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W7 network freakyness
03-11-2014, 10:58 AM
So. I got around to attempting to actually use the oldish laptop my mother gave me over the holidays, beyond "Yup, it boots!" and it turns out there's something very peculiar going on with it - if any software besides IE or Norton tries to send data, the wireless connection drops, and it does so anyway every minute or two. This doesn't happen if it's booted in Safe Mode + Networking, but that doesn't tell me what's actually causing the problem...
Any ideas?
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Try booting it with an Ubuntu LiveCD and see what happens?
Sounds like a firewall, security software, virus/malware, or driver issue to me.
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Well, the obvious first step is to reinstall your Wi-Fi card drivers.
The less obvious second step is to get rid of Norton, because seriously? Norton?
Third, you might try CrowdInspect- it's a free process scanner. I bring it up because it doesn't just look at what's running on your machine, but also what connections said processes are making. Might tell you more about what's going on.
Fourth, consider picking up a cheap USB Wi-Fi stick. If that works (and the one in the machine doesn't), you now have a workaround... and an indication that there's something hinky with your internal card. If you've already reinstalled/updated the drivers for it, you can reasonably infer that the drivers aren't the problem... and if it's not the drivers, it's probably the hardware.
Also, try a virus scan. Multiple scans, with multiple free programs. Norton has a bad habit of missing things, and not cleaning up what it detects. Oh, and make one of the free ones you use Malwarebytes; it does better with the malware than most. I'd recommend keeping it and one other free AV- maybe Avast- when you finish, in place of Norton.
There's also HijackThis, which'll let you see what's running on the system, and remove the registry entries that make it happen. Stuff that starts at startup, browser add-ons- the works. BE CAREFUL, though- it's quite possible to screw things up with this one.
tl;dr: You either have a software problem, or a problem with the Wi-Fi on the machine. Check your processes, scan for viruses/malware, and get rid of Norton on the software side. Update drivers, check your connections, and try a different Wi-Fi device on the Wi-Fi side.
I *suspect* it's a driver issue, but I don't know for sure from here.
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The thing is, it can't be the hardware or the network driver, because the problem goes away if I just boot in safe mode - it could easily be a conflict with one of the other things that are disabled then, of course. Norton may be (may?) crap, but it was already on the machine, and I can't get it to stay connected long enough to download anything else, since everyone uses the damn stub installer programs over a network connection. I'll poke deeper into the Malwarebytes and look for Avast to see if I can get a full installer DLed to an SD card or something...
(A live CD wouldn't help even if I had another machine with a CD drive, since the reason I want to use it is software that isn't available for Ubuntu. I have that via crouton chroot on my Chromebook.)
Thanks for taking the time to think through the suggestions and all, though!
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"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
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In that case, doubling down on my CrowdInspect and HijackThis suggestions. If SB+N works and normal boot doesn't, you've got something loading when you boot that's messing with it.
You could also use msconfig to set up a clean boot (disables all non-essential on-startup programs), and see if that works. Then start reenabling them, one by one.
On the issue of AV programs, Norton is crap. Slows the machine, makes programs not work, and doesn't catch virii. It wouldn't surprise me if Norton caused the problem in the first place- not saying it did, just that it wouldn't be surprising. You might try Portableapps.com and/or Helge's Switchblade for AV program sources. PA is a framework for setting up system-independent programs (including AV) on flash drives, and Helge's is just a flash drive IT toolkit- which I know includes Malwarebytes.
I think ECS suggested the live CD as a troubleshooting method, BTW. Not necessary, but that makes it make sense.
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Norton, first and formost. It's like a virus that you pay for. It generates useless popups, slows down your system, then begs for more money. Microsoft Security essentials and malwarebytes, you can happily get by with.
The fact that it's limited to just IE or Norton suggest that it's either Norton itself, or its firewall that's causing things to go funny. For a second opinion, it might be some sort of funky 'network manager' that some WiFi drivers come packaged with that're either broken, or borked to work only with IE because that's all anyone uses.
If the laptop still has the license key sticker on it - usually the base - you can use it and a .iso image of Windows 7 to make a fresh install and not worry about any of it.
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Heh, well, looks like applying a sledge and prybar to Norton did the trick - and Malwarebytes picked up 118 or so things Nortan hadn't, as well, half or so being registry tags.
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"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
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...you uninstalled Norton, and the problem disappeared?
Tautology!
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