Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Ash Small, Tue Nov 05 2013, 11:31AMI'll try and give as full an explanation as possible, maybe someone can help?
My wireless network is hosted on a PC which currently runs XP service pack 3, which is cnnected to a Huawei broadband mobile dongle, and an Edimax 150 wireless nano-dongle.
This worked fine, providing WiFi interconnection to my Compaq laptop running Vista, other laptops, Samsung tablets, my Samsung smart TV, android phones, blackberrys, and, until recently, an Apple Ipad belonging to a frequent visitor.
This was running pretty much continuously for the past four months.
Last weekend, as soon as the Ipad connected to it, internet connectivity to all devices except the 'host server' immediately ceased, and I spent all weekend trying to sort it out.
In the end I gave up, and connected the Huawei Broadband dongle and Edimax nano-dongle to my laptop, and used the laptop as the 'server', but this also 'went down' as soon as the Ipad connected to it.
I've not been able to get either up and running since, even when the Ipad isn't connected. I suspect a virus from the Ipad is now on both machines, but Microsoft Security Essentials can't find anything.
This 'virus' doesn't seem to affect my Android phone when used in 'portable hotspot' mode, although it seems like it may be running slower than usual, but this may just be down to a weak signal. All devices seem able to connect to it.
I currently just have the broadband dongle connected to my laptop, with no WiFi network.
What can I do to try and fix this problem?....All I can think of is to 'wipe' both machines, re-format the hard drives, and re-install the operating systems, but, as the only installation disks I currently have are Windows 98 and an XP upgrade, I'm considering either buying a Windows 7 installation disk, or downloading Linux Zorin (as reccomended by Sulaiman in a recent thread here), and running all my windows software under WINE.
Any ideas/thoughts would be welcome.
EDIT (Additional information): Something else I noticed is that both machines, when turned off after being infected, re-booted, so I assume it's done something to the config.sys, or boot sector, or whatever. Also, I tried re-connecting the Samsung tablet to my laptop (the devices still connect to the network, and the network still functions, just nothing else has access to the internet), and the laptop re-booted by itself again when I turned it off (after the laptop again lost internet access), so it would appear that everything now has the virus, or something.
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Erlend^SE, Wed Nov 06 2013, 08:18PM
How hard reset have you done? battery removal?
I would assume a hard driver-crash, I had a on-board Ethernet controller go bad until I disconnected the input power (not just power down) and restarted the machine. As in the Ethernet controller failed to initialize like it was broken. (Windows 7 b.t.w.)
Erlend^SE, Wed Nov 06 2013, 08:18PM
How hard reset have you done? battery removal?
I would assume a hard driver-crash, I had a on-board Ethernet controller go bad until I disconnected the input power (not just power down) and restarted the machine. As in the Ethernet controller failed to initialize like it was broken. (Windows 7 b.t.w.)
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Carbon_Rod, Thu Nov 07 2013, 02:55AM
Huawei along with TP-Link were blacklisted as potentially hostile vendors for putting back-doors in their networking products. Specifically, Huawei modems are easily re-branded/modified by 3rd parties with custom drivers and configurations. These were quickly re-purposed by ass-hats and re-sold to the public as networking cards with a root kit. Both Cisco and Apple have back-doored their products with a shim routine for years, and will sue anyone that discloses the hooks publicly.
Note, people will often overheat their wifi cards if they use them at full power continuously.
This is probably the wrong forum, as forensics is a somewhat taboo subject.
Note Russia gets cold enough to freeze Vodka in the winters....
Carbon_Rod, Thu Nov 07 2013, 02:55AM
Huawei along with TP-Link were blacklisted as potentially hostile vendors for putting back-doors in their networking products. Specifically, Huawei modems are easily re-branded/modified by 3rd parties with custom drivers and configurations. These were quickly re-purposed by ass-hats and re-sold to the public as networking cards with a root kit. Both Cisco and Apple have back-doored their products with a shim routine for years, and will sue anyone that discloses the hooks publicly.
Note, people will often overheat their wifi cards if they use them at full power continuously.
This is probably the wrong forum, as forensics is a somewhat taboo subject.
Note Russia gets cold enough to freeze Vodka in the winters....
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Conundrum, Thu Nov 07 2013, 06:49AM
Sounds similar to a problem I had once, machine with XP which bombed the network and resulted in a disconnect from broadband after <5 minutes.
In the end I nuked the machine from orbit and that fixed it, no emails from the ISP or anything just a blinking green "no carrier" light on the router.
Ash, try downnloading the AVG Rescue CD and running that, just in case.
Last time I had a really bad case of virusitis on a machine this got it working enough to at least get the data off.
Conundrum, Thu Nov 07 2013, 06:49AM
Sounds similar to a problem I had once, machine with XP which bombed the network and resulted in a disconnect from broadband after <5 minutes.
In the end I nuked the machine from orbit and that fixed it, no emails from the ISP or anything just a blinking green "no carrier" light on the router.
Ash, try downnloading the AVG Rescue CD and running that, just in case.
Last time I had a really bad case of virusitis on a machine this got it working enough to at least get the data off.
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Ash Small, Thu Nov 07 2013, 10:50AM
I'm gradually working through the suggestions above, I've also removed, or attempted to remove ALL Apple and Cisco software from both the PC and laptop. I can't remove the battery from the Samsung tablet, but it is turned off for the duration.
I just want to point out that the Huawei dongle still works on both machines, and the network still works, all devices can connect wirelessly to each other EXCEPT nothing has access to the internet, except the machine that is plugged into the Huawei dongle. I'm using the Laptop and Huawei dongle now to post this.
I'll post again later when I've re-installed the Edimax WiFi software, I've just re-installed the Huawei software.
Thanks for the suggestions.
EDIT: when the problem first occurred, ity did seem that a 'back door' was open, and that the mouse was being 'controlled' from elsewhere, but it seemed like a software thing, rather than someone actually sat at a remote screen, controlling it manually.
Ash Small, Thu Nov 07 2013, 10:50AM
I'm gradually working through the suggestions above, I've also removed, or attempted to remove ALL Apple and Cisco software from both the PC and laptop. I can't remove the battery from the Samsung tablet, but it is turned off for the duration.
I just want to point out that the Huawei dongle still works on both machines, and the network still works, all devices can connect wirelessly to each other EXCEPT nothing has access to the internet, except the machine that is plugged into the Huawei dongle. I'm using the Laptop and Huawei dongle now to post this.
I'll post again later when I've re-installed the Edimax WiFi software, I've just re-installed the Huawei software.
Thanks for the suggestions.
EDIT: when the problem first occurred, ity did seem that a 'back door' was open, and that the mouse was being 'controlled' from elsewhere, but it seemed like a software thing, rather than someone actually sat at a remote screen, controlling it manually.
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Conundrum, Thu Nov 07 2013, 01:21PM
Hi, did you want me to post you a rescue disk and my backup OS?
I can also send you DSL on a pendrive if that helps.
Kind regards, -A
Conundrum, Thu Nov 07 2013, 01:21PM
Hi, did you want me to post you a rescue disk and my backup OS?
I can also send you DSL on a pendrive if that helps.
Kind regards, -A
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Ash Small, Thu Nov 07 2013, 04:11PM
I'm not sure I need a 'rescue disk', I can get data off of both machines (PC and laptop), I think I can still 'restore factory settings', etc on the laptop (unless I erased the backup). I was thinking of wiping everything after copying all my data, etc to my USB hard drive, and installing Zorin, before spending money on a windows 7 installation disc.
Can you elaborate a bit, please, I'm not up on all the jargon etc.
Not sure what you mean by DSL either
I'm going to try re-installing the Edimax WiFi software after I'm certain I've erased as much stuff from both machines as I dare. If I'm still stuck then, I may be interested in your offer if it's going to mean I may not need to wipe and re-format both machines' hard drives.
I may try downloading some more anti-virus software, but last time I downloaded AVG I seemed to end up with more viruses on the machine than I started with, and had to download even more anti-virus software to eliminate all of them.
It's strange, but the only thing I can't do is connect to the internet on any of the other devices connected to the network, although the network works fine in all other respects. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) was still activated on the Edimax dongle, and I even re-installed it once, but to no avail.
The 'virus', or whatever just seems to disable the Internet Connection Sharing, and nothing else, although there was a problem which appeared to be 'back door' related, I seem to have eliminated this now.
I used to regularly re-format my hard drive on the PC so that I could 're-evaluate' 30 day trials of software , but I haven't done this for years now.
I have been considering switching to Linux for some time, the only thing stopping me is I'm uncertain whether WINE will be compatible with my CAD software. I think I'm ready to try this now. As a last resort I can always invest in a copy of Windows 7, but I'll try eliminating the virus by other methods first.
Both the dongles (WiFi and 3G internet) seem to be working perfectly, apart from the ICS. Everything else seems to be working fine, too.
Ash Small, Thu Nov 07 2013, 04:11PM
Conundrum wrote ...
Hi, did you want me to post you a rescue disk and my backup OS?
I can also send you DSL on a pendrive if that helps.
Kind regards, -A
Hi, did you want me to post you a rescue disk and my backup OS?
I can also send you DSL on a pendrive if that helps.
Kind regards, -A
I'm not sure I need a 'rescue disk', I can get data off of both machines (PC and laptop), I think I can still 'restore factory settings', etc on the laptop (unless I erased the backup). I was thinking of wiping everything after copying all my data, etc to my USB hard drive, and installing Zorin, before spending money on a windows 7 installation disc.
Can you elaborate a bit, please, I'm not up on all the jargon etc.
Not sure what you mean by DSL either
I'm going to try re-installing the Edimax WiFi software after I'm certain I've erased as much stuff from both machines as I dare. If I'm still stuck then, I may be interested in your offer if it's going to mean I may not need to wipe and re-format both machines' hard drives.
I may try downloading some more anti-virus software, but last time I downloaded AVG I seemed to end up with more viruses on the machine than I started with, and had to download even more anti-virus software to eliminate all of them.
It's strange, but the only thing I can't do is connect to the internet on any of the other devices connected to the network, although the network works fine in all other respects. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) was still activated on the Edimax dongle, and I even re-installed it once, but to no avail.
The 'virus', or whatever just seems to disable the Internet Connection Sharing, and nothing else, although there was a problem which appeared to be 'back door' related, I seem to have eliminated this now.
I used to regularly re-format my hard drive on the PC so that I could 're-evaluate' 30 day trials of software
, but I haven't done this for years now.I have been considering switching to Linux for some time, the only thing stopping me is I'm uncertain whether WINE will be compatible with my CAD software. I think I'm ready to try this now. As a last resort I can always invest in a copy of Windows 7, but I'll try eliminating the virus by other methods first.
Both the dongles (WiFi and 3G internet) seem to be working perfectly, apart from the ICS. Everything else seems to be working fine, too.
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Conundrum, Fri Nov 08 2013, 05:39AM
I've had good results with the disk, know of other people who have found their systems run a lot faster and Windows Security Essentials now removes the rest of the junk.
The problem is with some rootkits/etc the machine is infected at a fundamental level and the AV is constantly firefighting to repair infections in realtime.
-A
Conundrum, Fri Nov 08 2013, 05:39AM
I've had good results with the disk, know of other people who have found their systems run a lot faster and Windows Security Essentials now removes the rest of the junk.
The problem is with some rootkits/etc the machine is infected at a fundamental level and the AV is constantly firefighting to repair infections in realtime.
-A
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Ash Small, Fri Nov 08 2013, 01:38PM
Thanks for the disks, Andre.
My laptop won't read the AVG disk, but it only has a cheap internal CD rom. I can sort that by using a USB stick, or making another copy.
I put the disk in the PC and it immediately found one trojan. It's still scanning, but it looks like I may be getting somewhere
Ash Small, Fri Nov 08 2013, 01:38PM
Thanks for the disks, Andre.
My laptop won't read the AVG disk, but it only has a cheap internal CD rom. I can sort that by using a USB stick, or making another copy.
I put the disk in the PC and it immediately found one trojan. It's still scanning, but it looks like I may be getting somewhere
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Conundrum, Sat Nov 30 2013, 10:05AM
Hate to say it but this might be the drive.
What sort is it, I have a few spares here.
Will ensure I test the drive(s) first, before sending to make sure you don't get another dud.
Re. dodgy drive, early CDROMs invariably wouldn't read even a CDRW unless they were writers to begin with.
Something about the optical path being optimised for read speed rather than writing, could also be poor power regulation of the laser.
-A
Conundrum, Sat Nov 30 2013, 10:05AM
Hate to say it but this might be the drive.
What sort is it, I have a few spares here.
Will ensure I test the drive(s) first, before sending to make sure you don't get another dud.
Re. dodgy drive, early CDROMs invariably wouldn't read even a CDRW unless they were writers to begin with.
Something about the optical path being optimised for read speed rather than writing, could also be poor power regulation of the laser.
-A
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Ash Small, Sat Nov 30 2013, 10:52AM
It's a Compaq laptop. Always been 'dodgy'. Won't even read DVD's half the time. I 'forked out' for a decent Phillips unit ~10 years ago for my desktop. It reads anything. I just have to figure out how to boot the laptop from a USB stick.
Ash Small, Sat Nov 30 2013, 10:52AM
Conundrum wrote ...
Hate to say it but this might be the drive.
What sort is it, I have a few spares here.
Will ensure I test the drive(s) first, before sending to make sure you don't get another dud.
Re. dodgy drive, early CDROMs invariably wouldn't read even a CDRW unless they were writers to begin with.
Something about the optical path being optimised for read speed rather than writing, could also be poor power regulation of the laser.
-A
Hate to say it but this might be the drive.
What sort is it, I have a few spares here.
Will ensure I test the drive(s) first, before sending to make sure you don't get another dud.
Re. dodgy drive, early CDROMs invariably wouldn't read even a CDRW unless they were writers to begin with.
Something about the optical path being optimised for read speed rather than writing, could also be poor power regulation of the laser.
-A
It's a Compaq laptop. Always been 'dodgy'. Won't even read DVD's half the time. I 'forked out' for a decent Phillips unit ~10 years ago for my desktop. It reads anything. I just have to figure out how to boot the laptop from a USB stick.
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Wastrel, Sat Nov 30 2013, 01:27PM
It sounds to me like this is a USB compatibility problem between your wifi dongle and your IPad. I would be inclined to remove both sets of drivers and the product ID codes from the windows registry and then reinstall the dongle to see if it works. Scrubbing a driver can be a pain, once installed windows will automatically re-install drivers if it can.
I've had some odd stuff in the past, devices that would fail to function if my scanner was turned on, devices that would function once on a particular port and then only work on a new port until removed from the registry. My opinion of USB is that it is still not a mature technology. What the world needed was powered ethernet and what it was given was a half duplex half assed copy.
Wastrel, Sat Nov 30 2013, 01:27PM
It sounds to me like this is a USB compatibility problem between your wifi dongle and your IPad. I would be inclined to remove both sets of drivers and the product ID codes from the windows registry and then reinstall the dongle to see if it works. Scrubbing a driver can be a pain, once installed windows will automatically re-install drivers if it can.
I've had some odd stuff in the past, devices that would fail to function if my scanner was turned on, devices that would function once on a particular port and then only work on a new port until removed from the registry. My opinion of USB is that it is still not a mature technology. What the world needed was powered ethernet and what it was given was a half duplex half assed copy.
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Ash Small, Sat Nov 30 2013, 01:50PM
The Ipad worked fine for four months on the network. I'm pretty certain the virus got into the network via the Ipad, though.
I've still not finished erradicating the viruses from everything as I keep getting distracted with other jobs etc., but I'll update as I make progress. I just have lots of wires around the place again
Ash Small, Sat Nov 30 2013, 01:50PM
Wastrel wrote ...
It sounds to me like this is a USB compatibility problem between your wifi dongle and your IPad. .
It sounds to me like this is a USB compatibility problem between your wifi dongle and your IPad. .
The Ipad worked fine for four months on the network. I'm pretty certain the virus got into the network via the Ipad, though.
I've still not finished erradicating the viruses from everything as I keep getting distracted with other jobs etc., but I'll update as I make progress. I just have lots of wires around the place again
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Ash Small, Fri Dec 06 2013, 06:20PM
Well, the 3G dongle stopped working on the PC, and I couldn't re-load the drivers. It seemed like 'another program' was controlling the dongle.
I've replaced the hard drives with some that I wiped, and did a 'zero fill' on, all re-formatted and everything (I still have the old hard drives 'intact').
I've re-installed windows 98, then up-graded to XP service pack 3 (I just couldn't bring myself to spend £80 on Windows 7). (The whole lot went down half way through the 98 install, because 98 only supports 1Gb of RAM. Took me a while to figure that one out
)
I've re-installed the 3G dongle drivers and now have internet connectivity on the PC again.
I've not yet re-installed the 'network drivers' as I want to install some more anti-virus stuff first, in case anything else on the network is still infected, or in case that Ipad re-infects the network next time it's here.
Any suggestions, apart from AVG and Microsoft Security Essentials?
EDIT: Also, it looks like the latest set of 'definitions', or whatever they're called, from security essentials has cleaned the adware that infected the laptop at the same time.
Ash Small, Fri Dec 06 2013, 06:20PM
Well, the 3G dongle stopped working on the PC, and I couldn't re-load the drivers. It seemed like 'another program' was controlling the dongle.
I've replaced the hard drives with some that I wiped, and did a 'zero fill' on, all re-formatted and everything (I still have the old hard drives 'intact').
I've re-installed windows 98, then up-graded to XP service pack 3 (I just couldn't bring myself to spend £80 on Windows 7). (The whole lot went down half way through the 98 install, because 98 only supports 1Gb of RAM. Took me a while to figure that one out
)I've re-installed the 3G dongle drivers and now have internet connectivity on the PC again.
I've not yet re-installed the 'network drivers' as I want to install some more anti-virus stuff first, in case anything else on the network is still infected, or in case that Ipad re-infects the network next time it's here.
Any suggestions, apart from AVG and Microsoft Security Essentials?
EDIT: Also, it looks like the latest set of 'definitions', or whatever they're called, from security essentials has cleaned the adware that infected the laptop at the same time.
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Conundrum, Sun Dec 08 2013, 11:13AM
Contact Apple, maybe its a rogue update?
EDIT:
Also there are known serious flaws in older routers, it seems they failed to include overrun protection on the early implementations of 802-11 N and this caused issues if newer phones and tablet PCs are used.
Conundrum, Sun Dec 08 2013, 11:13AM
Contact Apple, maybe its a rogue update?
EDIT:
Also there are known serious flaws in older routers, it seems they failed to include overrun protection on the early implementations of 802-11 N and this caused issues if newer phones and tablet PCs are used.
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Carbon_Rod, Mon Dec 09 2013, 12:51AM
Try Linux Mint (Ubuntu without the savvy slime) and a kvm virtual machine (define a uuid and nic's mac).
You'd be surprised how rarely you use the virtual machines, as apps like Solidworks are now Windows 7+ only.
XP & 98 are no longer secure, as Worms can reinfect the kernel from the transport layer before the updates complete.
kvm is fun, as you can forward USB devices to help migrate to open drivers, and more importantly the session can be archived since it can run off a disk image file. A dedicated core (usually one on a i7 quad chip) runs XP 32bit stuff just fine for most applications, and the OS/DRM is bound to the VM uuid/nic.
kvm also supports headless direct vnc connections:
EOL is EOL, lets now complain about MSDOS...
Carbon_Rod, Mon Dec 09 2013, 12:51AM
Try Linux Mint (Ubuntu without the savvy slime) and a kvm virtual machine (define a uuid and nic's mac).
You'd be surprised how rarely you use the virtual machines, as apps like Solidworks are now Windows 7+ only.
XP & 98 are no longer secure, as Worms can reinfect the kernel from the transport layer before the updates complete.
kvm is fun, as you can forward USB devices to help migrate to open drivers, and more importantly the session can be archived since it can run off a disk image file. A dedicated core (usually one on a i7 quad chip) runs XP 32bit stuff just fine for most applications, and the OS/DRM is bound to the VM uuid/nic.
kvm also supports headless direct vnc connections:
EOL is EOL, lets now complain about MSDOS...
Re: Apple Ipad virus crashing/disabling my network?
Ash Small, Mon Dec 09 2013, 11:35AM
I'm going to try the network again under XP, but I'm seriously thibking of switching to Linux before August, when support for XP ends.
Either that or Windows 7, but I'll probably give either Zorin or Mint a go first.
Ash Small, Mon Dec 09 2013, 11:35AM
I'm going to try the network again under XP, but I'm seriously thibking of switching to Linux before August, when support for XP ends.
Either that or Windows 7, but I'll probably give either Zorin or Mint a go first.
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