I operate a 5-node network in my home, and in the last two months it has fallen apart. Only one of the machines is able to see the DSL modem when I connect it directly to the NIC. That machine [Q, running W2KPro] cannot see any other machine, whether connected by hub (2 different ones tried), firewall router, or direct cable. The other machines claim they don't have NICs at all.
On the main machine [G] (not the one that sees the modem, but the only one with Internet access until a few weeks ago when I got DSL), I have an old 3Com 509 ISA board. WinNT4SP6 says there is no card present. I removed that card and added a Hawkeye PCI. The Hawkeye installer (Realsys) says I have no card to configure. Same response when I moved it to another PCI slot. I removed it and put the 3Com ISA board back in. It told me I didn't have a NIC, and then BSODed on me, requiring a full install (repaired twice with no joy) to fix it. After the full install, my NTFS partition was gone. (I'm slowly restoring those files with TestDisk.)
I was running an old ZoneAlarm on that machine [G], because no firewall I know of supports NT. A few minutes ago, ZoneAlarm DocWatsoned on me. Just before that, TM reported that VSMON was using 220M of RAM and teh machine was "running" like an elderly elephant up a sand dune.
I've routinely been checking G with AdAware Free (updated regularly), Spybot Free, and a licensed AVG, as well as the old ZoneAlarm. None of them reports any problem. I do have a process called "system" in my TM which I've read is a sign of a major malware. What do I do about it?
"System" shows up in four of the five machines (I haven't checked the fifth, which is a portable running W98SP2). The oldest machine [X, running WinNT4SP6 with a Linksys PCI card] announced that its NIC was gone nearly two years ago, and I simply assumed it had given up the ghost after ten years of faithful service. The portable [H, running Win98SP2 with onboard NIC], also crapped out, about a year ago, announcing that its NIC was not working. I assumed the fragile little connector was damaged. But when the three desktops started acting up, I paid attention. The one other machine [Z, running NT4SP6 but about to be FDisked and converted to Ubuntu Linux] stopped seeing G three months ago, then stopped seeing Q a month ago, and now claims not to have a NIC. When I cable it to Q, they can't see each other at all.
I ran HiJackThis on the DSL-aware machine [Q], which also has the "system" process, also is unstable (the CDROM goes flakey and won't read CDs I make on Z w/Nero), and also is declared clean by AdAware, Spybot, AVG Free, McAfee Online, and (as of just a minute ago) Trojan Hunter. Now what? I've been flailing at this problem without success for weeks, months if you count struggling to get Z back in service. Any suggestions are welcome.
M
On the main machine [G] (not the one that sees the modem, but the only one with Internet access until a few weeks ago when I got DSL), I have an old 3Com 509 ISA board. WinNT4SP6 says there is no card present. I removed that card and added a Hawkeye PCI. The Hawkeye installer (Realsys) says I have no card to configure. Same response when I moved it to another PCI slot. I removed it and put the 3Com ISA board back in. It told me I didn't have a NIC, and then BSODed on me, requiring a full install (repaired twice with no joy) to fix it. After the full install, my NTFS partition was gone. (I'm slowly restoring those files with TestDisk.)
I was running an old ZoneAlarm on that machine [G], because no firewall I know of supports NT. A few minutes ago, ZoneAlarm DocWatsoned on me. Just before that, TM reported that VSMON was using 220M of RAM and teh machine was "running" like an elderly elephant up a sand dune.
I've routinely been checking G with AdAware Free (updated regularly), Spybot Free, and a licensed AVG, as well as the old ZoneAlarm. None of them reports any problem. I do have a process called "system" in my TM which I've read is a sign of a major malware. What do I do about it?
"System" shows up in four of the five machines (I haven't checked the fifth, which is a portable running W98SP2). The oldest machine [X, running WinNT4SP6 with a Linksys PCI card] announced that its NIC was gone nearly two years ago, and I simply assumed it had given up the ghost after ten years of faithful service. The portable [H, running Win98SP2 with onboard NIC], also crapped out, about a year ago, announcing that its NIC was not working. I assumed the fragile little connector was damaged. But when the three desktops started acting up, I paid attention. The one other machine [Z, running NT4SP6 but about to be FDisked and converted to Ubuntu Linux] stopped seeing G three months ago, then stopped seeing Q a month ago, and now claims not to have a NIC. When I cable it to Q, they can't see each other at all.
I ran HiJackThis on the DSL-aware machine [Q], which also has the "system" process, also is unstable (the CDROM goes flakey and won't read CDs I make on Z w/Nero), and also is declared clean by AdAware, Spybot, AVG Free, McAfee Online, and (as of just a minute ago) Trojan Hunter. Now what? I've been flailing at this problem without success for weeks, months if you count struggling to get Z back in service. Any suggestions are welcome.
M
