Computer cannot get DHCP address and if assigned valid static IP it still can't use network

The computer (HP laptop, Vista 64bit Home Premium SP1) had/has viruses. To remove viruses, I took out drive and hooked up to another computer and used 2 different scanners to remove viruses. I then put the drive back in the laptop and now I am trying to run Spybot/SUPERAntiSpyware and other programs on the laptop but I can't get the network to work. Both the wired and wireless network adapters will not get an IP address using DHCP. If I statically assign a valid IP, Gateway, and DNS server the little icon in the system tray switches to the globe but I cannot ping or resolve DNS addresses.

I have tried two commands in cmd:

netsh winsock reset

and

netsh int ip reset

and restarted in between but it didn't help. Are there any other steps I can try before I have to just reinstall Vista?

myscreennameistoolong

Posted 2010-02-19T18:51:08.960

Reputation: 123

Answers

Do you have Norton 360 or any other Norton networky kind of program installed? If so, try disabling it and restarting. Try also toggling the Windows Firewall on or off to see if this has any effect.

Otherwise, try a quick scan for any corrupt system files (have your Vista installation media at the ready.) Click the Start button, type sfc /scannow and hit Enter. Once the box telling you its scanning disappears, restart and see if the problem is resolved. If you had an infestation that broke any system files, especially relating to networking, this may well do the trick.

Failing that, try a system restore back to a point before you picked up the nasties. I would put my money on this fixing it.

If you wanted to give it a go, there is a tutorial on doing a repair installation under Vista. I would personally skip that and go straight for the reinstall as you suggested. Viruses can get so deep into the system, affect so many system files and get so well hidden, sometimes it's less painful to just reinstall. Plus, you'll get a super speedy computer out of it (or at least super speedy as far as Vista goes... ;-)

Kez

Posted 2010-02-19T18:51:08.960

Reputation: 15 359

tried sfc and it found unrepairable problems. Ended up backing up the data and doing a doing a factory restore to fix the computer. I did the factory restore instead of a repair because the computer did have viruses. – myscreennameistoolong – 2010-02-20T01:47:59.993

netsh interface reset all
reset all interfaces: 6to4, HTTPSTunnel, ipv4, ipv6, isatap, portproxy, tcp, teredo

But I don't know exactly what you risk to do it (not much I think, except reinstalling/reconfiguring network related software & windows parameters...)

fluxtendu

Posted 2010-02-19T18:51:08.960

Reputation: 6 701

I tried doing this but it didn't help. System File Check (sfc) showed unfixable bad files so I went ahead and did a factory restore on the system. This solution may work for other people. – myscreennameistoolong – 2010-02-22T21:37:15.670

Has the HOSTS file been modified by the malware? That would create some network issues. Can you do tracert to a known host like www.cisco.com (72.163.4.161) and see where your packets fail?

Dave M

Posted 2010-02-19T18:51:08.960

Reputation: 12 811

The hosts file only has two entries, one for IPv4 local host and the other for IPv6 localhost. When I try to ping localhost it says "General Failure" – myscreennameistoolong – 2010-02-19T19:11:33.620

Do you need IPv6? Try disabling it. – Dave M – 2010-02-19T19:39:42.223