got a problem on my son's PC.
He is running ie5.5 & Win98. Everytime he connects to the net (using several different ISP and accounts) he gets the "unable to find the page" screen.

Any ideas on the reasons why or settings that may need adjusting?

Wouldn't mind betting that if you got to Tools, Options, Connections, in IE5.5, you'll find the "Never Dial a Connection" box ticked. If so, the ISP you use would not matter, because IE won't go looking for one. Change it to "Dial my Default Connection" and make sure that the default connection exists in the box above.

Good luck
TA

Also check the home page address is correct and that the page is current and running.

If you are using multiple ISP's (as I am), you certainly do want "Never dial a connection" ticked!

It sounds as though one of your IE files may have become corrupted.

You could try going to Start; Settings; Control Panel; Add/Remove Programs; Install/Uninstall; and highlight "IE 5.5 and Internet Tools".

Click on Add/Remove, and you will get an option to "Repair".

Select this option and see if it improves the situation. It certainly will not do any harm! <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[ 26 December 2001: Message edited by: WhiteSail ]</p>

Let's assume he is connected, otherwise the above in checking what connection, if at all IE will use becomes a factor.

If connected and getting this, then try an IP address in the browser. If you get a site up that way, but not thru it's domain name, then you likely have a DNS resolution issue with the service you are on, or your DNS settings are not correct, (you may be specifying a set, where in most cases the selection of "assigned by server" will suffice.)

Anytime you are connected and not getting pages, I advise to try the IP checking, can save time in issue determination ...

and the latter of the above is also true, it could be the browser being corrupt. But we need to hear more info on the conditions at the time (connected, not connected, etc.)

Surely home page problem? Try changing your default home page in Internet Explorer properties.

Firstly, determine that you have a good connection to your ISP, by going to Start-Run, then typing 'winipcfg' and hit Enter. You should have a bunch of numbers in the IP Address section. If they are all zero's, then your problem is with the dial-up.

Next we need to check that you have a good connection past your ISP. Go to Start-Run, but this time type 'command' and hit Enter. Within the black window type 'ping 192.148.252.54' and hit Enter. This will "ping" a DNS server to check for a good internet connection. If this returns a 'Request Timeout' or 'Destination Host Unreachable', then your ISP is having problems with their connection to the internet which should be temporary. If it returns the ping correctly, then your connection to the internet is good.

This then means that it is your browser at fault or your destination website is unavailable. Try running the connection wizard for the browser again, or confirm that it is the browser at fault by installing another browser such as Netscape. If Netscape also has problems, then the chances are that the destination site is unavailable at that time.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice.
It's certainly not a homepage problem - all of the links produce the same result! It's not an ISP problem as the accounts work fine on my other PC. I think it is a browser fault.

In that case, a quick cure would be to try Opera.. only catch is that you will have to have a successful internet connection to download and install the browser (www.opera.com). You can sometimes find it on the free CD supplied by those Internet magazines. Its only a small file, non invasive and easily removeable if it does not do the trick. Hope this helps.

Timmcat I think you've just described "catch 22" perfectly. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">