Internet Explorer & Media Player 'Broken'

T

tomrice32

Posts: 42   +0
Hello :)

Wondering if anyone has any ideas to fix this strange problem of mine...

I have internet access through a standard router connected by Ethernet cable. My internet connection is perfectly fine for firefox, opera, MSN messenger, everything else I use, even Windows Automatic Updates work ok, but for some reason I cannot get a connection through Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player.

In firefox if I try to play an embedded video using Windows Media Player plugin, it does not connect and won't play. If I use another plugin such as Quicktime it does work. Internet Explorer does not load any webpages atall or do anything.

I have done full spyware scans with A Squared, Ad-Aware, Spybot, done antivirus scans, everything. I've tried enabling windows services that I've previously had disabled in services.msc. I've disabled all IE 'addons'. I've uninstalled IE7 back to IE6 again, and then upgraded to IE7 again, and I've tried the Winsock Fix for broken connections/ host file problems etc. Nothing seems to get it working! So I can't stream with WMP, and can't use IE for anything. Any ideas?? Thanks!!

If it helps, here's a hijackthis log. I don't know much but couldn't see anything suspicious there that I know of:

Code: 
Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 22:14:03, on 20/12/2006
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.5730.0011)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MsMpEng.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\xampplite\apache\bin\apache.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
C:\Program Files\MATCO\BuzzSawService.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\Personal Firewall\kpf4ss.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\xampplite\apache\bin\apache.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe
C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\Personal Firewall\kpf4gui.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\xampplite\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\Personal Firewall\kpf4gui.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
C:\Program Files\ScreenPrint32 v3\ScreenPrint32.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe
C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\MsnMsgr.Exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\PowerMenu\PowerMenu.exe
C:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\Hijackthis\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.google.co.uk/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R3 - URLSearchHook: Yahoo! Toolbar - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [avast!] C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScreenPrint32] C:\Program Files\ScreenPrint32 v3\ScreenPrint32.exe -startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Tweak UI] RUNDLL32.EXE TWEAKUI.CPL,TweakMeUp
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe" -hide
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MsnMsgr] "C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\MsnMsgr.Exe" /background
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - Startup: Organiser.lnk = C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\Organiser\EssentialPIM.exe
O4 - Startup: Shortcut to PowerMenu.lnk = C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\PowerMenu\PowerMenu.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O18 - Protocol: livecall - {828030A1-22C1-4009-854F-8E305202313F} - C:\PROGRA~1\MSNMES~1\MSGRAP~1.DLL
O18 - Protocol: msnim - {828030A1-22C1-4009-854F-8E305202313F} - C:\PROGRA~1\MSNMES~1\MSGRAP~1.DLL
O20 - Winlogon Notify: igfxcui - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\igfxsrvc.dll
O20 - Winlogon Notify: SASWinLogon - C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SASWINLO.dll
O23 - Service: Apache2 - Unknown owner - C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\xampplite\apache\bin\apache.exe" -k runservice (file missing)
O23 - Service: avast! iAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: ATI Smart - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ati2sgag.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Antivirus - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Mail Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: avast! Web Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: Buzzsaw_Defragmentation - SpyderComm, Inc. - C:\Program Files\MATCO\BuzzSawService.exe
O23 - Service: EPSON Printer Status Agent2 (EPSONStatusAgent2) - SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION - C:\Program Files\Common Files\EPSON\EBAPI\SAgent2.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\1050\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPodService - Apple Computer, Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall 4 (KPF4) - Sunbelt Software - C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\Personal Firewall\kpf4ss.exe
O23 - Service: MySql - Unknown owner - C:/Documents and Settings/Tom/My Documents/xampplite/mysql/bin/mysqld-nt.exe
O23 - Service: VNC Server Version 4 (WinVNC4) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC4\WinVNC4.exe" -service (file missing)
 
Hehe. I would but I don't have a windows install disc, and I've got too much on here I don't want to have to back it all up and get it all back on here again lol. Thought there may be a way to fix it. It's strange, my connection works, just not in IE and WMP. Thanks anyway!
 
I hope someone can identify the solution as I have exactly the same problem. My problem started three months ago. Since I primarily use Firefox I have no idea when IE quit working or any clue to the cause and effect. My system locks up immediately after the top three or four lines are painted, and the program hangs on the "about:browser" page. Try this work-around;load Avant browser. Their latest release (11.0) works very well with IE with some nice features from Avant. It is essentially an overlay of IE i.e., you'll have access to all of your IE bookmarks and settings.
 
Hm interesting to hear that others are having the same problem as me. I use Firefox primarily too, so I don't know when or why it went wrong.

I've tried uninstalling IE back to IE6 and installing IE7 again and it won't work on either version. Also disabling Avast didn't help but thanks for the idea.

Thanks very much for the tip on Avant browser. I installed that and it works a charm. If I ever need to access stuff through IE I can use that for now. I rarely do need to anyway. Just the Windows Media Player streaming files I think still don't work. If anyone works out a solution please let us know! Thanks all.
 
Reading this thread has made my blood boil... seeing all these useless replies and "convos" starting up where there should be advice from people who know a solution.

So... if you are using IE7 (which might i add is still a BETA version so there are bound to be problems!) then try downgrading to 6 to see if that solves it. Then check you r media player settings and check to see if they are set to run off your IE settings (which by default they are so fixing IE is a must before getting WMP to work).

Hope this helps... if not then i no what your problem may be. Please post a fresh HJT log aswell (preferably attached).
 
I did try downgrading to IE6, and it did not work. Then I upgraded to IE7 again and it still didn't work. I believe IE7 is actually out of beta now by the way. I'm not home at the moment but when I get back I will try what you suggested and post a fresh HJT log. Thanks for your help :)

Thanks everyone again for your help. I've tried what has been suggested and IE won't work on either IE6 or IE7. Using Avant Browser does work though. For now I'm using another media player for streaming things, but it would be nice to get WMP working again.

By the way if it helps, I've noticed my IE homepage is stuck as:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=74005
Not sure why, it does let me change it but always shows this URL in the address bar when I open it. It does not produce an error when trying to load any webpage, it just remains blank and does nothing. If using IE7, it displays 'Connecting...' on the Tab title.

Note that I've also tried disabling all addons, deleting all browser history, temporary files, cookies, etc.. and going to Internet Settings --> Advanced --> Reset to reset all IE settings to manufacturer defaults. Plus I tried opening IE7 using the run with no addons option. That stopped it trying to access that go.microsoft.com link, but still no web pages loaded. None of this made a slight bit of difference :(

I've attached a hijackthis log file for you :)
 
Not sure why my last two posts were merged. The first reply was a separate one from a few days ago, the 2nd was a followup. It needed to be posted separately otherwise nobody knows that I've come back with further information since then.. Please don't merge again thank you :)
To those helping please read my last post(s). Thanks again for your help.
 
50/50 Worth the time

As noted, I too have exactly the same problem on two different computers. One is using XP Home and the other XP Pro. I fixed the home version with this workaround. It had no effect on XP Pro. Maybe I just got lucky, but this is worth the try.

Boot up in SAFE mode with network connection. Bring up IE. Mine worked immediately. After jumping around to a couple of Favorite sites with no problem I shut down IE. I then did a power off shut down of the computer. I've had too many misfires in my life doing a power on reset. After the reboot, everything has been working perfectly.

I am still working on the XP Pro, but right now it appears hopeless unless someone on here has the magic bullet.
 
have you guys tried simply entering in WMP Tools >Options >Network tab and fiddling around there?

If you can't access the internet on WMP or IE etc, try doing the network setup wizard, and selecting "this pc connects directly to the net", you might be surprised. That and/or disabling your firewall momentarily for troubleshooting.

If the problem that you can't look at videos while you're inside IE etc, you might either need the correct codec pack or its a plugin problem.
 
I've now tried Safe mode, and still didn't work in that lol. And could not find any settings in the network settings on WMP that helped either.
I also tried the network setup wizard with no luck.

Thanks for your replies anyway! :) Appreciate it
 
Thanks but not sure what you mean? How do I re-install that? Automatic Windows Updates work fine, it's IE and WMP that won't connect.
 

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