I am hoping someone here can help me with a problem with my son's Dell
Inspiron 5150 laptop computer. He brought it back from college this weekend
with major problems. Basically nothing was working at all... he confided
that it had gotten a virus, so he had been uninstalling everything and then
attempted re-formatting and re-installing Windows XP Pro. It was basically
a mess, but I managed to re-install the Dell laptop drivers that were
missing and completed the XP "upgrade" installation from his original SP1
CD-ROM disk. I then loaded SP2 from
another disk we had used previously from another home computer.

When I was done, I ran AdAware anti-spam software, Norton Anti-Virus, then
cleared out all the old files and de-fragmented the system. At this point
everything seemed to be working very well since we could connect to the
Internet, browse sites, get Instant Messenger services, email etc. and the
computer seemed to be performing very well speed wise.

It was only when we tried to go to the Windows Update site to get the rest
of the most recent updates that we noticed that it would not browse any
https (secure) sites at all. I've verified that there is no proxy set and
that the firewall, Internet security, and advanced settings appear to be
good by comparing them to a working machine on the same DSL connection.

At this point I suspect it could possibly be a problem with the computer's
SSL certificate,
but am not sure how to verify it is loaded and valid. Can someone direct me
on the keystroke/cursor sequence for accomplishing this? Also, does anyone
have any other things that I can check? It is probably something very
simple that is incorrectly set or missing, but we just can't seem to find
it. If no one here has any thoughts then we plan to simply re-format the
drive and start from scratch.

Again, the only symptom we see is a failure when attempting to open or being
re-directed to "secure" web sites. Thanks in advance for your help.

Bob

Bob Shuman wrote:

I am hoping someone here can help me with a problem with my son's Dell
Inspiron 5150 laptop computer. He brought it back from college this weekend
with major problems. Basically nothing was working at all... he confided
that it had gotten a virus, so he had been uninstalling everything and then
attempted re-formatting and re-installing Windows XP Pro. It was basically
a mess, but I managed to re-install the Dell laptop drivers that were
missing and completed the XP "upgrade" installation from his original SP1
CD-ROM disk. I then loaded SP2 from
another disk we had used previously from another home computer.

When I was done, I ran AdAware anti-spam software, Norton Anti-Virus, then
cleared out all the old files and de-fragmented the system. At this point
everything seemed to be working very well since we could connect to the
Internet, browse sites, get Instant Messenger services, email etc. and the
computer seemed to be performing very well speed wise.

It was only when we tried to go to the Windows Update site to get the rest
of the most recent updates that we noticed that it would not browse any
https (secure) sites at all. I've verified that there is no proxy set and
that the firewall, Internet security, and advanced settings appear to be
good by comparing them to a working machine on the same DSL connection.

At this point I suspect it could possibly be a problem with the computer's
SSL certificate,
but am not sure how to verify it is loaded and valid. Can someone direct me
on the keystroke/cursor sequence for accomplishing this? Also, does anyone
have any other things that I can check? It is probably something very
simple that is incorrectly set or missing, but we just can't seem to find
it. If no one here has any thoughts then we plan to simply re-format the
drive and start from scratch.

Again, the only symptom we see is a failure when attempting to open or being
re-directed to "secure" web sites. Thanks in advance for your help.

Bob


since it sounds like you didn't completely install from scratch, try
looking in the internet properties for poxies, most likely the
proxy from the colleage is still in there.
telll it to not use proxy and connect direct to the internet.
the laptop maybe using the schools system and it mite be blocking
the Secure port.


--
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5

Thanks for the reply and your thought, but this is what IU had looked for
when I saw the problem, although it would not explain why http sites worked
fine. In short, there was no proxy set under the Internet connections, LAN
button which is what we were using or anywhere else.

Bob

"Jamie" wrote in message
...
since it sounds like you didn't completely install from scratch, try
looking in the internet properties for poxies, most likely the
proxy from the colleage is still in there.
telll it to not use proxy and connect direct to the internet.
the laptop maybe using the schools system and it mite be blocking
the Secure port.

Bob Shuman wrote:

Thanks for the reply and your thought, but this is what IU had looked for
when I saw the problem, although it would not explain why http sites worked
fine. In short, there was no proxy set under the Internet connections, LAN
button which is what we were using or anywhere else.

Bob


Hi Bob...

Haven't followed the thread, and don't use xp (use 2000), so don't
know xp's firewall, but just seeing this tiny bit triggers a
thought, if I may?

Possible that xp's firewall (perhaps well hidden from the youngsters)
prevents access to unrated sites?

Take care.

Ken

snip


It was only when we tried to go to the Windows Update site to get the rest
of the most recent updates that we noticed that it would not browse any
https (secure) sites at all. I've verified that there is no proxy set and
that the firewall, Internet security, and advanced settings appear to be
good by comparing them to a working machine on the same DSL connection.

snip

Bob


Hi Bob,

Best place to start is to look at the event logs on your son's PC. Then
compare what services are started on you good XP when connected, to what you
sons Xp is using when trying to connect.

Wes.

I also had disabled the firewall and the Anti-virus as well without success.
Again, the interesting thing here is the computer functions normally for
everything except web browsing to https sites. The problem is exhibited in
both Internet Explorer and Firefox so it must be a setting somewhere common
to both in Windows. That is why I suspected the certificates since these
are used to set up the SSL connection.

Thanks again.

Bob





"Ken Weitzel" wrote in message
news5j2f.131669$1i.61431@pd7tw2no...

Bob Shuman wrote:

Thanks for the reply and your thought, but this is what I had looked
for
when I saw the problem, although it would not explain why http sites
worked
fine. In short, there was no proxy set under the Internet connections,
LAN
button which is what we were using or anywhere else.

Bob

Hi Bob...

Haven't followed the thread, and don't use xp (use 2000), so don't
know xp's firewall, but just seeing this tiny bit triggers a
thought, if I may?

Possible that xp's firewall (perhaps well hidden from the youngsters)
prevents access to unrated sites?

Take care.

Ken

On Sun, 9 Oct 2005 10:28:21 -0500, "Bob Shuman"
wrote:

I am hoping someone here can help me with a problem with my son's Dell
Inspiron 5150 laptop computer. He brought it back from college this weekend
with major problems. Basically nothing was working at all... he confided
that it had gotten a virus, so he had been uninstalling everything and then
attempted re-formatting and re-installing Windows XP Pro. It was basically
a mess, but I managed to re-install the Dell laptop drivers that were
missing and completed the XP "upgrade" installation from his original SP1
CD-ROM disk. I then loaded SP2 from
another disk we had used previously from another home computer.

When I was done, I ran AdAware anti-spam software, Norton Anti-Virus, then
cleared out all the old files and de-fragmented the system. At this point
everything seemed to be working very well since we could connect to the
Internet, browse sites, get Instant Messenger services, email etc. and the
computer seemed to be performing very well speed wise.

It was only when we tried to go to the Windows Update site to get the rest
of the most recent updates that we noticed that it would not browse any
https (secure) sites at all. I've verified that there is no proxy set and
that the firewall, Internet security, and advanced settings appear to be
good by comparing them to a working machine on the same DSL connection.

At this point I suspect it could possibly be a problem with the computer's
SSL certificate,
but am not sure how to verify it is loaded and valid. Can someone direct me
on the keystroke/cursor sequence for accomplishing this? Also, does anyone
have any other things that I can check? It is probably something very
simple that is incorrectly set or missing, but we just can't seem to find
it. If no one here has any thoughts then we plan to simply re-format the
drive and start from scratch.

Again, the only symptom we see is a failure when attempting to open or being
re-directed to "secure" web sites. Thanks in advance for your help.

Bob


Try the Microsoft Knowledge Base .. its free:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;239449

This link tells about inability to access https sites

Bob Shuman wrote:
I am hoping someone here can help me with a problem with my son's Dell
Inspiron 5150 laptop computer. He brought it back from college this weekend
with major problems. Basically nothing was working at all... he confided
that it had gotten a virus, so he had been uninstalling everything and then
attempted re-formatting and re-installing Windows XP Pro. It was basically
a mess, but I managed to re-install the Dell laptop drivers that were
missing and completed the XP "upgrade" installation from his original SP1
CD-ROM disk. I then loaded SP2 from
another disk we had used previously from another home computer.

When I was done, I ran AdAware anti-spam software, Norton Anti-Virus, then
cleared out all the old files and de-fragmented the system. At this point
everything seemed to be working very well since we could connect to the
Internet, browse sites, get Instant Messenger services, email etc. and the
computer seemed to be performing very well speed wise.

It was only when we tried to go to the Windows Update site to get the rest
of the most recent updates that we noticed that it would not browse any
https (secure) sites at all. I've verified that there is no proxy set and
that the firewall, Internet security, and advanced settings appear to be
good by comparing them to a working machine on the same DSL connection.

At this point I suspect it could possibly be a problem with the computer's
SSL certificate,
but am not sure how to verify it is loaded and valid. Can someone direct me
on the keystroke/cursor sequence for accomplishing this? Also, does anyone
have any other things that I can check? It is probably something very
simple that is incorrectly set or missing, but we just can't seem to find
it. If no one here has any thoughts then we plan to simply re-format the
drive and start from scratch.

Again, the only symptom we see is a failure when attempting to open or being
re-directed to "secure" web sites. Thanks in advance for your help.

You might possibly have a adware/spyware/malware program that is
redirecting away from the intended site.

I just fixed my laptop from something similar, it wouldn't access Google
or some others despite othersites working perfectly.

I recommend going to this thread and performing the routine given.

http://forum.tweakxp.com/forum/Topic4303-29-1.aspx
---------
Then again, Symantec/Norton products are a known PITA when it comes to
getting things to work:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...013230036?Open

Just disabling Symantec/Norton stuff isn't always enough, it needs to be
totally obliterated off the HD before you can be sure it's not the cause
of your problems.

http://tinyurl.com/56am4
---------
This refers to missing/damaged certificates:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;822798
---------
And mo

http://www.vcn.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=012
---------

Dave

Thanks to all who have replied, including Darmok and Dave earlier today.
I've forwarded your suggestions to my son who took the laptop back to school
yesterday. I do not know if he has re-formatted and re-loaded Windows XP
yet. If not and one of these suggestions leads to a fix I will post what he
finds.

Bob

"Dave" wrote in message
...

....Excellent listing of ideas and things to try deleted for brevity