PC not loading sites other than Google's

[tek9]

Hi all.
I had a client drop off an HP Pavilion Win 7 Home Premium machine for malware removal. Had redirects, couldn't load websites, no searches etc.
Turned out no real virus, just the usual junk programs, speed boosters, toolbars etc. Cleaned that up real well. Did some final scans with KAV offline and MBAM and was clean. Updated Windows at the office, installed free Avast, set up a backup with Easeus free version, and everything was working fine when I was done.
I went back this morning to set it up for him and ran into issues:
He has Verizon DSL (3MB down, 768k up), no router, since this is the only machine in the house. He has the OpenDNS IP Updater program and IPv4 is set to OpenDNS servers. I can't access any websites other than Google's. in other words: gmail, youtube, Google News, Google Maps etc. all work fine. Google searches turn up fine, but when I click on any of the links, it opens a blank tab, but the site's header is correct in the title bar. Tried to go to the Wall Street Journal, and the title bar would say WSJ or whatnot, at the bottom of the page it says waiting for wsj or something, but would sit there for a while. No difference if using IE10 or Chrome.
Those same sites I tried accessing by him worked fine by me at the office the other day, but I have cable Internet.
I thought maybe his modem is blocking something so I connected my laptop in place of his PC, but the laptop worked fine.
I uninstalled Avast, rebooted, no change.
I uninstalled the OpenDNS app, no change.
Changed the DNS to Google's, no change. Changed to modem default, no change.
Rebooted modem, PC a few times, no change.
Flushed dns cache, reset ipconfig etc. no change.
Outlook downloads his IMAP mail OK, same with Skype, showing his online status. D7 downloaded its updates with no problems. I reset his networking stuff with D7, reset IE/FF to defaults. Ran IE with no add-ons, nothing doing. Safe mode with Networking, same thing. Pings to the websites that wouldn't display came back fine.
I'm stumped now. I probably missed something. Can somebody think of anything I missed.?
Thanks in advance.

 

[BrentfromZulu]

Uninstall/Reinstall Internet Explorer? And does Firefox work?

Chrome looks right over to IE for it's Internet Settings I believe. Something seems wrong with IE...

 

[SilverLeaf]

Hi all.
I had a client drop off an HP Pavilion Win 7 Home Premium machine for malware removal. Had redirects, couldn't load websites, no searches etc.
Turned out no real virus, just the usual junk programs, speed boosters, toolbars etc. Cleaned that up real well. Did some final scans with KAV offline and MBAM and was clean. Updated Windows at the office, installed free Avast, set up a backup with Easeus free version, and everything was working fine when I was done.
I went back this morning to set it up for him and ran into issues:
He has Verizon DSL (3MB down, 768k up), no router, since this is the only machine in the house. He has the OpenDNS IP Updater program and IPv4 is set to OpenDNS servers. I can't access any websites other than Google's. in other words: gmail, youtube, Google News, Google Maps etc. all work fine. Google searches turn up fine, but when I click on any of the links, it opens a blank tab, but the site's header is correct in the title bar. Tried to go to the Wall Street Journal, and the title bar would say WSJ or whatnot, at the bottom of the page it says waiting for wsj or something, but would sit there for a while. No difference if using IE10 or Chrome.
Those same sites I tried accessing by him worked fine by me at the office the other day, but I have cable Internet.
I thought maybe his modem is blocking something so I connected my laptop in place of his PC, but the laptop worked fine.
I uninstalled Avast, rebooted, no change.
I uninstalled the OpenDNS app, no change.
Changed the DNS to Google's, no change. Changed to modem default, no change.
Rebooted modem, PC a few times, no change.
Flushed dns cache, reset ipconfig etc. no change.
Outlook downloads his IMAP mail OK, same with Skype, showing his online status. D7 downloaded its updates with no problems. I reset his networking stuff with D7, reset IE/FF to defaults. Ran IE with no add-ons, nothing doing. Safe mode with Networking, same thing. Pings to the websites that wouldn't display came back fine.
I'm stumped now. I probably missed something. Can somebody think of anything I missed.?
Thanks in advance.

Hosts file OK?

 

[nlinecomputers]

What happens if you Ping or tracert sites? I'd check the host file as well.

 

[tek9]

Hosts file OK?

Forgot to mention that I checked that, as well. Standard Windows hosts file.

 

[tek9]

What happens if you Ping or tracert sites? I'd check the host file as well.

Ping and Tracert worked fine for those sites. No requests timed out.

 

[tek9]

Uninstall/Reinstall Internet Explorer? And does Firefox work?

Chrome looks right over to IE for it's Internet Settings I believe. Something seems wrong with IE...

I couldn't download Firefox when I was there due to these issues. I reset IE settings via D7, checked proxy, add-ons, etc. nothing popped out at me.
What's weird is why it worked fine at my office. If IE is messed up, it should be that way on my network as well.

 

[MotzTech]

Did you try replacing the network adapter for testing purposes? I keep a USB network adapter just to test for a bad adapter.

Did you use the same cable and connection port on the modem when you tested your laptop?

 

[tek9]

Did you try replacing the network adapter for testing purposes? I keep a USB network adapter just to test for a bad adapter.

Did you use the same cable and connection port on the modem when you tested your laptop?

There is only one port on that modem for Ethernet. It's a Westell 6100. Same cable, same port.
I didn't have a different NIC to test. Maybe I'll try that. But why would Google sites work if the NIC is bad? It's like Google took control..... (It's not a chromebook

 

[MotzTech]

But why would Google sites work if the NIC is bad? It's like Google took control..... (It's not a chromebook

Honestly, I have no idea. Worth a shot though. I had a desktop once that could access half of the folders they should have had access to on the servers. Swapped out the network card and it worked fine from then on. Still don't know what happened exactly, but since I bill hourly (For businesses), it's cheaper to throw in a $15 nic then to spend an hour troubleshooting it.

 

[BrentfromZulu]

I had an issue with a Network Card not getting a DHCP Address. I had to throw in a Static IP...

I would do what MotzTech said and throw in another NIC (Ideally a USB Wireless, as it is quick and easy).

 

[4ycr]

try a scan with hitman pro, I have seen it pick up network problems like redirects and host file problems amongst other things

 

[HubCityPC]

...Turned out no real virus, just the usual junk programs, speed boosters, toolbars etc. Cleaned that up real well...

Did you try AdwCleaner, JRT, etc? If Host file is clean, Tracecert checks out, ping resolves/not a DNS issue, it sounds like you still have something junking up IE. Curious to know what a fresh install of FF would do.

 

[tek9]

Did you try AdwCleaner, JRT, etc? If Host file is clean, Tracecert checks out, ping resolves/not a DNS issue, it sounds like you still have something junking up IE. Curious to know what a fresh install of FF would do.

Did all that when I had the machine.
After I setup the computer at the customer's home, there seemed to be excessive HDD activity initially. Process explorer and Autoruns didn't show anything.
What I don't understand is why at my place did it work if IE was messed up?
I'm gonna see tomorrow if I can get a hold of the computer to try FF, hitman pro and the usb nic. Will update when I know more.
Thanks for all the suggestions. If anyone thinks of something else, please post.

 

[nlinecomputers]

What's weird is why it worked fine at my office. If IE is messed up, it should be that way on my network as well.

Then the problem is likely with the router. Perhaps an issue with the DNS servers being used by the clients ISP. Set your DNS manually not from DHCP and use Google, OpenDNS, or Norton. NOT the ISP provided DNS.

 

[tek9]

Then the problem is likely with the router. Perhaps an issue with the DNS servers being used by the clients ISP. Set your DNS manually not from DHCP and use Google, OpenDNS, or Norton. NOT the ISP provided DNS.

There is no router in the mix. Just the modem and this computer.
DNS is manually set to OpenDNS and nothing doing. Tried changing to Google DNS and nothing changed. Ping is working by name lookup so DNS is resolving fine. My laptop worked fine when connected to this modem, so I don't think it's the modem.

 

[BrentfromZulu]

Is google.com the default webpage when the user starts up IE? I'm just curious if you start it with Bing.com or something else if it would load that first page, then, like google, not display the next page.

 

[tek9]

Is google.com the default webpage when the user starts up IE? I'm just curious if you start it with Bing.com or something else if it would load that first page, then, like google, not display the next page.

I don't remember. Good point, though. I'll try that when I get the machine. Thanks.

 

[codegreen]

Have you tried hooking your laptop up to the modem? Check to see if it has the same issues.

According to the manual, the Westell 6100 has routing functions built in. I'm betting there's something messed up in the router configuration.

 

[tek9]

Have you tried hooking your laptop up to the modem? Check to see if it has the same issues.

According to the manual, the Westell 6100 has routing functions built in. I'm betting there's something messed up in the router configuration.

I mentioned that I hooked up my laptop to the modem and there were no issues at all.