had a single Windows Update
installed in 2.5 years (since he got the thing). It was taking 28 minutes to
get through startup once one clicked on a user ID to log in.

I installed all of the patches including SP2, installed anti spyware, and
installed NAV 2005 but something was blocking NAV from going through the
registration process and it also will not perform a commanded scan (just
sits there at 0 files processed) when I right click on a file or folder.

Anyway, been using the beta MS Spyware removal SW, Ad Aware SE, and Spybot
Search & Distroy. Finally (after a total of 75 hours of working at it) I
had to take the hard drive and make it a slave on my other Win XP (pro)
machine. I believe that this finally got rid of the remainder of the
viruses.

I believe it was just before I removed the drive to clean it that the
network connectivity went away. My friend had been using dialup, but I had
the PC hooked up to my home LAN. In Device Manager (My Computer, manage)
there hs not a heading for Network Adaptors anymore. Instead there are a
bunch of yellow question markes under Other devices with these items sort of
sitting there.

His system config:
DELL Dimensions 4500S
256 MB DDR 266
Intel something or other CPU
Win XP Home Ed (SP2 installed)
10/100 NIC (not sure of the brand)

 

[Malke]

How do I get the "Network adapters" grouping to show back up under
"Comuter Management" "Device Manager" when the components (the NIC,
etc) are now loosely grouped under "Other Devices" and have yellow
exclamation marks (not properly working)?

Helping a friend with his computer - it had over 300 spyware programs
(a couple of nasty ones that embedded themselves in the
windows\system32 folder), a bunch of viruses, and had not had a single
Windows Update installed in 2.5 years (since he got the thing). It was
taking 28 minutes to get through startup once one clicked on a user ID
to log in.

I installed all of the patches including SP2, installed anti spyware,
and installed NAV 2005 but something was blocking NAV from going
through the registration process and it also will not perform a
commanded scan (just sits there at 0 files processed) when I right
click on a file or folder.

Anyway, been using the beta MS Spyware removal SW, Ad Aware SE, and
Spybot
Search & Distroy. Finally (after a total of 75 hours of working at
it) I had to take the hard drive and make it a slave on my other Win
XP (pro)
machine. I believe that this finally got rid of the remainder of the
viruses.

I believe it was just before I removed the drive to clean it that the
network connectivity went away. My friend had been using dialup, but I
had
the PC hooked up to my home LAN. In Device Manager (My Computer,
manage) there hs not a heading for Network Adaptors anymore. Instead
there are a bunch of yellow question markes under Other devices with
these items sort of sitting there.

His system config:
DELL Dimensions 4500S
256 MB DDR 266
Intel something or other CPU
Win XP Home Ed (SP2 installed)
10/100 NIC (not sure of the brand)

You are too nice. This was a perfect example of when formatting and
reinstalling would have been a better choice. Normally you can just fix
the damage that malware did with either WinsockXPFix.exe or, if you
have SP2,"netsh winsock reset catalog" will reset the winsock catalog
to default.

In this case since you are seeing lots of yellow exclamation marks, I'd
start by deleting/uninstalling all network devices (make sure you
enable "Show Hidden Devices") and then rebooting. XP should see and
install the devices properly and that may fix the issue.

Malke

 

[KWW]

Well, I uninstalled the devices and restarted, a couple of times, and the
devices did get recognized, but the system could still no longer see the LAN
and also could not see the modem. I messed with associating the various
protocols with the network adapter, etc and it finally SAW the LAN, but it
could not talk out onto it.

I am usually fairly good at slogging through... but it appears that there
are subtle little missing things here and there... I have saved off the
non-backed up stuff... I believe I will put the OEM CD back in and send the
computer back in time to a virgin state, reinstall the MS patches, and let
my frield reload his SW. He is OK with having to start over... and I am
going out of town for a week - on a cruise (yeay!) and I would feel rotten
leaving him stuck without a system for that long... especially when nothing
is being done with it.

Tomorrow afternoon after work I will give this a shot. At least it is virus
free/spyware free at this point!

Thanks for your assistance.
KWW