Winsock problem? Cannot connect

[Guest]

Suddenly, I cannot connect to the internet via either IE or Mozilla
(Firefox). I'm running XP SP1 on a Toshiba laptop. After talking with my
cable ISP (and confirming that I could bring up a website using the IP
address), they concluded I likely have a problem with WinSock. I am using my
work laptop to connect through the cable modem right now, so that's all
working.

I've been having intermittent problems with the computer freezing, and menus
appearing with a white background, prior to the internet connection going
out. I've run McAfee (nothing found) and Ad-aware (which found and removed
Alexa, among lots of tracking cookies). I even ran the Windows Malicious SW
Removal tool--nothing found.

I tried WinSockXPFix, but no change--still no internet access from the
browsers. I also tried running LSPFix, but it made no changes.

I booted it up offline and ran the entire McAfee scan (over an hour); as
soon as I plugged in the ethernet cable to the cable modem, opened a browser
and tried to go to a website, the computer locked up (froze), requiring a
forced power off, reboot.

I'm considering, as a next step, updating Windows XP to ServicePack 2 (via a
USB drive). Does that sound like the right thing to do?

Thanks for the help!

-- Ken

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Suddenly, I cannot connect to the internet via either IE or Mozilla
(Firefox). I'm running XP SP1 on a Toshiba laptop. After talking with my
cable ISP (and confirming that I could bring up a website using the IP
address), they concluded I likely have a problem with WinSock. I am using my
work laptop to connect through the cable modem right now, so that's all
working.

I've been having intermittent problems with the computer freezing, and menus
appearing with a white background, prior to the internet connection going
out. I've run McAfee (nothing found) and Ad-aware (which found and removed
Alexa, among lots of tracking cookies). I even ran the Windows Malicious SW
Removal tool--nothing found.

I tried WinSockXPFix, but no change--still no internet access from the
browsers. I also tried running LSPFix, but it made no changes.

I booted it up offline and ran the entire McAfee scan (over an hour); as
soon as I plugged in the ethernet cable to the cable modem, opened a browser
and tried to go to a website, the computer locked up (froze), requiring a
forced power off, reboot.

I'm considering, as a next step, updating Windows XP to ServicePack 2 (via a
USB drive). Does that sound like the right thing to do?

Thanks for the help!

-- Ken

Issues with not being able to locate a web site by name, but able to locate by
IP addresses, is not a Winsock issue. It is a DNS resolution problem and you
need to make sure that:

1) You have entered correctly the DNS server(s) IP address in your TCP/IP set
up (if required)

2) ISP cable service DNS server(s) are working correctly.

3) Flush your PC's local DNS cache ==== Run: ---> CMD ---> ipconfig
/flushdns (????)

4) Release and renew cable ISP unit IP address (if on a dynamic service
PPPoE or DHCP)



WinSockXPFix usually "fixes" most Winsock problems by "reconfiguring" the
protocol stack to MS defaults. Since you have already tried this, problem is
elsewhere.

Also, is the cable service directly hooked up to this PC or are you using a
router??

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Yves,

1) You have entered correctly the DNS server(s) IP address in your TCP/IP set
up (if required)

2) ISP cable service DNS server(s) are working correctly.

The ISP DNS server seems to be working correctly, since I can use my work
laptop to access web sites "normally" and all works fine. I don't think the
IP address of the DNS server has changed on the problem computer, but I'll
try and check.

3) Flush your PC's local DNS cache ==== Run: ---> CMD ---> ipconfig
/flushdns (????)

I haven't tried flushing the DNS cache... do your question marks mean you're
unsure of the command?

4) Release and renew cable ISP unit IP address (if on a dynamic service
PPPoE or DHCP)

I did this initially, after encountering the problem, but it had no effect
on the problem, of course.

Also, is the cable service directly hooked up to this PC or are you using a
router??

Yes, the PC is directly connected to the cable modem (via Ethernet cable);
no router involved.

-- K