Windows 7 Network Problem

Im having a problem connecting to my network on Windows 7 64-bit with CIS installed. The network comes up as just ‘identifying’ and refuses to connect - on the network status, it shows that the computer is sending packets but not recieving any.

If I go to ‘change adapter settings’ I can type in the IP address, subnet mask and dns server address manualy and the network will connect, but will not have internet access. If I then change the settings back to automatic, I get internet connection and everything works perfectly. However, this can’t be done with CIS running - upon changing it back to automatic, it says I need to restart the system to apply these settings. Invariably, this just puts me back at square one.

To try and fix this, I opened MSConfig and disabled CIS from launching at startup. The first time I boot the system after disabling CIS, the problem is still there, however I am able to use the method described above to resolve the problem, as I dont get a “you must restart the system” message. The ‘automatic’ settings just apply and I can access the internet. I can then launch CIS manually and all is fine and dandy. After this, I can restart the PC as many times as I like as long as CIS isn’t enabled at startup, and the network connects fine. The second I allow CIS at startup however, the problem re-appears.

The strangest thing about this is that I’ve had CIS installed for about a month or so and not had any issues with network connectivity at all, untill about a week ago when this problem just suddenly appeared. What, if anything, has changed, and how do I fix this? Starting CIS manually after startup is just a pain and I’m not comfortable leaving my computer unprotected. And and all help would be much appreciated.

Can you show us your firewall logs from around the time you are trying to connect? They can be found under Firewall → Common Tasks → View Firewall Events. When you made changes to the Global Rules please post a screenshot of them as well.

What type of connection are you on? Do you have a router present in your network set up?

Yes, sorry, I have an ADSL modem/router, to which my PC connects via an ethernet cable. The router works fine, my housemate has a laptop, iMac and blackberry all able to connect to it no problems. The cable is also fine, as ive checked it. I also have a wireless card that is disabled most of the time, but I’ve enabled it to see if that works and I have the exact same problem with that at the same times as the problem with the cable connection. In addition, I have my PC set up to dual boot Kubuntu linux as well as Windows 7, and linux connects on either network adapter with absolutely no issues.

I’ve made no changes to Global Rules at all (as far as I know) and firewall logs are empty - “There are no items to show”.

Try running Diagnostics (under Miscellaneous) and see what it reports and if it can fix a possible problem.

What other security programs do you have? Which ones are running in the background? What happens if you disable these security programs?

Ahh, running diagnostics fixed the problem. Thank you very much for the help!