Strange ADSL/IE7 Lockup Issue 1

[Ploper001]

Hi, a relative's PC has a very strange issue regarding their ADSL Modem and IE7.

Basically, I've set IE7 to automatically connect to Virgin.NET Broadband through the USB ADSL Modem (I wish they could get cable in their area, would solve all of this lol). When you run IE7, and I'm fairly sure this used to happen with IE6 too,it'll connect, and the home page (google.co.uk) normally appears...but then everything dies.

IE7 freezes, as does the taskbar and system tray. You can still select items on the desktop, but any program that is run (including Task Manager, excluding Explorer) just doesn't appear (the sand timer appears for ~3s then just disappears).

After between 2 and 5 minutes usually, all the programs that were opened during the "freeze" period all appear at once, and IE7 works perfectly.

Now, I'm thinking of trying to use Virgin.NET's program to connect rather than IE7 since it may not cause these problems - but this is a major pain as I'd prefer the internet to act as much like a cable (i.e. non-intrusive) connection as possible. Having to dial up manually every time the PC starts is a major annoyance.

I have done some research, and I thought I'd found the issue when I heard that IE7 and Norton's toolbar caused problems together, but after uninstalling Norton completely the problem remains. Thus, I believe it is some sort of software or hardware conflict issue. Also note that the same settings on my laptop (i.e. IE7 connecting automatically through the USB ADSL Modem if there is no connection) work fine, so it's a specific issue to this PC.


Thanks for any help!!

 

[edelwater]

Because i recently read this:

http://forum.pc-active.nl/viewtopic.php?t=17014

Is the WebCGMHlprObj class active in your IE addons, ergo is C:\windows\cgmopenbho.dll present on your system?

--

http://leau.net

 

[Ploper001]

No, but there is a cgminivw.ini file that seems to be to do with printers...

 

[aich69]

You say you had Norton running and have uninstalled it? Did you do this via Add/Remove Progs? If so it may not have uninstalled properly.
I had a problem similar to yours. I unistalled Norton (I'm no fan) but it wasn't until I used the Norton Removal Tool available on the Symantec website that the problem was solved, it would appear that uninstalling via Add/Remove doesn't do the job properly, I guess if it did they wouldn't make a bespoke tool.
Justa thought.

Here's the link for the tool, expand Step 2 and use the download link.

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nip.nsf/docid/2001090510510636

 

[Ploper001]

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try that.

However, there's been an interesting development in this problem...I've been refurbishing an old Duron 750MHz machine, and on the whole it works fine. However, sometime during my update/install process, similar problems are occuring on this machine also - it seems that anything to do with the Automatic Windows Update tool just breaks the machine (an svchost.exe process appears that takes up 85% CPU and when killed, XP's visual styles start disappearing from every window). IE7 also just randomly freezes every now and again for a few seconds - and I also get the same symptoms as the other machine ocassionally (i.e. where no program will start for ~5 minutes).

So that makes 2 machines with the problem and 1 without. All running XP, IE7 and using this crappy Virgin.NET ADSL Modem...I thought it might be to do with Office 2003 or Nero 7 because the problems seemed to start after installing these things, but again, they are also on the machine that works fine, so I'm back to square one really.


Any more ideas will be greatly appreciated...

 

[cmeagan656]

I thought it might be to do with Office 2003 ...

This could be causing your auotmatic update /svchost.exe issue on your 2nd machine. Something in the Aug. 2006 MS updates originally caused the problem. MS has issued a hotfix but you need to contact them for it. Sorry, I don't have the link for it at home. If someone else doesn't post the link I'll post it on Monday when I get back to the office.

Cheers.

 

[Ploper001]

That could make a lot of sense! Both PCs have 2003 on it with all updates, and I've only just noticed that my home PC has similar problems (it has Cable, so there are no problems when connecting to the net, but when going to MS Update), and that has Office 2003 too.

I'll have a quick search for the hotfix, but if you could give me a link that'd be genius, thank you

 

[cmeagan656]

Here's the link to the issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924148/en-us

and the link within the above that references the hotfix

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916089/.

Although this hotfix says that it applies to Office XP it also applies of Office 2K3.

Cheers.

 

[Ploper001]

Yeah, I found that. I also found a download link provided on a forum. I have installed it, but I still get 90+% CPU usage on this PC when going to MS Updates

Have yet to try it on the other PCs as they're in Newcastle and I'm in London right now lol. I should be able to test them before the end of the week though.

For anyone else looking for the hotfix, as it may help some people, it's here:

http://dragonq.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/WindowsXP-KB916089-v5-x86-ENU.exe