The system is an HP Pavilion running Vista Home Premium. Everything is running fine except when I connect the network the system halts about 10 seconds later. By connect I mean no browser or any other apps running, just plug the net cable into the machine after a reboot and it halts. The connection type doesn't matter - same thing when using the internal NIC, wireless or a USB NIC. However, network works fine in safe mode w/ networking. Could this be a driver gone bad or is it some sort of malware?
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What steps to fix?
- Thread starter wesmat
- Start date
It can be either.
Download a fresh copy of the driver from the HP website
Uninstall the current network driver
Install the freshly downloaded copy
Monitor for further BSOD's
As for malware, please scan with one of these free, independent, online scanners: Malware (read the details at the link)
Download a fresh copy of the driver from the HP website
Uninstall the current network driver
Install the freshly downloaded copy
Monitor for further BSOD's
As for malware, please scan with one of these free, independent, online scanners: Malware (read the details at the link)
My Computer
Ok, after a very busy week and weekend I have completed the suggestions. The results:
The previous post mentioned BSOD - but that is not what is happening. The system just stops. The screen doesn't change, the desktop is still there. If I have the Task Manager open at the time the CPU usage peaks for about 3 seconds and then it stops updating.
So, it looks like malware isn't the problem and the device driver is clean. Anything else to check? I am not very experienced with Vista - are there tools to check that things are correct?
- downloaded a fresh copy of the network device driver while in safe mode
- rebooted to normal with the internet unconnected
- uninstalled the driver
- reinstalled the driver
- connected to the internet
- system froze
The previous post mentioned BSOD - but that is not what is happening. The system just stops. The screen doesn't change, the desktop is still there. If I have the Task Manager open at the time the CPU usage peaks for about 3 seconds and then it stops updating.
So, it looks like malware isn't the problem and the device driver is clean. Anything else to check? I am not very experienced with Vista - are there tools to check that things are correct?
My Computer
Sorry about the mention of the BSOD - I do a lot of BSOD work, so my canned speeches contain references to them.
If it doesn't happen in Safe Mode, but it does happen in normal mode - then it's gotta be one of the progrmas/drivers that loads in normal mode - but not in Safe Mode.
Try the steps in these posts to isolate the offending program/driver (clean boot):
Perform a clean startup to determine whether background programs are interfering with your game or program
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7
If it doesn't happen in Safe Mode, but it does happen in normal mode - then it's gotta be one of the progrmas/drivers that loads in normal mode - but not in Safe Mode.
Try the steps in these posts to isolate the offending program/driver (clean boot):
Perform a clean startup to determine whether background programs are interfering with your game or program
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7
My Computer
Ok, after extensive process of elimination I have determined that the guilty process is the McAfee Personal Firewall. I can leave everything else enabled and disable it and things run fine. So now the question is, How do I fix it?
My Computer
Anti-Virus Removal:
Please do the following:
- download a free antivirus for testing purposes: Free AntiVirus
- uninstall the McAfee from your system
- remove any remnants of McAfee using this free tool: How to uninstall or reinstall supported McAfee consumer products using the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR.exe)
- IMMEDIATELY install and update the free antivirus
Please do the following:
- download a free antivirus for testing purposes: Free AntiVirus
- uninstall the McAfee from your system
- remove any remnants of McAfee using this free tool: How to uninstall or reinstall supported McAfee consumer products using the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR.exe)
- IMMEDIATELY install and update the free antivirus
My Computer
Thanks for your help - the uninstall went smoothly, I installed Avira AntiVir, and there have been no more system halts.