Alienware 14 - wireless/Ethernet/shut down problems

Okay. This is not about a computer I own, but a friend's computer that I was asked to help resolve issues with and I am completely stumped on this one.

The friend claims that he started up his Alienware 14 running Windows 7, and all of a sudden, it would not connect to the internet via wireless. It would connect to the router, but not the internet. It would not work with the Ethernet either. Additionally, he said, the computer would not shut down. It would "hang" and say "shutting down..." indefinitely and never actually shut down.

We discovered that the problem was not with his internet--other computers would work fine with the wireless and the Ethernet, but his wouldn't. I also discovered that EVERYTHING works fine in Safe Mode. Wireless, Ethernet, and shutting down all work fine in Safe Mode, but not when Windows is started "normally".

I attempted to do a system restore to a restore point set a month ago, but it would not work. The computer failed to restart during the restore and upon starting the computer back up (after holding down the power button to force it to shut down), a message popped up saying the restore had failed.

What could be the culprit here? I've ran every malware-scan and cleaning program I can think of. The fact that it works in Safe Mode makes me think it isn't a hardware failure, but could it be? Please help!

 

Alrighty, quick response (cause it's a commercial):

1. You state this happened all of the sudden. That indicates everything in standard startup was working A-OK up until a certain point.

2. If Standard mode is hanging, but safe mode is not, that indicates its a software problem, maybe driver problem. It goes back to what did he do/change that could have caused this. Installed new drivers, programs, or other software which isn't working right.

3. Network and sharing center connects to the router but what does it say in the network and sharing center? Is it labeling it a Home Network, a Work Network, or a Public Network?

4. Failed System restore points more towards an installed software conflict rather than a driver issue as system restore does revert back to previous driver versions. Was the restore point you tried going to undo any Windows Updates? Those are notorious for causing more problems that they fix. Make him think back and see if there is/any programs or stuff he installed at or just before the issue occurred?

5. Check under Control Panels -> Administrative Tools -> Services. Filter for all services which are running and see if there is one that doesn't seem like it belongs there. Do the same thing in Task Manager for active processes. In the extreme, you can manually stop each service and end each process (just make sure the ones you manually kill aren't a critical windows process) and see if that restores internet functionality.

6. Barring a bad update or software install, it could very well be malware or a virus. Best way to get rid of those is a clean install. But if he wants to do a factory restore that's his choice.

 

Thanks for the help. I'm glad to hear that it does seem to be a software problem, because it would be easier to restore than to have to exchange it for a new one. I'm not sure what it is different, though a few updates were installed and the restore points seemed to be set after updates, so that could explain why they failed. The Network and Sharing Center showed it as a "home network" and showed it as "internet access", but opening a browser yielded nothing. The Ethernet had the same issue.

I'll have to check in with him tomorrow and take a look at the "services" list.

 

I would recommend to try an AlienRespawn or a system restore to a date before the issue started. If it was last week, then try 2 weeks ago.
Respawn should get rid of all the issues.

 

Google combofix from bleeping computers and run it.

 

Thanks guys. I did try a few more things, but nothing seemed to work. The internet actually did come back at one point after finally getting a small restore to work, but as soon as the computer shut down (properly) and was restarted, the issue was back. We decided to do the AlienRespawn factory reset. It seems to be working fine now. It's been shut down and restarted successfully several times and both Ethernet and wireless are working. Whatever the issue was, it was definitely software-caused. He did at one point have this strange malware that affected Chrome and IE, but that was removed (effectively as far as I knew) and it didn't seem to fix the internet problem. Either way, it seems to be working now.

 

Sounds like it had some malware/Trojan/hijacker of sorts still on it. F'ing kids that make that crap pi$$ me off. Keeps us busy at work though.

 

Google killer wireless and use the driver from their website. The one from dell made wifi un-useable.