Unable to connect to internet via LAN or WiFi

[KennedyGrp]

Windows 7 32-bit

 

One of my user's came into work this morning and her LAN connection was down.

"no connections are available"

 

-reseated LAN cable, no change

-Tried connection from a neighbors ethernet port with a different cat5 cable, no change.

-rebooted, no change

-plugged in an Asus USBN13 adaptor,  "Device driver was not successfully installed"

-plugged in an external HDD, same message *though I was able to access the contents of the hdd.

 

-Uninstalled USB controller, reinstalled via scan for hardware changes. no change when reconnecting wifi adaptor or hdd.

 

-ran ccleaner and wise portable registry cleaner. Found some uninstall issues, but nothing major.

 

-ran malwarebytes, but it got stuck in a pre-scan loop.

--did some research on that one. Disabled Symantec Endpoint Protection, and Malwarebytes ran successfully, but did not find anything.

 

 

The only reason I believe this is an infection is the selective nature of what stops working. 

USB driver for mouse, keyboard, ext hdd work, but not wireless adaptors. I tried 3 different models.

 

Let me know which log files you want to see...I'm at a loss. 

[John L. Galt]

Could also be a hardware issue - have you checked the BIOS to make sure nothing has reverted to default settings (and checked the CMOS battery as well)?

 

Another thing to check would be the PSU.

 

Also, a little more info on the hardware itself would be helpful - make and model, etc.

[KennedyGrp]

Dell Optiplex 960

core2duo

4 gb ram

 

I happen to have a lot of spare parts for this model laying around, so I tried swapping out a few pieces.

-refurb mobo failed to detect the harddrive.

-refurb PSU, no change

 

Nothing reverted back to default in BIOS, and CMOS battery is fine: 3v

-After resetting BIOS however, I'm getting a rolling blue screen.

Perhaps this pc is beyond help. It is a 6 year old refurb after all.

[David H. Lipman]

Always work your way up from the hardware and then up the OSI Model.

 

If one can't network then start with the basics.

 

* Is the hardware NIC properly recognized in Device Manager ?

* Is the hardware NIC enabled ?

* Do you have link lights ?

* Is the NIC in; Auto, Half or Full Duplex mode and does the device the PC is connected to handle that mode properly ?

* Is the TCP/IP stack bound to the NIC ?

* Can you ping the diagnostic responder 127.0.0.1 ?

* Can you ping Yahoo.Com ?

* Is a proxy set as in Internet Options and should a Proxy be used or not ?

 

That'll provide a good starting point.

[KennedyGrp]

* Is the hardware NIC properly recognized in Device Manager ?

Yes

* Is the hardware NIC enabled ?

Yes

* Do you have link lights ?

Yes

* Is the NIC in; Auto, Half or Full Duplex mode and does the device the PC is connected to handle that mode properly ?

Full, yes.

* Is the TCP/IP stack bound to the NIC ?

no

* Can you ping the diagnostic responder 127.0.0.1 ?

no

* Can you ping Yahoo.Com ?

no

* Is a proxy set as in Internet Options and should a Proxy be used or not ?

no

 

I appreciate your help so far everyone, but I went ahead and ordered her a new PC. She was due for one, and I can't waste any more time on this machine today.

This topic can be closed.

[John L. Galt]

Thanks for the heads up.