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General discussion

Lost ISP connectoin, System Restore, and Vista Home Premium

Feb 19, 2007 8:52PM PST

Last week I set up a desktop for a friend who is pretty much a computer virgin -- imagine that.

On ... Thursday, the unboxing, first boot, and printer installation went great. On Saturday the Comcast guy came and set up their internet connection.

So far, so good.

Then on Sunday his kid is browsing hunting lodges sites and sporting good stores, and Mom says "Time to shut her down and turn in."

So the kid -- as he put it, "just began hitting buttons."

Now, the internet connection is active (headlines are feeding in the gadgets window), but they cannot get to the Comcast home page or access other web sites or web e-mail.

After fiddling with it, I said, "Let's just try a restore and see if that clears it up."

To make it short, for some reason Restore is not completing the cycle and resetting the files and settings.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or insights will be appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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"Just began hitting buttons"...
Feb 20, 2007 3:20AM PST

Those words will always come back to haunt you.

I guess the good news is that the computer still runs, doesn't crash at random, etc., and that their personal files/settings remain. Turning to the bad news, I have a few questions and suggestions.

* Did you (or they) install any internet security software or 'child protection software' aside from what's built in? If so, it's possible that the software's internet lock has been engaged or Internet Explorer has been blocked.

* Have them try using an alternative browser, such as Firefox, (downloaded from another computer) and trying to connect using it. That will determine if it's a problem limited to Internet Explorer or omething more broad.

* Try having them restart the computer in Safe Mode with networking and see if they can connect then. If so, you know it's a software issue blocking the connection.

* Have them turn off the computer, unplug the cable modem, and turn the computer back on. Vista should report a disconnected cable. Give it a minute or two, then reconnect the cable modem. Vista should report the connection being found, and go through the process of reacquiring an IP address.

Considering it's impossible to know what all was clicked, there is far more that can be attempted to resolve the problem but that is a good starting point.

John

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Thanks for the suggestions
Feb 20, 2007 6:14PM PST

I will not be able to get back over to their place until sometime Thursday (tomorrow) but will print out the list and take with me. I'll come back later and update this discussion on how it goes.

Regards,
Rick