Unable to get any network card to work

I've got a Dell Optiplex 330 desktop running XP Home SP2 here. It was severely infected, but I'm pretty sure the infection has been cleaned. Everything seems to be normal, every spyware/virus scan I run comes up clean. The only problem is the network port.

In Device Manager, it shows the network device, but it has a yellow circle with an "!" in it. Properties indicate that "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupt or missing. Error code 39" Well, I tried uninstalling the device and reinstalling, but I get the same results. I've downloaded the driver from Dell's web site, and that didn't fix it either. So, I thought that maybe the port was bad. I installed a SMC1244TX V2 PCI nic card. Installed the driver with no issues, but Device Manager shows the same message with this card. Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupt or missing. (Error code 39).

I'm thinking its a service that may not be started or some registry entry that is keeping network ports from working. I don't know.

Any one out there have any ideas?

Edited by hamluis, 22 September 2010 - 08:02 PM.
Moved from XP to Am I Infected ~ Hamluis.

I've got a Dell Optiplex 330 desktop running XP Home SP2 here. It was severely infected, but I'm pretty sure the infection has been cleaned. Everything seems to be normal, every spyware/virus scan I run comes up clean. The only problem is the network port.

How do you know you are clean, have you been through the Malware Removal process here at BC or did you do it elsewhere? What was detected?

I assumed it was clean and have since found out I was wrong. Malwarebytes and Superantispyware were both giving me clean scans after running them each twice. But, the computer did not have a virus scanner on it. I tried installing MSSE but it wouldn't install. I installed Avira Antivir on it and ran a full scan. It found the Virut virus in 150 or so places. I quarantined all and rebooted. At that point, it booted to the welcome screen. I logged in and was immediately logged out.

I copied userinit.exe over from another computer using a flash drive and UBCD. That allowed me to log in, but there is no desktop and nothing responds, not even CTRL-ALT-Del. That tells me that taskmgr.exe, explorer.exe, and others were deleted (I think).

I booted back up on the UBCD and am running chkdsk /r on it now.

Another problem is that when booting on a Windows CD, I get a stop error 7B before making it to the first setup menu.

Edited by hamluis, 22 September 2010 - 08:05 PM.
Emphasis added ~ Hamluis.

Just a quick extra to cryptodan's response
Microsoft Error Code 39 Driver Item This item has several ideas in it - Also is there a reason that you still use XP SP2 and not XP SP3 ??
You should update to SP3 to get the latest Security and other M/soft downloads - Support for XP SP2 ended several months ago -

Thank You -
EDIT -
This was posted prior to the item being placed in AII Forum area -

Edited by noknojon, 22 September 2010 - 08:09 PM.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that it's not my computer. Its a client's. I was planning on fully updating Windows for him if I could get it online. I'm making progress now. I was able to get into Windows to a point where I ran sfc /scannow. That seemed to help with some things, but there are still some files missing. CMD.exe for one. rundll32.exe is another.

Still working on it though. If I figure it out, I'll post it.

Now that you can get the PC to boot try and perform the following:

Download the following:

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.Download Link 1
Download Link 2
MBAM may "make changes to your registry" as part of its disinfection routine. If using other security programs that detect registry changes (ie Spybot's Teatimer), they may interfere or alert you. Temporarily disable such programs or permit them to allow the changes.

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
• Double-click on mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
  For instructions with screenshots, please refer to the How to use Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Guide.
• When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
• When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
  • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Then click Finish.

MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan.

• If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself. Press the OK button to close that box and continue.
• If you encounter any problems while downloading the definition updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.

On the Scanner tab:

• Make sure the "Perform Quick Scan" option is selected.
• Then click on the Scan button.
• If asked to select the drives to scan, leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
• The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
• When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
• Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.

Back at the main Scanner screen:

• Click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad.
• The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
• Copy and paste the contents of that report in your next reply. Be sure to post the complete log to include the top portion which shows MBAM's database version and your operating system.
• Exit MBAM when done.

Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you will be asked to reboot your computer so MBAM can proceed with the disinfection process. If asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot normally (not into safe mode) will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware.

SUPERAntiSpyware:

Please download and scan with SUPERAntiSpyware Free

• Double-click SUPERAntiSypware.exe and use the default settings for installation.
• An icon will be created on your desktop. Double-click that icon to launch the program.
• If it will not start, go to Start > All Prgrams > SUPERAntiSpyware and click on Alternate Start.
• If asked to update the program definitions, click "Yes". If not, update the definitions before scanning by selecting "Check for Updates". (If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here. Double-click on the hyperlink for Download Installer and save SASDEFINITIONS.EXE to your desktop. Then double-click on SASDEFINITIONS.EXE to install the definitions.)
• In the Main Menu, click the Preferences... button.
• Click the "General and Startup" tab, and under Start-up Options, make sure "Start SUPERAntiSpyware when Windows starts" box is unchecked.
• Click the "Scanning Control" tab, and under Scanner Options, make sure the following are checked (leave all others unchecked):
  • Close browsers before scanning.
  • Scan for tracking cookies.
  • Terminate memory threats before quarantining.
• Click the "Close" button to leave the control center screen and exit the program.
• Do not run a scan just yet.

Reboot your computer in "Safe Mode" using the F8 method. To do this, restart your computer and after hearing your computer beep once during startup (but before the Windows icon appears) press the F8 key repeatedly. A menu will appear with several options. Use the arrow keys to navigate and select the option to run Windows in "Safe Mode".

Scan with SUPERAntiSpyware as follows:

• Launch the program and back on the main screen, under "Scan for Harmful Software" click Scan your computer.
• On the left, make sure you check C:\Fixed Drive.
• On the right, under "Complete Scan", choose Perform Complete Scan and click "Next".
• After the scan is complete, a Scan Summary box will appear with potentially harmful items that were detected. Click "OK".
• Make sure everything has a checkmark next to it and click "Next".
• A notification will appear that "Quarantine and Removal is Complete". Click "OK" and then click the "Finish" button to return to the main menu.
• If asked if you want to reboot, click "Yes" and reboot normally.
• To retrieve the removal information after reboot, launch SUPERAntispyware again.
  • Click Preferences, then click the Statistics/Logs tab.
  • Under Scanner Logs, double-click SUPERAntiSpyware Scan Log.
  • If there are several logs, click the current dated log and press View log. A text file will open in your default text editor.
  • Please copy and paste the Scan Log results in your next reply.
• Click Close to exit the program.

If you have a problem downloading, installing or getting SAS to run, try downloading and using the SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner instead. Save the randomly named file (i.e. SAS_1710895.COM) to a usb drive or CD and transfer to the infected computer. Then double-click on it to launch and scan. The file is randomly named to help keep malware from blocking the scanner.

Instructions:

Download and scan with SUPERAntiSpyware Free for Home Users

• Double-click SUPERAntiSpyware.exe and use the default settings for installation.
• An icon will be created on your desktop. Double-click that icon to launch the program.
• If asked to update the program definitions, click "Yes". If not, update the definitions before scanning by selecting "Check for Updates". (If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here. Double-click on the hyperlink for Download Installer and save SASDEFINITIONS.EXE to your desktop. Then double-click on SASDEFINITIONS.EXE to install the definitions.)
• In the Main Menu, click the Preferences... button.
• Click the Scanning Control tab.
• Under Scanner Options make sure the following are checked (leave all others unchecked):
  • Close browsers before scanning.
  • Scan for tracking cookies.
  • Terminate memory threats before quarantining.
• Click the "Close" button to leave the control center screen.
• Back on the main screen, under "Scan for Harmful Software" click Scan your computer.
• On the left, make sure you check C:\Fixed Drive.
• On the right, under "Complete Scan", choose Perform Complete Scan.
• Click "Next" to start the scan. Please be patient while it scans your computer.
• After the scan is complete, a Scan Summary box will appear with potentially harmful items that were detected. Click "OK".
• Make sure everything has a checkmark next to it and click "Next".
• A notification will appear that "Quarantine and Removal is Complete". Click "OK" and then click the "Finish" button to return to the main menu.
• If asked if you want to reboot, click "Yes".
• To retrieve the removal information after reboot, launch SUPERAntispyware again.
  • Click Preferences, then click the Statistics/Logs tab.
  • Under Scanner Logs, double-click SUPERAntiSpyware Scan Log.
  • If there are several logs, click the current dated log and press View log. A text file will open in your default text editor.
  • Please copy and paste the Scan Log results in your next reply.
• Click Close to exit the program.

If you have a problem downloading, installing or getting SAS to run, try downloading and using the SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner instead. Save the randomly named file (i.e. SAS_1710895.COM) to a usb drive or CD and transfer to the infected computer. Then double-click on it to launch and scan. The file is randomly named to help keep malware from blocking the scanner.

Now GMER

Please download GMER from one of the following locations and save it to your desktop:

• Main Mirror
  This version will download a randomly named file (Recommended)
• Zipped Mirror
  This version will download a zip file you will need to extract first. If you use this mirror, please extract the zip file to your desktop.

• Disconnect from the Internet and close all running programs.
• Temporarily disable any real-time active protection so your security programs will not conflict with gmer's driver.
• Double-click on the randomly named GMER file (i.e. n7gmo46c.exe) and allow the gmer.sys driver to load if asked.
• Note: If you downloaded the zipped version, extract the file to its own folder such as C:\gmer and then double-click on gmer.exe.
  
  
  
• GMER will open to the Rootkit/Malware tab and perform an automatic quick scan when first run. (do not use the computer while the scan is in progress)
• If you receive a WARNING!!! about rootkit activity and are asked to fully scan your system...click NO.
• Now click the Scan button. If you see a rootkit warning window, click OK.
• When the scan is finished, click the Save... button to save the scan results to your Desktop. Save the file as gmer.log.
• Click the Copy button and paste the results into your next reply.
• Exit GMER and be sure to re-enable your anti-virus, Firewall and any other security programs you had disabled.

-- If you encounter any problems, try running GMER in safe mode.
-- If GMER crashes or keeps resulting in a BSODs, uncheck Devices on the right side before scanning.

Make sure you run full scans of MBAM and SAS, and make sure they are updated.

Thanks, Cryptodan. I had already run MBAM and SAS pretty much exactly as you instructed. Both came back with lots of stuff 3 days ago on their first scan. I ran them both again yesterday and they came back totally clean. I ran other scanners, but I have not run GMER. But I have finally fixed the network issue. I was unable to boot on a Windows CD. It gave me a 7B stop error every time right when setup was starting Windows. After lots of digging, I found a solution that allowed me to boot on the Windows CD. Had to go into BIOS and change the SATA settings from AHCI to ATA. After doing that, I was able to boot on the Windows CD and do a repair installation.

It is online now. MBAM has updated and is running another full scan as I type. I'm pretty sure its clean now or it will be soon now that I can get online. This thread can be closed. If I run across something that will not clean with normal methods, I'll open a new topic.

Thanks for the response.