Stumped by poorly puter !

[Binzie]

My mom loves opening random emails 

She has a lovely i5 dell desktop running 8.1 that 3 days ago said no internet connection

 

I checked and there were no networks available, but all tablets and phones connect no problem 

 

Replaced ethernet cable to no avail 

 

scanned for virus with AVG ,, nowt 

 

Put microsoft malicious software removal tool on zero infections 

 

put spybot on but it wont scan 

 

tried security essentials but there is an error even when run from local services 

 

Stinks of a virus but cant find any evidence dont want to phone dell to be told not their problem 

 

All options performed under safe mode so far 

 

Any ideas on a way forward ?

[Robjon]

I am by no means an expert in these things, but have you considered restoring to (say) five days ago?

Good luck!

[moley]

Go to system tools and then you should be able to do a system restore to a date when the PC was running ok. After that run spybot to check for viruses.

[theezenutz]

Failing a restore one sure fire way is to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows. Not ideal having to 're-install Windows ect but if it is a virus the one way to guarantee you'll get rid of it is to reformat.

[Binzie]

Tried system restore and it failed, clean install is the last resort 

[Robjon]

That's one hell of a virus  :(

 

Have you tried to run Ccleaner?

[Binzie]

I will 

[@Lee]

connect HDD to another puter, run mbam?

[GentleGiant]

She has a rootkit, you could try Malwarebytes rootkit tool.

 

If you are lucky, a wipe and clean install will work, but beware of hidden partitions, I would pull the HDD and use a non windows OS to do it.

 

Worst case, it is a nasty that hides in the mobo BIOS and so cannot be removed without pulling and replacing the BIOS chip.

[Binzie]

Oh god :-( ill try malware bytes and feedback

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[Dean-]

Check / do the following things;

 

What happens when you open CMD and type ping 8.8.8.8

What happens when you open CMD and type ping www.google.com

Can you ping your default gateway?

make sure TCP/IP is enabled on the ethernet adapter.

Disable IPV6

 

Make sure the Network adapter has "DHCP" rather than static.

Go to Internet Options - Check to make sure a virus has not enabled a proxy.

 

When you go into device manager, do you see the ethernet card in there?

 

If your sure it was the virus I would rebuild as you may fix your issue but you may still have bits of rubbish it installed still on the machine.

[VWD]

Oh god :-( ill try malware bytes and feedback

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

There's two malware bytres products -one shows up as MBAM, ( that's malware bytes ). The other  shows as MBAR ( that's the anti root kit one). But there's stacks of nasties lurking in e mails purporting to come from couriers /HMRC /Amazon to name a few .

[kilted]

It is also possible that the network card has an issue or a driver update has gone wrong. Worth checking that it is showing up and not registering a fault before going to the extent of a new install etc.

 

Had that issue on every computer I had (and helped with - a total of 6 computers) with W98 SP2. The update killed the network card drivers (and sound drivers on about half of them) so ended up having to find them on a different comp and transfer them over with a flash drive.

[NetScaler]

Are the lights flickering on the network card at the back of the PC when you put the cable in? If so its likely hardware ok.

 

Try going into Control Panel \ Network and Sharing Centre then click on Change adapter settings. Right click your Ethernet device and disable it, then enable it again

 

Ive seen that explain the unexplained network glitch before on 8.1

[Binzie]

run both malware programmes found and quarantined 55 non malwares but still knackered 

 

downloaded new network drivers both install then fail 

 

tried a refresh ...nowt !

 

am stumped

[GentleGiant]

You could try asking for help on bleepingcomputer.com. it might take a day or two, but someone will eventually get back to you and talk you through some more specialised (and dangerous), AV tools.

[gadgetman]

First, if you are infected you cannot rely on AVG (which IME is as much use a a chocolate fire guard) or anything else you load on the computer.

You have one option if you can't get on to the Internet with it. Download the CD bootable version of malware bytes and run direct from a cd. If it won't run, then it's certainly a rootkit

[gadgetman]

One other possibility is an update from Windows update.

Does she recall one the last time it worked or when it started?

Dad had one download via windows update for his Wifi driver, but his dell needed a Dell specific one. Luckily we used a cable to connect to his router and download the correct one from Dell support using the Dell support tag number

[slider]

 maybe just somehow disabled the network card

[GentleGiant]

One other possibility is an update from Windows update.

Does she recall one the last time it worked or when it started?

Dad had one download via windows update for his Wifi driver, but his dell needed a Dell specific one. Luckily we used a cable to connect to his router and download the correct one from Dell support using the Dell support tag number

 

 

 maybe just somehow disabled the network card

 

He says spybot wont run, and assuming it was a fresh install, I have only known that to happen with one really nasty virus (the name of which I have forgotten!!)

[gadgetman]

If spybot is a first install, it needs to update first, otherwise it simply exits. The first install it needs to update, so needs net access.

I don't think there is a complete build (software and latest definitions) these days like there used to be.

[Binzie]

still stumped, never struggled this long before 

[gadgetman]

Are the drivers you're trying from the Dell site or the wifi/network manufacturer?

If the latter, use the Dell ones. For some reason they're different.

It isn't in a virus or malwares interest to prevent network access. They crave it to spread and work correctly. Despite stopping most other software working, they'll keep windows and networking running at all costs.

[Dean-]

still stumped, never struggled this long before 

 

Binzie,

 

Have you tried what I suggested in my previous post? if you could reply back with answers this will help me diagnose where i think your issue is.

[GentleGiant]

If spybot is a first install, it needs to update first, otherwise it simply exits. The first install it needs to update, so needs net access.

I don't think there is a complete build (software and latest definitions) these days like there used to be.

 

 

I am not sure that is true, it asks to update, but it WILL run with the default virus definitions for whatever build you have downloaded. I know because I install my AV/AM programs BEFORE I allow the PC to access the internet.

You can (or used to be able to), also download the current virus database and install it manually (I havent done that in some time though)

 

I think more specialised tools like COMBOFIX and hijackthis are needed.