No Internet after Running Superantispyware

[Gorrillasnot]

My neighbor's PC got infected with XP Security 2012 and asked me to help.
My usual fix for these rougewares is to boot into safemode with networking. Install, update, and run a full scan with Malwarebytes. Clean out whatever it finds then reboot back into safemode install update and run a full scan with superantispyware. quarantine whatever it finds.
Everything worked smooth as usual finding loads of malware, but when I rebooted after using superantispyware my internet no longer worked. DHCP and DNS services are set to automatic but are stopped and fail to manually start.
I have tried all the fixes I could find from doing a google search such as flushing dns, winsock fix, tried a system restore but it doesnt work, tried restoring the quarantined stuff in superantispyware, etc. As a last resort I tried doing a repair install of XP..Nothing has worked. I still have no internet.
Just to make sure it want a hardware issue I booted the PC with a ultimatebootcd4win disc and the internet works fine.

sorry for the long post...but short of reinstalling windows I have ran out of ideas. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks

the pc specs are Dell E510 Windows XP MCE 2005 SP2

 

[Motorheader]

Are you getting the dreaded 169.254.xxx.xxx ip address? Is the card showing up in system hardware with a red x or yellow exclamation? Any error messages in the event viewer? Was the version of Windows the same SP level (2 or 3) that existed on the system when you did the re-install? If not have you updated to the latest SP since the reinstall?

Have you run sfc /scannow?

 

[AKA]

Turn off the modem and router if there is one. Remove the network adapter in device manager, shut the computer off.

Power on the modem first, wait for it to be ready, then router if there is one, then the computer.

More information would help, such as the answers to Motorheader questions.

 

[Gorrillasnot]

No on the weird 169.254.xxx.xxx IP.
Nope there is no hardware issues being shown in device manager. I did try uninstalling and reinstalling the network adapter in device manager though and it did not help. There's a bunch of service control manager errors in event viewer.
The SP levels were the same. SP2.

The problem happened right after using superantispyware so I know it had to of messed up some file(s) somewhere..I just dont know which ones.

 

[sm625]

Install XP SP3, and internet explorer 8. This might fix it. I have had one instance where upgrading IE fixed a problem like this.

 

[Motorheader]

The issue is not what the superantispyware didn't break anything - the fact that XP Security 2012 - and who knows what else - ended up on the system did.

So you are getting a valid ip like 10. or 192. or 172. or an IP from the modem/isp then? From a dos prompt can you ping something like www.yahoo.com or www.google.com? If you can try opening your browser and using the resolved IP for one of the above examples instead of the name in the address bar.

Since you aren't at SP3 yet I would hold off until this is resolved - it may completely fail and make more of a mess.

 

[Gorrillasnot]

Not getting any IP
ipconfig, or ping commands fail

 

[Motorheader]

So what are you getting then if you aren't getting the 169.254.xxx.xxx ip address? Is it just hanging or failing?

Have you run sfc /scannow yet?

Have you tried dial-a-fix?

 

[myinfinity]

If I were you, I would repair Windows using Windows CD. Have you tried it?

 

[pcgeek11]

A friend of mine has this exact issue on a Acer Aspire One Netbook. He is still working on it too. If he finds a fix I will report back...

 

[nitrous9200]

Check IE proxy settings (start > run > inetcpl.cpl, connections > LAN settings > uncheck all boxes)
You mentioned resetting winsock, but if you haven't already, reset the IP stack by going to CMD and typing: netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
then reboot.
I have seen a few instances where the LAN adapter said it was connected but the detailed connection info for the IP address, DHCP server etc were blank - this was after some rootkit that was bundled along with one of those fake antispyware programs on customers' computers. A few services were also unable to be started and some drivers as well (if you're curious, go to CMD, type: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 then press enter, then type devmgmt.msc to open device manager then go to View > show hidden devices, and look under non plug and play devices for any exclamation points)
In that case, uninstalling the TCP/IP stack fixed the problem...check here: http://smokeys.wordpress.com/2008/07/20/how-to-recover-a-really-dead-windows-xp-sp2sp3-tcpip-stack/
Skip to the "hardcore method" section and follow the steps (I've never had to go beyond reinstalling the protocol; i.e. the security database stuff has never come up for me). One thing to note, step one says the INF file is in the folder %winroot%\inf when it really should say %windir%\inf, or c;\windows\inf. Like I said, this has worked for me when nothing else would, and I hope it works for you.

 

[Gorrillasnot]

when I typed ipconfig or ping it would fail. I also tried running sfc /scannow from the cmd prompt and couldn't tell that it did anything.

Long story short I think the rogueware was still deeply entwined in the os and causing all sorts of havoc. The PC was as slow as molasses. Just doing simple things like clicking the start button would take 30sec or so just to open the start menu.

I ran and reran antivir, malwarebytes, and superantispyware (the later 2 in safe mode) and they didn't find any additional malware or virii, so I threw in the towel and did a clean install of Windows.
If the PC was mine I would've liked to have solved the problems without doing a reinstall, but it isn't and the person it belongs to is eager to get their PC back ASAP so I gave up and reinstalled fresh.
All is running well now..thanks much to all who gave ideas and help..Much appreciated.

so much for long story short huh? lol

 

[Motorheader]

Thanks for the update. Definitely wasn't for lack of trying.

 

[sm625]

This has infected one of my family's computers. Looks like this could be a growing problem. I will report if I find anything useful.

 

[sm625]

Shrug. The Internet came back on its own after sitting for an hour or so. I had to run malwarebytes twice to completely clean it.