Internet connection, there but inaccessable

Hey guys, Happy New Year

My grandfather recently encountered a problem on his PC. The story is that I recently bought a new computer and switched off some of my old components with those on his computer. I changed the 512MB ram to 1024MB and I changed the 5200fx nvidia to a x1600 ati pro, and I added my old sound card, the audigy 2, because I thought it would be silly to throw away some of this hardware which is still useful. All went well on the installation and everything seemed to work fine. When I left, my grandfather called up and told me the internet on his account wasn't working. I told him to try it on my xp account and he said the firefox didn't work but then the IE worked. After that he logged in back on his account and the internet was working there too. For
about a day or two, he would have to go through this process to get the internet working on his account, until it stopped working on my account as well. Even though he can't access the internet, there is an internet connection icon on the status bar.

Once in a while, the internet comes through and the browsers show the webpages but
now it happens very rarely. The interesting thing is that even though I can't browse
the internet on the internet browsers, my other programs seem to have access to the
internet. Spybot could update its definitions and my email program can connect to
gmail. Spybot and Adaware only found tracking cookies and my avast antivirus is coming
out negative. Could the Creative or ATI software be affecting something with the
internet connection??

I use broadband Optimum Online.

When I launch the computer, the Local Area Connection status is fine with the numbers
all moving but when I launch any browser it turns into this: Status: Connected; Duration:
00:00:00 (all the time); Speed: 0 bps; Packets sent: 0 Recieved: 0. Still, however,
spybot and antivirus can update.

I can connect to the internet via safe mode with networking

I tried winsockfix, it didn't work.

sometimes when I start up the machine, it tells me that windows firewall cannot turn
on and when I click on the balloon to turn it on, it tells me "An exception occured while trying to run "Shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL wscui.cpl" At these times the connection
shows 0bps and 0 packets being sent although other programs can update.

I also tried netsh reset winsock, but that didn't help either. Still, I think it
has to do with something with the winsocks because I recently read (but cannot find)
someone who had the same exact symptoms and the netsh reset winsock helped him.

I found out that I can access the internet using the address bar in Outlook but that, obviously doesnt suit me.

I could access https websites on internet explorer and firefox i.e. windows update or bank of america

 

So, you're saying that everytime you try to go onto any https site, you can without problems? But regular http sites don't open? Sounds to me like a security setting or problem; if only secure sites will open (and they always open) then the other sites are being 'blocked' by something...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842242
wscui.cpl = Windows Security Center User Interface . Control Panel appLet
This is part of service pack 2, so try reinstalling SP2 maybe... you may want to try Dial-A-Fix also. Check everything in the Registration Center and click Go! http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4899.html
Good luck!

Welcome to MajorGeeks!

 

Dial-A-Fix didn't work so I tried reinstalling SP2.

I uninstalled SP2, and my browsers started working. I was happy about that and then I reinstalled SP2. Everything was still working. After reinstalling SP2, I decided to reinstall IE7 and my ATI Driver. During the process of reinstalling both, Windows was doing other updates in the background. After the restart, the browsers stopped working. What happened??

EDIT: Just uninstalled the ATI driver and the browsers started working... What's wrong?? I downloaded the driver from the ati website. It's version 7.12. I'll try to install an earlier version now.

 

Seems like I fixed it. ATI official drivers somehow blocked my browsers but then I gave omega drivers a whirl and everything seems to work fine for now.

I'll update this page if it stops working again.