Connection trouble

[deep rest]

I'd be very grateful if someone could help me with a connection glitch.

I recently moved house to one which wasn't adsl enabled, BT eventually sorted this but there were several problems - cross wires, DACS....but when after setting up - with Metronet UK - the connection was very unstable - kept hanging up.
Initially they said it was my filters, which I changed - no better, then they admitted to faults there end, which were repaired and the connection drops got fewer, they are now saying it's my modem (Alcatel Speed Touch 330), but I'm a bit dubious...?
Now though, I've noticed that the connection seems to be active but it's just my browser that won't bring up web pages (Resolving host at bottom of page and then unable to connect message), with both IE and Mozilla Firefox, other things not requiring a browser seem to continue to work ok.
My hardware is fairly new and I use XP SP1, everything was fine at my last address using the same hardware but with Pipex ISP.
Many thanks.

[rjfvillarosa]

I couldn't help notice you mentioned "DAC's BT's digital access carrier system, BT's only responsibility to you as a telephone service provider is that your supply is capable of transmitting signals at 36kbps, this is fine as far as voice transmission is concerned but hopeless for any kind of data transmission. The DAC's system was only designed to fullfill the voice transmission signal requirement and no more, therefore if you have a DAXED line (as we used to call it when I worked for BT as an engineer) you can forget the internet in any shape or form. Try and speak to the local level one(manager) very doubtfull but worth a try and see if your line is DAXED.
How does your phone line get to the house is it overhead via a pole or underground.

[glc]

rjf - I believe this is ADSL, not an analog dialup.

Open a command prompt and type IPCONFIG /FLUSHDNS

[rjfvillarosa]

Your right GL, but he mentions DAC's and knowing BT like I do, it wouldn't suprise me that some idiot in sales would try and arrange an installation without a survey or exchange check. The installation engineer is not responsible for the exchange work and often if something is not working he will walk away assuming an exchange problem, believing that someone will jumper the line cards in the exchange to tally with the installation. If he can give me a little description of what is outside his house on the telegraph pole (assuming he has an overhead supply) then it might be possible to establish if he actually does have a DAC's in the system.

[deep rest]

Thanks, but the DACS has been bypassed and the line has been checked both remotely and at my house by a BT engineer, he said the line was good and could in theory handle 4mb/s (I'm on 512/256, 50:1 and the speeds are good when it's up)
BT did mess up a few times, it took 2 months to establish an ADSL connection, one engineer said I didn't have a DACS, the next did...... the next one cut us off, the next one cut offf the neighbours, the next one crossed the lines so we had someone else's number and vice versa - so my faith in BT is far from being optimistic.
However, I am starting to think it could be a problem my end - seeing as it's only a problem with the browsers....?

[rjfvillarosa]

Deep Rest can I just appologize on behalf of my ex engineering colleagues at BT, I understand how frustrating that 2 months must have been and I am sure somebody here at PCMech will be able to help you.

[glc]

Have you tried what I suggested yet?

[deep rest]

Sorry glc,
Forgive my ignorance but I'm not sure what you mean by a command prompt.

[glc]

start - run - cmd

Looks like DOS.

[deep rest]

Thanks very much.
I did as you said and a DOS type window appeared but immediately disappeared, is this all there is or is something wrong?
Not sure if it's relevant but I have a boot virus which I can't seem to shift (CMOS Killer aka Swiss Boot).

[glc]

Yes, that's very relevant. Running cmd should open a DOS window and it should stay open.

This virus could very well be the source of all your problems. You must get rid of it before you do anything else. Looks easy to remove with just about any standard antivirus application.

[deep rest]

AVG recognised it (Only one to do so)(Free edition), but fails to remove it, also Norton, Kav, Rav and AntiVir all don't even see it let alone remove it. I don't have a paid for one at the moment, suggestions on one which might would be greatly appreciated - I'm willing to pay for a decent one.
Many thanks.

[Panama Red]

Take a trip over to Trendmicro's Housecall and do a free online scan. Gives you the option to Auto Fix. If that doesn't get it, you can choose delete when you are finished.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/hous...start_corp.asp

[glc]

That's a boot sector virus and must be removed the old fashioned way - with a bootdisk and a DOS scanner. That virus has been around for 12 years.

http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_432.htm

http://vil.nai.com/vil/virus-4e.asp

Try EMSCAN.ZIP. Unzip it onto a floppy, and make a basic bootfloppy (do this on a different known clean machine) and write protect both floppies. Boot with the bootfloppy (after making sure the floppy drive is first in your boot order) then insert the other floppy - and run BOOTSCAN.

[deep rest]

Thanks very much, I'll get onto that as soon as I can.

[deep rest]

glc, or anyone else, I'd be very grateful for some further assistance.
I did as you said and created a new boot floppy and an emscan floppy on a separate pc. I booted up via the floppy and then inserted the unzipped emscan disc and ran bootscan, at the list of options (Eg. /ALL or /BOOT) typing anything fails to register - invalid command or something - in either case.
Am I using the discs in the right order or is there something I'm doing wrong.
The instructions on the McAfee site don't include those for Windows XP.
Thanks a lot.

[deep rest]

Just tried running "fixboot" on the recovery console after booting with the xp set rom, not sure if it has worked yet, has anyone had any success this way?
Thanks.