Device Manager Not Working

Discussion in 'Malware Help (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by hcrawfor, Jan 11, 2013.

  1. hcrawfor

    hcrawfor Corporal

    I was referred here from the Software Forum because they suspected malware.... and to mention this thread - http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=271937

    I ran as many of the tools as I could that you provided in this forum... and in the proper order. Attached are the files. TDSSKiller found no threats and produced no log. Same with Hitman Pro. MGtools on the other hand, seemed to run into numerous errors while running in a DOS/command prompt, and failed to create the zip log.

    After completion the same issues are present... empty Device Manage and can only occasionally connect with my printers which are attached to a Desktop on my home network. Other then that, the laptop functions normally... internet access, applications run properly and laptop functions at decent speed.

    Thanks in advance for your help.
     

    Attached Files:

    hcrawfor, Jan 11, 2013
    #1
  2. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Please click Start, All Program, Accessories and you will see ( among other things ) a Command Prompt entry.
    • Right click the Command Prompt entry and select Run As Administrator.
      • It is critical that you run it this way.
    • If you do this properly, a command prompt window will open with a title of Administrator Command Prompt.
    • Enter the below commands at the command prompt each followed by the enter key. The bold black are commands. The purple/brown is merely informational.
    cd \MGtools <-- this changes to the MGtools folder and the prompt should change to C:\MGtools>
    GetRunKey<-- this will try to run all one scan from MGtools. Tell me what error messages, if any, you see.
    ShowNew<-- this will try to run all one scan from MGtools. Tell me what error messages, if any, you see.
     
    TimW, Jan 12, 2013
    #2
  3. hcrawfor

    hcrawfor Corporal

    Thanks in advance for your help.

    1) Received the following Windows errors, and I simply replied "OK", for: GetRunKey

    The program or features "\??\c:\MGTools\time.exe" cannot start or run due to incompatibility with the 64-bit version of Windows. Please contact the software vendor to ask if a 64-bit Windows compatible version is available.

    I received a similar message for "locate.com". The program continued to run and produced the attached file.

    2) Received the same messages for: ShowNew

    The only difference is I received 20-30 of the same error message to which I kept replying "OK". Attached is the file it produced.
     

    Attached Files:

    hcrawfor, Jan 12, 2013
    #3
  4. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    You did not disable UAC as requested in the READ & RUN ME FIRST. Please do that and then reboot ( you must reboot ). After reboot, try running MGtools.exe again and make sure that you right click on it and select Run As Administrator to run it.
     
    chaslang, Jan 12, 2013
    #4
  5. hcrawfor

    hcrawfor Corporal

    Ooops

    Attached is the MGlog zip file.

    I had to cancel a routine.... Refreshing System Information.... it froze for 30 min, but then the process continued.

    Thanks
     

    Attached Files:

    hcrawfor, Jan 12, 2013
    #5
  6. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Well there is some junkware to remove but I don't think there are causing your problems. Looks more like a Windows problem. Have you run registry cleaning programs recently or in the past? If so, I strongly recommend you stop doing that as this can sometimes cause strange Windows issues like this. Sometime the problems caused by registry cleaning are not apparent for awhile.

    We can try fixing what I see, but I think your best solution may be to use System Restore to go back to a point before the problem began.
     
    chaslang, Jan 12, 2013
    #6
  7. hcrawfor

    hcrawfor Corporal

    Yes... I have run registry cleaning a number of times. Several months ago, I started to randomly lose the ability to print on the printers attached to a Desktop on my home network... but ONLY had the problem on this particular laptop. Other laptops on the network didn't have this issue.

    If I powered down my router and modem, and/or cleaned the registry, it often resolved the issue... until recently. It was only at this time I noticed the empty Device Manager and think the two issues are related. I haven't really had the need to ever go into Device Manager.

    Unfortunately, I feel System Restore would be uneventful. I noticed I only have about 12 restore points... and they only go back to 1/04/2013. I have been having the intermittent printing problems on this laptop for several months. Even now, I can view the printers under 'Network'.... but can't print, Add Printer, or view them under “Devices and Printers”.

    Any other ideas? Thanks
     
    hcrawfor, Jan 13, 2013
    #7
  8. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Sorry but this is not a malware problem. The only choices I see are:
    • System Restore
    • Reinstall
    But wait...... just for the heck of it, let's try the below. While I don't really expect this to work, there could be some kind of permission issue that is causing the problems and maybe this can correct it. Also there is a possibility that some required service is not in the correct state and this may fix it.

    Be patient while doing the below. The fixes can sometimes take quite awhile to run. Especially the permissions repairs. It may be best to kick it off and goto bed or do something else. It is better not to run anything while the repairs are going on.


    Download Windows Repair by Tweaking.com and unzip the contents into a newly created folder on your desktop.
    • Now run Repair_Windows.exe by double clicking on it ( if you are running Vista or Win 7, use right click and select Run As Administrator)
    • Now select the Start Repairs tab.
    • The click the Start button.
    • Create a System Restore point if prompted.
    • On the next screen, click the Unselect All button to first deselect all repairs.
    • Now select the following repair options:
      • Reset Registry Permissions
      • Reset File Permissions
      • Register System Files
      • Repair WMI
      • Remove Policies Set By Infections
      • Repair Winsock & DNS Cache
      • Repair Proxy Settings
      • Repair Windows Updates
      • Set Windows Services To Default Startup
    • Now on the lower right side check the box to Restart/Shutdown System When Finished
    • Then make sure the Restart System radio button is enabled.
    • Shutdown any other programs that you are running now before continuing.
    • Now click the Start button.
    • Be patient while the tool repairs the selected items.
    • It should reboot automatically when finished.
     
    chaslang, Jan 13, 2013
    #8
  9. hcrawfor

    hcrawfor Corporal

    Thanks. 50% successful. Let me explain.

    Device Manager is back working and reflects no issues. However, I can again see my printers through 'Network', which are attached to my Desktop in another room, but I can not print to them or view them in Devices and Printers.

    I have powered down and then restarted my modem, router and Desktop. No change, and my other laptop in the network prints. Any further thoughts or ideas where to go for help?
     
    hcrawfor, Jan 13, 2013
    #9
  10. hcrawfor

    hcrawfor Corporal

    In a previous post it was mentioned using a registry cleaner could produce problems. Doesn't MajorGeeks back/suggest using Ccleaner and Iobit Advanced System Care as a tool? Should I no longer use the clean registry tool in my troubleshooting efforts in the future?

    BTW - I started a new thread in the Networking Forum regarding my printing issue.
     
    hcrawfor, Jan 14, 2013
    #10
  11. hcrawfor

    hcrawfor Corporal

    Follow Up. Update - Issue resolved

    Through an internet search I found a solution that fixed my problem. Under 'Administrative Tools', 'Component Services', 'Services (Local)'.... I started 'Bluetooth Support Service' and set it to Automatic. That did it.

    I have absolutely no idea why this solution worked, but it did. I now see both printers on my network in 'Devices and Printers' and I can print from my Laptop. My Netbook, which never had this issue, reflects the bluetooh service as 'Stopped' and set to 'Manual'. Who would of thunk <grin>? And why did it work before without this solution??? Anybody's guess.
     
    hcrawfor, Jan 14, 2013
    #11
  12. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    In the malware forum and on dozens of other similar forums with experts in malware removal, we all recommend NOT using registry cleaners due to all the problems we have seen caused by blindly running them. They are almost never needed and 100% of registry cleaners come up falsely detecting hundreds of things that are wrong even on brand new Windows installs. The only time a registry cleaning tool should be run is if advised by a true Windows expert in order to fix a specific problem. And then only that specific problem should be fixed and not the other hundreds if not thousands of things that are really not problems.

    We have seen hundreds of strange issues with Windows or problems with Windows Update, or driver problems, blue screens....etc which have been caused by running registry cleaning or foolishly running registry optimizers. Registry optimizers have negligble to zero effect on improving performance.

    And similar to all the above, we also do not recommend those performance tweaking tools for the same kind of reasons. The start playing with the registry too much and they just aren't necessary. Right in front of me now I have 5 PCs running various versions Win XP, Vista, Win 7. Both 32 bit and 64 bit. And they have been running since these versions of Windows first came ( which is a very long time ago for XP ). And they have never required registry cleaning or performance tweaking and they run perfectly fine.

    The problems you were having were not due to malware. Where do you think they came from? ;)
     
    chaslang, Jan 17, 2013
    #12
  13. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Glad to hear you have this fixed.

    Since you are not having malware problems, it is time to do our final steps:
    1. We recommend you keep Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for scanning/removal of malware.
    3. Go back to step 4 oof the READ ME and renable your Disk Emulation software with Defogger if you had disabled it.
    4. Go to add/remove programs and uninstall HijackThis. If you don't see it or it will not uninstall, don't worry about it. Just move on to the next step.
    5. If running Vista or Win 7, it is time to make sure you have reenabled UAC by double clicking on the C:\MGtools\enableUAC.reg file and allowing it to be added to the registry.
    6. Goto the C:\MGtools folder and find the MGclean.bat file. Double click ( if running Vista, Win7, or Win 8 Right Click and Run As Administrator ) on this file to run this cleanup program that will remove files and folders related to MGtools and some other items from our cleaning procedures.
    7. If we had you download any registry patches like fixme.reg or fixWLK.reg (or any others) and running MGclean.bat did not remove, you can delete these files now.
    8. Any other miscellaneous tools we may have had you install or download can be uninstalled and deleted.
    10. After doing the above, you should work thru the below link:
     
    chaslang, Jan 17, 2013
    #13
  14. hcrawfor

    hcrawfor Corporal

    Thanks for all the help and useful info/tips/suggestions. Although I've been following many of your suggestions for a couple of years, there's ALWAYS room to learn. For one thing, I have disabled ALL Registry Cleaning options in any software I use. In fact, I will never clean the registry again without specific instruction.

    For those of you who have been following this thread, I thought you might be interested in the following post I made in the Networking Forum earlier today. As of now, 60+ people have viewed the post with no response.
    ….......
    Print Spooler Issues

    A few days ago I posted an issue, regarding only one laptop within my home network of 4 computers, with 'Devices and Printers' not showing the printers that are physically connected to another computer on my network. I then posted a fix I located through an internet search... enable the Bluetooth service. As I stated at the time, that made no sense to me, but it worked... so I went with it. Well... it worked all of two days <grin>.

    Now... I “think” I have found the real culprit, and it's a problem with the Print Spooler. I have found a work-around, but don't know how to permanently fix it. Every time I reboot, I need to 'stop' the Print Spooler and then restart it. If I do that, I see the printers in Devices and Printers and can print from any application. If I don't, all applications 'Stop Responding' when I try to print.

    BTW – I need to stop & start the Print Spooler in a SPECIFIC ORDER. Change startup setting to Manual, Stop, change startup setting back to Auto, Start, Apply, OK. If I merely start and stop the Print Spooler Service, it won't work. I have now rebooted several times, and need to follow these exact procedures in order to print.

    Does anybody know how to clean/clear/re-install the Print Spooler? I've never received an actual Print Spooler error message. I just stumbled onto the above fix by trial and error. But every time I start and stop the Print Spooler in the manner explained above, it fixes the problem. As I also stated in an earlier post, I've gone through all the Malware procedures in that forum and believe I have a clean system.
    ............
     
    hcrawfor, Jan 17, 2013
    #14
  15. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    You're welcome. Hope you get the rest of your Windows issues worked out.
     
    chaslang, Jan 18, 2013
    #15

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