Certain websites can't be accessed (Really strange problem)

[skystreaker99]

Whenever I try to go to either myspace.com or youtube.com (these are the only ones I know of thus far), it's as if the browser just won't do it. It spends maybe 4 minutes on the blue loading bar at the bottom, and then will just turn up with "Page cannot be displayed".

I don't (to my knowledge) have any programs that block certain websites, and I honestly can't think of anything that has changed prior to being able to access these.

I've researched the issue, and I've only found one other similiar case, where the person realised the problem was something to do with PeerGuardian. However, I don't even have PeerGuardian, so I really have no clue.

I'm generally computer-savvy, and can manage to fix a problem myself, yet this is the first time where I really am at a dead end...

Help would be greatly appreciated!

(I use IE, Windows ME)

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Results of ping and traceroute? Proxy settings? Transparent proxies in use? ISP?

[skystreaker99]

o_O

I wish I knew what those things are.

Would you mind explaining how I can find out those things you asked for?

Thanks!

[Gertrude the Wombat]

o_O

I wish I knew what those things are.

Would you mind explaining how I can find out those things you asked for?

Thanks!
If you're trying to get to http://www.xyz.com

(1) Type

ping www.xyz.com

on the command line. What do you get?

(2) Type

tracert www.xyz.com

on the command line. What do you get?

(3) Any explicit proxy configuration will be somewhere in your Internet settings. Is there any?

(4) Transparent proxy settings are not obvious from your own machine, you have to know how your ISP works ...

(5) ... which is why I was asking who the ISP is? 'Cos if it's NTL then broken transparent proxies are a favourite cause of the sort of thing you report.

[skystreaker99]

If you're trying to get to http://www.xyz.com

(1) Type

ping www.xyz.com (http://www.xyz.com)

on the command line. What do you get?

(2) Type

tracert www.xyz.com (http://www.xyz.com)

on the command line. What do you get?

(3) Any explicit proxy configuration will be somewhere in your Internet settings. Is there any?

(4) Transparent proxy settings are not obvious from your own machine, you have to know how your ISP works ...

(5) ... which is why I was asking who the ISP is? 'Cos if it's NTL then broken transparent proxies are a favourite cause of the sort of thing you report.

Thanks for the help so far!

(1)
I managed this, and it said "Request timed out" 4 times, followed later by
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% Loss),
etc.

(2)
I did this one and got:
Tracing route to www.myspace.com (http://www.myspace.com/) [***.***.**.**] over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 2911 ms 1565 ms 124 ms chrax6.optusnet.com.au [***.**.***.***]
2 123 ms 124 ms 123 ms rdl4-ge1-1.gw.optusnet.com.au [***.***.***.***]
3 138 ms 137 ms 137 ms mas1-ge4-3.gw.optusnet.com.au [***.***.***.***]
4 137 ms 124 ms 137 ms mas3-ge1.gw.optusnet.com.au [***.**.***.***]
5 288 ms 275 ms 274 ms ***.***.***.*
6 384 ms 302 ms 467 ms ***.***.***.***
7 288 ms 289 ms 274 ms **.**.***.**
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
(last two lines are repeated up until finish at 30)

(I also edited out any IP addresses, since I'm unsure if it was safe to include them.)

(3)
Not to my knowledge!

(5)
My internet service provider is optusnet.

Just to clarify, I'm the only one who uses this computer, and I can't access www.imageshack.us (http://www.imageshack.us/) either.

I hope you can help! (Sorry if this has posted multiple times, I've tried and this reply doesn't seem to show up)

[rickity]

To check if its your ISp or not, try using a proxy server. to do that in IE select tools and internet options - connections lan settings (hmm just realised I have assumed you connect to a router or modem via ethernet I'll continue just in case you do) tick the box use proxy settings , type in the address box 165.228.129.10 and in the port box 3128 ok your way out close and reopen IE and try the web site. If it works more than likely an ISP problem, if it still doesnt work it points to set up somewhere on your computer.

Doing a google on proxy server returns lots of info on the whys and wherefores, take care as its not a particulary secure operation.

Rickity

[Gertrude the Wombat]

(1)
I managed this, and it said "Request timed out" 4 times, followed later by
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% Loss),
etc.

(2)
I did this one and got:
Tracing route to www.myspace.com (http://www.myspace.com/) [***.***.**.**] over a maximum of 30 hops:

8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
(last two lines are repeated up until finish at 30)
It's a routing problem, or just possibly a DNS problem, and it's to do with your ISP, or some other ISP en route to the server(s) you're trying to contact.

There's probably not a lot you can do other than wait for them to fix it.

[skystreaker99]

Thanks very much for the help.

I came on today and the problem was fixed, so it was something to do with the ISP.

Once again, thanks heaps.

[renfrew]

I seem to be having a similar? problem.I can get into pprune ok but not into yahoo or hotmail.I am with orange.
Is anyone else experiencing this?
I am no computer expert and have not seen this before.
Thanks.

[G-CPTN]

Yes, I too have suddenly experienced exclusion from a regularly-visited website (and, indeed the whole family of URLs constituting the 'parentage' of that website). AFAIK I've not downloaded or installed any changes that might affect my Firewall(s). I'm with Virgin Net Broadband and operate through a Netgear DG834G Wireless Router (with whatever inbuilt security that entails) as well as Windows XP Home (Firewall enabled) and AVG 7.5 (paid for). I've tried with the AVG Firewall disabled (but not the XP one yet), but I cannot see how/why any of these firewalls would exclude a specific domain. I'm liberal and without children, so I don't have any nanny-software installed. AFAICT all other domains are available to me. I generally use Firefox, but I've tried Mozilla and Internet Destroyer (!) with identical results, viz:-
"The connection was reset

The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.
* The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.
* If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection.
* If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web."


I've tried pinging and do get a response (though it disappears very quickly and all I get to see is bytes=32, time=345ms, TTL=49 then the DOS frame disappears after three tries.

Others that visit the 'suspect' website report no problems, and these other punters are located across the World (including the UK).

I'm totally at a loss as to what might be preventing me accessing this site (and, No, it's not porn!).

[Saab Dastard]

Just a suspicion on my part, but I wonder if some ISPs are reacting to the present torrent of spam email by blocking traffic from entire domains, or blocks of ipaddresses. The fact that ping is allowed doesn't mean that http of smtp traffic is.

I have no evidence that this is the case, other than the increased number of odd "I can't access this site" threads.

SD

[renfrew]

I am still out of action,PPrune is about the only site I can access.
An engineer has spent hours ,even reinstalling and cannot find anything wrong.His laptop works fine when connected to my line.
It appears my only choice is to junk the pc and buy a new one.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Ken.

[Keef]

If it's your PC, and any other machine connected to your broadband is OK, then that narrows it down a lot.


Have you got a proper virus scanner running (eg AVG Free 7.5)? If not...


Have you got anything in your hosts file other than the basics?

Go to C: \Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc and open the file called Hosts in your preferred editor.

If it contains more than a load of lines prefaced with # and a line that says
127.0.0.1 localhost

then remove the extra lines, save the file, and reboot your machine before trying again.


If the engineer could get a proper connection with his machine, and not with yours - what was he doing? Whose engineer was he?

[Arioch]

It is quite possible that the Winsock LSPs are damaged. When such a bit of code is removed/damaged/changed, the Winsock LSP stack must be repaired.

For Windows XP, Service Pack 2, do this, at a command prompt:

Firstly:
netsh diag gui

a window from the help and support system will pop-up select the 'scan system' option and then examine the results.
If it looks like things are broken in the LSP stack then:-


netsh winsock reset
enter

and then restart machine.

Hope this helps! I'll think some more when I'm more awake :)

MS

[renfrew]

I had been out of action for over a week and by this time my engineer had 3 other customers with exactly the same problem.Orange were no help.
Engineer eventually found someone in Orangeproblems site suggesting use Tweakmaster and this cured problem.
Ken.