Socket error 10061

A friend recently got a new Dell laptop and I helped her install and configure some utilities -- TweakUI, Ad-Aware, Spybot, ZoneAlarm, etc. Everything worked OK for a month or so. She recently was away from home for two weeks and when she returned home and got on-line to get some updates, she encountered problems and got the error message "Socket error 10061. "

She uses AOL and is on dial-up rather than broadband. She can receive e-mail but so far hasn't tried to send any. She can get on-line but she can't surf the Web and gets that same error message. I guided her through a successful updating of her Norton A-V, but Ad-Aware and Spybot both give her that Socket error 10061 message.

I did a Google search for the error messsage, and most of the entries point either to e-mailing problems, which she doesn't seem to have, or to either an AV or firewall program causing the problem and then they get into dealing with port assignments (which I don't really understand how to deal with).

I did a Search on this BBS and found the posts all centering on e-mail problems, which my friend doesn't seem to have.

I thought maybe shutting off Spybot would allow us to isolate the error problem, but so far I haven't found a way to do that without completely uninstalling the program and leaving her system vulnerable to attack, maybe for nothing.

She can use her cell phone to call me for help when she's on-line and her dial-up is tying up her regular phone line. She isn't computer savvy at all, so helping her has to be done gently, patiently, and with suggestions given in ultra-simple A-B-C clear steps.

I've run out of ideas on what to do next to sort out the socket error. So once again I'm turning to the knowledgeable people here for help. Any suggestions?

Update: Two hours later, I just got an e-mail from her, so her e-mailing works fine both receiving and sending. Can anyone offer any ideas?

 

Socket error 10061 = Connection Refused

Basically, the server she tries to connect with is unavailable or else she can't get out to look for it.

Since her email is working, it almost certainly is a firewall-type issue where the ports (think of them as holes in a wall) for sending and receiving mail are open but the one(s) for http aren't - or it may be some similar weirdness from AOL.

When you say She can get on-line but she can't surf the Web I'm not exactly sure what you mean by her getting on-line. Details? Also details on her OS since the version will make some difference in the tests she will need to do.

 

Newt: Thanks for replying. I was beginning to wonder if everyone on the BBS was out somewhere enjoying a picnic that I hadn't been invited to.

Her OS is Windows XP Home, and I'm pretty sure she has everything up to date on SP2 except possibly for the latest patch. Her dial-up speed downloads take such a long time, we were reluctant to get the latest MS patch last night when she first called me.

By "on-line" I mean she's gotten through to AOL and is able to send and receive e-mails. That's being "on-line." But she can't go to any Web sites. She can't get to Google, and attempts to update Ad-Aware and Spybot, for example, all result in the Socket error 10061 messsage. Same thing with any other Web site she tries to contact. But she was able to update her NAV.

That odd combination of what she can do and what she can't do is what has me stumped. If the problem were something with AOL, she wouldn't be able to get her e-mail from them, would she? And why can she get updates from NAV but not from Ad-Aware or Spybot?

From everything you say and what other sources say, I'm inclined to suspect it's a firewall matter. But what setting do we change and how do we change it?

 

Thanks for the additional information.

I had missed the fact that she could update NAV from the first post. Hmmmmm. That is interesting.

I wonder if she has two firewalls running that are fighting with each other. I know Norton has one as part of several of their packages. XP SP2 has one as well and AOL may put in one of their own.

The other possibility that comes to mind is some sort of DNS problem. Some of the spyware critters will try to block folks from updating spyware blockers.

Have her attach a copy of c:\windows\system32\drivers\hosts to an email and send it to you. Then paste a copy of the contents here.

 

Newt: When I helped her configure her new laptop, I had her download and install Spybot. I knew it didn't like the Windows XP firewall also running, so we turned it off. Whether it somehow has gotten turned back on, I don't know. Whether AOL also has a firewall working, I don't know that, either, but since her laptop worked fine for a month or more, I'm assuming something changed during the two weeks she was away from home. The question is, what?

I've read that some programs go sour and misbehave if they go too long without being updated. When she attempted to update Ad-Aware last night, the program informed her it had been x number of days since it had been last updated and would she like to do so now. When she clicked on "Yes," she soon found herself reading the now infamous Socket 10061 error message. Would that suggest that Ad-Aware is the culprit?

I have e-mailed my friend with your request for the copy and paste. When she sees that, she may have to phone me for help in getting it. When I receive it from her, I'll post it ASAP.

Thanks again for helping.

 

What I'm sort of expecting to see is entries that mis-direct certain sites so she can't get to them. May or may not be the case and may or may not have been done via hosts.

We may have to spend some time digging so make sure she doesn't expect an instant fix.

Also, unless someone else jumps in here, I'm sorta iffy for the weekend. Fishing and even though I'm gonna be home Saturday and Sunday nights, I don't know if I'll be on the forum or not.

 

Newt: Trout season opened in these parts a few days ago. So far I haven't gotten out to cast a single fly. But I'll be rooting for you.

 

Update: I just got off the phone with my friend again. She phoned, pretty shook up, because her laptop screen was totally black. I'd heard of the BSOD, but "B" is supposed to mean blue, not black. Anyway, when I had her shut her system off and restart it, it worked fine. It had gone into hibernation while she fixed and ate dinner, and she'd never had that happen before. Afterwards, she felt much better and we resumed working on her Socket error problem.

In case I hadn't made the detail clear before, her Norton is just the AV program, not the entire suite. She was again able to get on-line enough to download and install two more NAV updates and got an e-mail message I'd sent her. But Ad-Aware and Spybot still produced the Socket error 10061 message and wouldn't go any further.

Here's the host file that I think is the one you requested (there's an ETC folder between the Drivers folder and the host file, BTW):



# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost


Is that the right one?

Considering the number of sources that refer to ISP problems as the cause of that particular socket error, I suggested she phone AOL's tech support and tell them what's been going on and ask if they know of a fix. I've never dealt with AOL, so I'm waiting to find out whether they'll be of any help or not.

 

Arie: Thanks for joining in. My friend phoned AOL's tech support two times over the weekend. The first time they led her through a procedure with an AOL 9.0 CD. That didn't solve the problem. The second time they worked on Internet Explorer. That didn't solve the problem either. She e-mailed me a copy of the instructions they sent her for the steps she should take. Should I copy and paste them to a post here?

I've thought of opening a new thread in a different forum to somehow get more members to see what we're faced with. The more help we get the better. But I'm reluctant to cross-post. Your opinion on that?

Update: When my friend last phoned me she corrected one impression I'd been under and had misstated earlier in this thread. Her problem first appeared a day or two before she left town on vacation, not after she returned. I don't know if that clarification helps, but in my mind it eliminates the suspicions about any programs going sour because they'd gone too long without being updated.

 

The hosts file you posted is the one I wanted to see. It is clean BTW.

 

Right now my friend is in the midst of running scans on NAV, Spybot, and Ad-Aware to see if there's anything naughty in any of them. She started 20 minutes ago and so far I haven't heard from her, either asking for help or having found something amiss.

For some reason I've been suspecting Spybot all along as somehow causing the problem. I could be completely wrong about that, but is there any way to shut it off without completely uninstalling it?

 

She doesn't already have HijackThis in her laptop. If she still can't get through to Web sites, she won't be able to download it, will she?

She phoned me this evening, saying she'd finished running all 3 scans. NAV and Spybot showed everything being clean. Ad-Aware found 8 items and she deleted them. Then I had her restart her system and try to get through to a few Web sites. No joy. All attempts produced those same Socket error 10061 messages. Ppfffffttttt!!

I suggested she call AOL again and tell them these latest developments. She won't be home most of the day Tuesday, so it will probably be during the evening before I hear from her again.

 

PeteC: Thanks for joining in. Glad to have another sharp mind working on this.

Her laptop is just 3 months old, and it doesn't have a floppy drive. And I don't have a USB memory stick, so we'll have to try the e-mail route. With her very limited computer skills, this should be interesting.

I would think that the symptoms of her problem would point clearly to its cause and then to a fix. Yet that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm hoping that another call to AOL will find a techie who can sort it all out for her. If that does happen and I find out the details, I'll post them here for our mutual benefit.

Either as a part of this current problem or just for my own enlightenment, I'm still hoping somebody here will clarify whether or not there's a way to temporarily shut off Spybot without completely uninstalling it. With NAV and ZA there is, but what about Spybot?

 

PeteC: I believe the Spybot settings are already as you recommend. The other evening I had her switch to the Advanced level and to click on System Startup. The other settings I'm not so sure about.

In an earlier post in this thread I mentioned we installed ZoneAlarm and turned off XP's firewall when she first got her new laptop. So we've already done that.

To check whether Spybot is the culprit or not, I'd like to just turn it off but so far I haven't found out how. Completely uninstalling it would get the job done but would be a pain to have to reinstall afterward. Would it work to simply delete Spybot into her Recycle Bin, temporarily turn on XP's firewall so she'd still be protected, then for her to get on-line and try to get through to a few Web sites? If she can, we've learned something. If she still gets the Socket error 10061 messages, then Spybot would seem to be in the clear and she could easily recover it from the Recycle Bin and be back to where she started. Would that work? And be worthwhile?

Reinstalling AOL sounds like a promising idea. AOL came already loaded on her new laptop and I don't know if she has a CD on hand to reload it. Simple enough to find out and try.