Can't access gmail after a defrag & System Recovery is corrupt

[pd123]

My brother in law defragged his computer and now can go to any sight including Google but when he tries to go to gmail, it says can't access site, site may be busy try again later.
Problem is he not only defragged the C drive but also the D drive but stopped the defrag before the D drive was done. Now besides not being able to go to gmail, he also can't do a system recovery, that also no longer works.
Why can't he no longer access gmail, why can't system recovery no longer work and how to fix both problems.
MORE INFO: We noticed it's not just gmail but any website beginning with https The "S" makes the difference. It is secure sites that have the problem.

[Jeffbx]

Dunno why he's having problems with gmail specifically, but here's what I'd try in order to fix it:

1) Run a chkdsk on all partitions. In Explorer, right click on C:\, choose properties, go to the Tools tab, under Error Checking choose Check Now, check both option boxes & then click start. It'll tell him that it must do the check at the next reboot. Click OK, THEN REPEAT THE STEPS FOR D:\, and then reboot. It'll take about 1/2 hour or so, depending on the size of the disks & how many errors it finds.

2) If THAT doesn't work, have him boot from the Windows CD, start setup, and then choose the 'repair' option. That'll overwrite all of his system files, so he'll probably also then have to re-apply the latest service pack and/or all of the security updates.

Good luck!

[pd123]

Dunno why he's having problems with gmail...
We noticed it's not just gmail but any website beginning with https
The "S" makes the difference.

[mechmike0034]

This is a long shot, but try Dial-a-fix (http://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/Dial-a-fix) before doing the repair install. It may not help, but it won't hurt... Read the directions on the linked page.

[pd123]

Thank you for all the good suggestions. It's fixed. This is how, "System Recovery" was the first attempt to fix it but System Recovery wouldn't work. When we started the computer in Safe Mode, System Recovery worked and everything is good now.