Connects in Safe Mode but not Normal Mode

[G0AOZ]

XP Home SP3, 512Mb RAM 2GHz CPU, plenty of free disk space. In Safe Mode IE7 connects to the Internet just fine, but in Normal Mode get error "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage." Installed Firefox but exactly the same problem.

Can successfully ping www.google.co.uk from a command prompt and have knocked out all Browser add-ons, but that makes no difference. Internet Explorer options show correct connection details (for the router) and LAN settings show "Automatically detect settings" is ticked.

Operating system is squeeky clean as regards viruses, spyware, malware etc., and no errors in event viewer. I've run chkdsk /r but no errors appeared.

Next I'm going to try scf /scannow and also an over-the-top reinstallation, although I really can't see this will help since it works fine in Safe Mode.

What am I missing here...?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[G0AOZ]

Forgot to add...

Norton is completely disabled and not running in Services or anywhere. Windows Firewall temporarily switched off, and at the moment no other antivirus, malware, spyware or adware detection programmes running. All the usual Windows Services appear to be started and running ok.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[manhunter2826]

If this has just occurred recently, perhaps a System Restore to a good known working state would do the trick???

 

[tlcscousin]

If you can ping by FQDN and cannot surf then it would appear that a progranm is blocking your browsers. I would uninstall Norton and try surfing or else leave norton running and adjust the program control in its firewall to allow IE and FF full access.

 

[G0AOZ]

System Restore points were all trashed, I suspect by a recent virus.

It transpires that Norton WAS installed but had been supposedly removed at some point, although closer inspection revealed many of its files and registry entries were still in place. User had installed AVG which appeared to be working ok, but I removed it to ensure there was no interference with the browser(s). I also uninstalled SP3 and IE7 to ensure they weren't corrupted in any way. After using Norton's Removal Tool and manually clearing remaining entries from the the registry, it all started to work again.

Now got SP3, IE7, and Norton back on it again, and the browser functions normally.

Thanks for your input.

ROGER - G0AOZ.