Vista can't see the network

S

Saga

I am helping out a friend with her computer. It has Vista x64 SP1. The
computer had been infected by some malicious software and it did not boot at
all. After some tinkering I managed to get into safe mode and run MBAM. The
computer eventually booted, but had no desktop. I went into the Task manager
and saw that there was no Explorer process, so I started it and al was well.
I then booted from the OS disc included with the PC, got into the repair
screen that had sustem restore and restored the PC to a date before it got
infected. This worked well and now the PC boot into Vista without any
problems. I ran an antivirus and MBAM and neither detected any malware.

I thought all was well until I tried to connect to the Internet. I have
cable service, a modem connected to a router and the PCs connected to the
router. The Vista installation would not see anything out there, I tinkered
and managed to get a message that said that there was "limited connectivity
available". I figured that the LAN card's driver had been corrupted so I
downloaded the driver and installed it. The installation was successful, but
the problem persisted. I then went into Dev. manager and went into the
card's properties. The status comment indicated that the device was working
correctly. I noticed that there was another LAN device under the Network. It
was the MS 6to 4 Adapter and there was anexclamation point next to it. I
went into its properties and the remark indicated code 31.

I did not know what this 6 to 4 adapter was so I investigated. It seems that
it is only a translator so that IPv6 can work with IPv4. So this took me
back to the card's properties to see what protocols were binded to it. Lo
and behold, it had both IP4 and IP6. I figured that the problem with the
adapter could be fixed by uninstalling it and then reinstaling it. I
proceeded to do this, but found that I could not re-install the 6 to 4
adapter. I went into Dev. Manager, used the Add legacy hardware option and
the process went well and finished successfully, but the adapter never
reappeared in dev. manager. After trying to clean the registry and not being
able to solve this problem I figured I could do a repair installation as I
have done with Win XP, but this option was not readily available within the
Vista setup process. After doing some research, it seems that an upgrade
install could solve my problem. I proceeded with it. All went well until it
got to the Completing upgrade stage. It seemed that the PC was frozen.
Hopeful, I left it running all night. In the morning there was a message
indicating that the upgrade had failed and that the previous install would
be restored. Although it took some time, Vista was restored. Since the
install DVD had Vista SP1, I figured that perhaps SP2 had been installed (I
was not even sure there was an SP2!). I check the system's properties which
indicated that it was Vista SP1, so I have no idea why the upgrade install
failed, unless it only works with previous versions of Windows, which does
not make sense since this DVD is supposed to be used to restore a damaged
installation.

I examined the hard drive and found that it has a recovery partition. I
tried to explore that partition to locate some information and/or executable
that would start the recovery, but the partition was not accessible, saying
that it was being protected by PC angel. I did some research on the 'net but
was not able to find anything. I then went into system restore and went back
to a restore point before I uninstalled the 6 to 4 MS adapter. I was not
able to locate any information that told me how to solve this problem. I
started to suspect the hardware, thinking that it could be the LAN adapter,
so I booted the PC with a linux distro and tested. It connected perfectly to
the Internet and I was able to navigate to different Web sites. It was
confirned, this is a Windows Vista problem.

I also searched for the 6to 4 adapter and found some download sites, but
most were dated around 2004 and decided to not take that path. So now, after
all this background, my question is: what can I do to solve this
connectivity problem? While the 6 to 4 adapter was uninstalled I unchecked
the IPv6 protocol in the card's properties, but this did not have any
effect. Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated, as I have tried
everything I could think of and now need a different pair of eyes on this.
Perhaps I am missing a simple solution. Thank you for reading this long
post. Hopefully I have provided enough info so that some one can suggest
something. Best wishes to all! Saga
 
C

Charlie Tame

Saga said:
I am helping out a friend with her computer. It has Vista x64 SP1. The
computer had been infected by some malicious software and it did not boot at
all. After some tinkering I managed to get into safe mode and run MBAM. The
computer eventually booted, but had no desktop. I went into the Task manager
and saw that there was no Explorer process, so I started it and al was well.
I then booted from the OS disc included with the PC, got into the repair
screen that had sustem restore and restored the PC to a date before it got
infected. This worked well and now the PC boot into Vista without any
problems. I ran an antivirus and MBAM and neither detected any malware.

I thought all was well until I tried to connect to the Internet. I have
cable service, a modem connected to a router and the PCs connected to the
router. The Vista installation would not see anything out there, I tinkered
and managed to get a message that said that there was "limited connectivity
available". I figured that the LAN card's driver had been corrupted so I
downloaded the driver and installed it. The installation was successful, but
the problem persisted. I then went into Dev. manager and went into the
card's properties. The status comment indicated that the device was working
correctly. I noticed that there was another LAN device under the Network. It
was the MS 6to 4 Adapter and there was anexclamation point next to it. I
went into its properties and the remark indicated code 31.

I did not know what this 6 to 4 adapter was so I investigated. It seems that
it is only a translator so that IPv6 can work with IPv4. So this took me
back to the card's properties to see what protocols were binded to it. Lo
and behold, it had both IP4 and IP6. I figured that the problem with the
adapter could be fixed by uninstalling it and then reinstaling it. I
proceeded to do this, but found that I could not re-install the 6 to 4
adapter. I went into Dev. Manager, used the Add legacy hardware option and
the process went well and finished successfully, but the adapter never
reappeared in dev. manager. After trying to clean the registry and not being
able to solve this problem I figured I could do a repair installation as I
have done with Win XP, but this option was not readily available within the
Vista setup process. After doing some research, it seems that an upgrade
install could solve my problem. I proceeded with it. All went well until it
got to the Completing upgrade stage. It seemed that the PC was frozen.
Hopeful, I left it running all night. In the morning there was a message
indicating that the upgrade had failed and that the previous install would
be restored. Although it took some time, Vista was restored. Since the
install DVD had Vista SP1, I figured that perhaps SP2 had been installed (I
was not even sure there was an SP2!). I check the system's properties which
indicated that it was Vista SP1, so I have no idea why the upgrade install
failed, unless it only works with previous versions of Windows, which does
not make sense since this DVD is supposed to be used to restore a damaged
installation.

I examined the hard drive and found that it has a recovery partition. I
tried to explore that partition to locate some information and/or executable
that would start the recovery, but the partition was not accessible, saying
that it was being protected by PC angel. I did some research on the 'net but
was not able to find anything. I then went into system restore and went back
to a restore point before I uninstalled the 6 to 4 MS adapter. I was not
able to locate any information that told me how to solve this problem. I
started to suspect the hardware, thinking that it could be the LAN adapter,
so I booted the PC with a linux distro and tested. It connected perfectly to
the Internet and I was able to navigate to different Web sites. It was
confirned, this is a Windows Vista problem.

I also searched for the 6to 4 adapter and found some download sites, but
most were dated around 2004 and decided to not take that path. So now, after
all this background, my question is: what can I do to solve this
connectivity problem? While the 6 to 4 adapter was uninstalled I unchecked
the IPv6 protocol in the card's properties, but this did not have any
effect. Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated, as I have tried
everything I could think of and now need a different pair of eyes on this.
Perhaps I am missing a simple solution. Thank you for reading this long
post. Hopefully I have provided enough info so that some one can suggest
something. Best wishes to all! Saga

You know the bigger problem you have is that it is impossible to know
what all else has been corrupted and to be honest I think you'd have
been better to bite the bullet and do a clean install.

What do you get if you run>cmd and then ipconfig /all ?

Are any services listed disabled? DHCP client?
 
S

Saga

You know the bigger problem you have is that it is impossible to know what
all else has been corrupted and to be honest I think you'd have been
better to bite the bullet and do a clean install.

What do you get if you run>cmd and then ipconfig /all ?
ipconfig shows no default gateway and the IP is the one that Windows
APIPA assigns when it can't get it from anywhere else, something like
169.254.y.z.
Are any services listed disabled? DHCP client?

I can test the DHCP client by assigning a static IP and default gateway
so that the DHCP process is bypassed. AFAIK the DHCP client is functional.

I hear you. A clean install is the end-all fix. I was avoiding it because
the PC has a lot of applications installed and I wanted to exhaust all
other possibilities. I guess I can put on the Star Wars Holiday Special
while I do the clean install. It will make the installation process a
delightful
experience! ;-) Thanks for your input - much appreciated. Saga
 
C

Charlie Tame

Saga said:
ipconfig shows no default gateway and the IP is the one that Windows
APIPA assigns when it can't get it from anywhere else, something like
169.254.y.z.


I can test the DHCP client by assigning a static IP and default gateway
so that the DHCP process is bypassed. AFAIK the DHCP client is functional.

I hear you. A clean install is the end-all fix. I was avoiding it because
the PC has a lot of applications installed and I wanted to exhaust all
other possibilities. I guess I can put on the Star Wars Holiday Special
while I do the clean install. It will make the installation process a
delightful
experience! ;-) Thanks for your input - much appreciated. Saga


Yeah, sorry, I wasn't being negative but having been down the road
before (And it makes no difference what OS you are talking about)
sometimes you just fix one thing only to find others broken. And of
course Vista tries to protect it's own files somewhat and it gets hard
to replace them.
 
S

Saga

No problem. I followed your advice (albeit reluctantly) and nuked
and rebuilt and all is working now. Perhaps my peeves with this
solution is that it is supposed tobe the extreme solution when nothing
else works, not the usual approach to fix these types of problems.

I feel as though I walked way from this problem empty handed, not
having learned anything abou thow to fix problems with Vista. Again,
thanks for your input. Saga
 
C

Charlie

No you did not walk away.

You left the end user with a reliable system that you might have beaten
yourself to death over if another problem had arisen. It's not quitting
but rather common sense.
 

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