Help with wireless network!

Hello,

My computer was recently infected with malware. Most of my issues have since been fixed, however I am having alot of trouble getting my computer to connect to the internet through my router and modem. My computer connects fine when directly hooked to the modem, but when I try to connect the router the Network and Sharing center says that I am connected to an unidentified network with local access only. I am using 32-bit Windows Vista, I have a Linksys WRT54G V8 Router, and a Webstar DPC2100 modem. I am kind of in the dark as to what info I need to post, but here is a link to the thread I posted in the malware forum with all of my logs. If anyone could help I'd greatly appreciate it!

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=227540

 

I can't seem to figure out what to do with the DHCP to fix it. How would I go about changing that setting and what should it be set to?

 

yes, that's pretty much it Tim. At the end it's Advanced button and then check the DNS tab, but you got him to the right place, hard to miss it from there.

 

Actually, I'm using Windows Vista 32-Bit. I tried to manually input the DNS into the IPv4 area (I think that's the right place) with no luck. I tried several ipconfig functions and got the following error messages.

ipconfig /release:

An error occurred while releasing interface Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1 : The system cannot find the file specified.

ipconfig /renew:

An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection : unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.

An error occurred while releasing interface Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1 : The system cannot find the file specified.


Not really sure what they mean but it sounded noteworthy.

 

The instructions for Vista are a little different than XP.

Right now it sounds like you are at a command prompt, which isn't anything like what Tim described but still an option, I believe.

Scratch all of this, I was thinking in static IP mode. My mistake.

I did it often in w2k, the command was 'netsh interface'

You can try pasting this in, I'm a little rusty and I have never tried the commands on a Vista machine.

For using DHCP:
netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" dhcp

If you had wanted to set up the IP settings the way that you already have thme (just for reference)
netsh interface ip set address name="Local Area Connection" static 68.104.124.178 255.255.255.0 68.104.124.1


From here down, still ok. You need to get to the advanced settings to make sure nothing is still in there.

I recall Vista being a little annoying and having a slightly different setup for accessing the network settings through the control panel. That is probably still the easiest way to access it though.

 

Sorry about the previous post, I tried to edit it all in time to delete the irrelevant portion.

Instead of using the command prompt, go to the network settings in the control panel

Open the Start Menu and select "Control Panel."
Select the option "View network status and tasks."
Select "Manage network connections."
Double click on "Local Area Connection."
Select the button "Properties" at the bottom.
Select "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" from the list, then select "Properties."
Make sure that "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically" are the options selected, then select "Advanced" button.

This is were Tim was guiding you. Go through the four advanced tabs and check that there aren't numbers saved in them.

Tim also references NetBios so on the WINS tab, make sure the NetBios section is set to Default.

After you OK out of this, you may need to go back to the command prompt to release and renew the ip

 

No luck, my IPv4 settings were already set to obtain info automatically. Itried the ipconfig functions again and still got the same error messages as previously stated.

I saw somewhere that the default ip address for my router is 192.168.1.1, and that I can change it in the administrative console for the router. With the router connected I tried to type the ip in the address bar in internet explorer. It told me that the address is not valid.

 

To see the router you should be able to put 68.104.124.1 in the browser to access it.

It seems you have all of the information for configuring the router. You might need to run the Linksys router run the wizard again. If you don't recall changing the IP of it, it could easily have been hacked or changed by the malware.

All of the Linksys wireless routers I have used have given me the same IP for the Gateway and DHCP server. I have two in this office, two in another office and one at home. I haven't seen a configuration like this but it might be the basic setup that i do. Maybe it would be a better idea to do the factory reset and reprogram the router from scratch.

 

So I think I'm making some progress. I reset the router to it's default settings and it is now being recognized by Windows. I can also use all of the ipconfig functions with no errors. However I still can't get the router to connect to the internet. I'm getting a new error message now:

There may be a problem with your Domain Name Server (DNS) configuration.

Windows failed to find the well known host "www.microsoft.com" using DNS. The server may be down.

I also ran ipconfig /all and it still says that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled, even though my settings match what you guys had suggested. Here is a copy of the ipconfig report:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Kyle & Heather>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Home
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168/8111 Family PCI-E Gigabit
Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-21-3F-07-55
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.102(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, December 22, 2010 2:27:45 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, December 23, 2010 2:27:45 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

 

Yea, I can. I'm actually on the problem computer now. The DNS issue only comes up when I connect the router.

 

I tried the power cycle...still having the same issue. I reset the router from the admin web page for the router.

 

Nope, didn't work. I have a Linksys WRT54G V8.

 

Can you ping 4.2.2.2 from that computer?

 

Not while I'm connected to the router. It gives me a message that basically 5 packets were sent and all were lost.

 

I don't see that you answered this elsewhere. Can you connect directly to the modem and reach the internet or ping 4.2.2.2? Is there only one computer on the network?

 

When I'm connected directly to the modem I can ping just fine, I receive all the packets back. I have one computer wired to the router, and the router is used for our game systems and cell phones.

 

I should have clarified that at the start, sorry.

You have this computer and also other devices on the wireless? Can the other devices still connect to the internet or did that stop working now too?

If the problem is still just in the PC, can you post a new local area connection report from the ipconfig /all command please?

 

None of my devices are able to connect to the network. All of the proper lights on the modem and router light up though. Here is my ipconfig:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Kyle & Heather>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Home
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168/8111 Family PCI-E Gigabit
Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-21-3F-07-55
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, December 23, 2010 1:37:55 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, December 24, 2010 1:37:54 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Also, I can take a screen capture of all the pages in the routers setup page. Maybe there would be some useful info in there?

 

@TimW
Unless I'm reading this wrong, kingnazgul has other devices connected to the wireless, I'm assuming the worked at first and hopefully still work now. I'm verifying that I didn't create another issue with the router in the process. (and you're right, says TWICE that he can connect directly to the modem. Sorry.)

kingnazgul, I was guessing that a setting got changed, a proxy server was added, a rogue DHCP server address was set, a security setting had been changed for the wireless connection only, or something else had gotten changed in your computer for wireless connection in the process of your infection. It seems like none of those apply. I had meant to ask you if you can connect via ethernet to the router, not the modem that I wrote before, that was an error. Since your fine through the modem, likely not a question either.

I did a little hunting around and there are a lot of posts about this issue. Most of the suggestions you already did. This one solution has worked for others, though when I read it I can't imagine how the issue can start after a long period of time. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233 Apparently it did develop over time for others and maybe that is why my own old cruddy vista laptop never did go wireless on my Linksys router but it was ok when I was connected with the ethernet.

(you posted while I was writing. That the other devices don't work, was it always like that or is that new? I can try to help you through putting your settings back, that was probably the reset, if it worked before those settings can go back again and shame on me for not asking you to make a backup of the config from the router page, it would have exported them to file for reloading. I'm sorry, I learned my lesson.)

 

i dont know if anyone has advised you to perform this but have you tried disabling/enabling your LAN Adapter?

You can do so by:

Clicking Start, Control Panel, Network and Internet

Change Adapter Settings, Double Click Local Area Network and Click Disable, Wait a 1 Minute and then double click LOcal Area Network again and Click Enable, wait for Network to be identified and then close. post results

**Update** Also after you run ipconfig /all please post Tunnel Adapter LAN settings, and also can you log in to your router settings by typing 192.168.1.100 on a browser? username and password should be Admin for both, post your router settings, if they are PPPOe or something else.

 

So...I fixed my problem. I bought a new router and everything is connected fine. Sorry to waste all that time, it must have been a coincidence that the router crapped out on me at the same time I got the viruses. Anyways, thanks to everyone who spent so much time trying to help me, I appreciate it so much.

 

WHEW!!

I've been rereading your post and hoping something new would come to mind. Glad you found the problem!