no internet connection after 5.1.889 update

[Tripk]

Hello all,

Hoping for a little help. Sony Vaio, Vista Home Premium(64), Firefox/Chrome, Avast 5 free.

Updated to 5.1.889 last night and after resart began getting little popup windows saying "windows encountered a problem and must close this program". They came really fast but i believe they were startup and/or system processes. Then no internet connection, the wifi utility has a connection to the router so it's not that. I'm thinking a virus or something.
I also uninstalled Avast and installed AVG, same problem so i don't believe it's Avast. Also installed an older version of Avast, no change. The only way to access the internet is when no antivirus is installed.

Any suggestions?

Running MWB & SuperAntiSpyware in Safe mode now.

Thanks for any help.

[Pondus]

was your Vaio delivered with preinstalled AV ?
i see some Vaio`s come with McAfee security senter preinstalled and also webroot security   http://pressf1.pcworld.co.nz/showthread.php?t=111105

have you removed it ?
have you run a removal tool to clean out all leftovers ?
you can find the tool here http://uninstallers.blogspot.com/  run it and reboot...

I'm thinking a virus or something.

don`t think so, as viruses likes to have connection so they can phone home for help....they like to download more malicious stuff   

Running MWB & SuperAntiSpyware in Safe mode now.

not at the same time i hope ?
Malwarebytes work best in normal mode

[DavidR]

It may be that your connecting settings are corrupted.
See, http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/06/18/repair-and-reset-windows-vista-tcpip-winsock-catalog-corruption/.

You should be able to apply this fix to the affected system or download and fix file save to USB and run it on the effected system to try and fix the winsock settings.

[Tripk]

Thanks Pondus & DavidR. Let's see - No preinstalled AV or webroot.

As far as phoning home, i can connect like normal provided i have no anti virus installed and running, once i do i get the little popups stating various services have stopped working. Then when i attempt to uninstall Avast i get another popup that says "COM surrogate has stopped working". Then have to go to safe mode to uninstall. Very strange.

OK uninstalled Avast again, installed MS security essentials. Reset Winsock. Runs normally with MS security essentials. I don't understand that never had an issue with Avast and have it running on my desktop. And yes i tried Avast after resetting Winsock as well.

Appreciate the help from you, for now i will go with MS Sec. Essentials but i believe Win7 is going to be installed on the Vaio soon.

One final question, would Prevx or Threatfire cause a conflict with the latest Avast update? Again all running on my desktop, no problem.

Thanks again, Tripk

[DavidR]

You can search the forums for COM surrogate has stopped working as I recall this coming up recently and that there are many instances unrelated to avast where this error has been displayed.

So you didn't try the reset winsock with avast installed ?

[Tripk]

DavidR, yes did try Winsock with avast first but had the same result, popups and no web access.

If it's not a virus or malware i can only speculate that i have something running/installed that's conflicting with avast 5 & AVG. My only issue with that theory is when i installed an older version Avast it did exactly as the update. Also didn't mention that all restore points were gone and system restore set to off which i know was on and working as whenever i clean the registery or install a program i set a restore point.

The wonder of Windows!!!

Thanks again, enjoyed the forum and appreciate the quick responses.

Tripk

[DavidR]

You're welcome.

[monkeybikegirl]

I have a toshiba laptop (Windows 7) that I downloaded the upgrade and I could not gain access to my internet either although I know it was linked to the router correctly (same problem as the original post).  I took my laptop in to tech to fix, who came back saying there is a virus now and he has to erase and reinstall the programs (tech is recommened by several people).  Just wondering how many other people this has happened to after they downloaded the update.

[Pondus]

I took my laptop in to tech to fix, who came back saying there is a virus now and he has to erase and reinstall the programs (tech is recommened by several people).

If you want to, you can have Essexboy check it to see if that is true  ?...or have you already done the reinstall ?

[essexboy]

Unfortunately, in my experience, if it is a chain you take it to rather than an independant, then that is their stock answer.  As it is quick and easy with no analysis required - easy money