My 95 year old neighbor's PC no longer connects to the internet. If I
put in safe mode, it will. His ISP is Comcast. He bought a refurb from
Clearing (Subject) in 2007. When it comes up normally, and I try IE, it
hangs while showing Connecting. It is possible to execute, slowly, some
simple programs while connecting. IE shows something like
www.xfinitity/... and something about an error. Maybe in the registry.

I asked him to search for the CD/DVD he got with it. Maybe a new install
will break through. Comments?

On 09 May 2011, "W. eWatson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

> IE shows something like www.xfinitity/... and something about an
> error. Maybe in the registry.

This is important information. It's not even worth guessing without
knowing the exact, specific message.

On Mon, 09 May 2011 19:08:42 -0700, "W. eWatson"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>My 95 year old neighbor's PC no longer connects to the internet. If I
>put in safe mode, it will. His ISP is Comcast. He bought a refurb from
>Clearing (Subject) in 2007.

So it's been working for almost 4 years.

> When it comes up normally, and I try IE, it
>hangs while showing Connecting. It is possible to execute, slowly, some
>simple programs while connecting.

I'm not sure what you mean. You want to do this, or you think it's
doing it?

> IE shows something like
>www.xfinitity/... and something about an error. Maybe in the registry.

Details of all of this are essential. Is the first one just
advertising?

>I asked him to search for the CD/DVD he got with it. Maybe a new install
>will break through. Comments?

I woudln't do a new install so soon. Does he have a list of all his
programs? To install them again. And I'm pretty sure he wants his
old email, and his email addresses and any phone numbers he has in
there and snail mail addresses, and anything else he's written during
the past 3+ years.

W. eWatson wrote:
> My 95 year old neighbor's PC no longer connects to the internet. If I
> put in safe mode, it will. His ISP is Comcast. He bought a refurb from
> Clearing (Subject) in 2007. When it comes up normally, and I try IE, it
> hangs while showing Connecting. It is possible to execute, slowly, some
> simple programs while connecting. IE shows something like
> www.xfinitity/... and something about an error. Maybe in the registry.
>
> I asked him to search for the CD/DVD he got with it. Maybe a new install
> will break through. Comments?

Xfinity is some hollow Comcast branding. It suggests the error message,
is coming from a home page setting or the like. A home page set up by some
Comcast software. And a visit to xfinity.com will show Comcast at work.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...914808,00.html

Find a web page about "WinXP network troubleshooting" and start there. The home
page in the browser isn't appearing, either because there is no physical
network connection (something is in the way), or just DNS is broken, and
Windows cannot at the moment consult a DNS server and convert "www.xfinity.com"
to 142.231.1.167 .

You can open a command prompt (MSDOS) window on your current working PC,
and type

nslookup www.xfinity.com

and get that kind of information. Then

ping 142.231.1.167

to verify a basic network connection is there. It appears 142.231.1.167
supports ICMP ping, so I can reach the web site right now. It returns a
response in about 70 milliseconds.

I can also do a TraceRoute to the server in the MSDOS window.

tracert 142.231.1.167

and from my position on the network, the TraceRoute shows a total of
13 network nodes (routers or the like), between my home computer and
the xfinity.com server. The final answering server has "akamaitechnologies.com"
in the name, which means Comcast is using Akamai servers to ensure a
good web experience in reaching their (rebranding) web site.

Paul

On Tue, 10 May 2011 04:13:13 -0400, Paul <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>W. eWatson wrote:
>> My 95 year old neighbor's PC no longer connects to the internet. If I
>> put in safe mode, it will. His ISP is Comcast. He bought a refurb from
>> Clearing (Subject) in 2007. When it comes up normally, and I try IE, it
>> hangs while showing Connecting. It is possible to execute, slowly, some
>> simple programs while connecting. IE shows something like
>> www.xfinitity/... and something about an error. Maybe in the registry.
>>
>> I asked him to search for the CD/DVD he got with it. Maybe a new install
>> will break through. Comments?
>
>Xfinity is some hollow Comcast branding. It suggests the error message,
>is coming from a home page setting or the like. A home page set up by some
>Comcast software. And a visit to xfinity.com will show Comcast at work.
>
>http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...914808,00.html
>
>Find a web page about "WinXP network troubleshooting" and start there. The home
>page in the browser isn't appearing, either because there is no physical
>network connection (something is in the way), or just DNS is broken, and
>Windows cannot at the moment consult a DNS server and convert "www.xfinity.com"
>to 142.231.1.167 .
>
>You can open a command prompt (MSDOS) window on your current working PC,
>and type
>
> nslookup www.xfinity.com

Wow. Such great information. Thanks, Paul.

I don't use Comcast, which shouldnt' matter with nslookup, and I got:

D:\nslookup www.xfinity.com
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.0.1: Non-existent
domain
*** Default servers are not available
Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.0.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.xfinity.com.westell.com
Addresses: 8.15.7.117, 63.251.179.13

>and get that kind of information. Then
>
> ping 142.231.1.167

This went fine.
>
>to verify a basic network connection is there. It appears 142.231.1.167
>supports ICMP ping, so I can reach the web site right now. It returns a
>response in about 70 milliseconds.
>
>I can also do a TraceRoute to the server in the MSDOS window.
>
> tracert 142.231.1.167

And this went fine too. 15 nodes, ending with the one yours ended
with.

I've "kept" this post and I'll try to remember it too.

>and from my position on the network, the TraceRoute shows a total of
>13 network nodes (routers or the like), between my home computer and
>the xfinity.com server. The final answering server has "akamaitechnologies.com"
>in the name, which means Comcast is using Akamai servers to ensure a
>good web experience in reaching their (rebranding) web site.
>
> Paul

mm wrote:

>
> I don't use Comcast, which shouldnt' matter with nslookup, and I got:
>
> D:\nslookup www.xfinity.com
> *** Can't find server name for address 192.168.0.1: Non-existent
> domain
> *** Default servers are not available
> Server: UnKnown
> Address: 192.168.0.1
>
> Non-authoritative answer:
> Name: www.xfinity.com.westell.com
> Addresses: 8.15.7.117, 63.251.179.13
>

DNS doesn't have to give the same answer for each end user.

There is some mechanism to make the answer geographically
sensitive, but I don't know the mechanics of how that works.
I don't think it is solely implemented by the web sites
themselves. And I don't know the right technical term,
to do research on it.

Paul

On Tue, 10 May 2011 06:12:43 -0400, Paul <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>mm wrote:
>
>>
>> I don't use Comcast, which shouldnt' matter with nslookup, and I got:
>>
>> D:\nslookup www.xfinity.com
>> *** Can't find server name for address 192.168.0.1: Non-existent
>> domain
>> *** Default servers are not available
>> Server: UnKnown
>> Address: 192.168.0.1
>>
>> Non-authoritative answer:
>> Name: www.xfinity.com.westell.com
>> Addresses: 8.15.7.117, 63.251.179.13
>>
>
>DNS doesn't have to give the same answer for each end user.
>
>There is some mechanism to make the answer geographically
>sensitive, but I don't know the mechanics of how that works.
>I don't think it is solely implemented by the web sites
>themselves. And I don't know the right technical term,
>to do research on it.

Very interesting nonetheless.

BTW I forgot to say, wrt to the URL, that I didnt' know Valujet became
Airtran. Thanks for letting me know. My brother and his family moved
to Florida, and I've already taken Airtran once. I htink it's the
most frequent and cheapest plane from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale,
and I'm ready to die anyhow.

> Paul

On 5/9/2011 9:08 PM, W. eWatson wrote:
> My 95 year old neighbor's PC no longer connects to the internet. If I
> put in safe mode, it will. His ISP is Comcast. He bought a refurb from
> Clearing (Subject) in 2007. When it comes up normally, and I try IE, it
> hangs while showing Connecting. It is possible to execute, slowly, some
> simple programs while connecting. IE shows something like
> www.xfinitity/... and something about an error. Maybe in the registry.
>
> I asked him to search for the CD/DVD he got with it. Maybe a new install
> will break through. Comments?

Try changing the home page in IE and see if it loads or download a
different browser such as firefox to a USB thumbdrive from another
machine and install it on your neighbor's PC and see if it will work.

On 5/9/2011 7:33 PM, Nil wrote:
> On 09 May 2011, "W. eWatson"<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:
>
>> IE shows something like www.xfinitity/... and something about an
>> error. Maybe in the registry.
>
> This is important information. It's not even worth guessing without
> knowing the exact, specific message.
I'll see what I can do this morning. It may not be possible to get it
though. I tried using the arrow keys to see the whole thing one time,
and couldn't.

On 5/9/2011 7:43 PM, mm wrote:
> On Mon, 09 May 2011 19:08:42 -0700, "W. eWatson"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> My 95 year old neighbor's PC no longer connects to the internet. If I
>> put in safe mode, it will. His ISP is Comcast. He bought a refurb from
>> Clearing (Subject) in 2007.
>
> So it's been working for almost 4 years.
>
>> When it comes up normally, and I try IE, it
>> hangs while showing Connecting. It is possible to execute, slowly, some
>> simple programs while connecting.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean. You want to do this, or you think it's
> doing it?
While IE is running, simple programs run slowly. When it's down, they
seem to run reasonably fast. One program, Norton, is a bit weird. If I
bring it up to do a scan, there is no window frame around it. It's just
a rectangle with the right side cut off. That is, for example, the
header is truncated.
>
>> IE shows something like
>> www.xfinitity/... and something about an error. Maybe in the registry.
>
> Details of all of this are essential. Is the first one just
> advertising?
It's a message in the title header or URL area of IE, and it is not
advertising.
>
>> I asked him to search for the CD/DVD he got with it. Maybe a new install
>> will break through. Comments?
>
> I woudln't do a new install so soon. Does he have a list of all his
> programs? To install them again. And I'm pretty sure he wants his
> old email, and his email addresses and any phone numbers he has in
> there and snail mail addresses, and anything else he's written during
> the past 3+ years.
He and others that help him run exactly two programs, IE, and e-mail. I
think the e-mail program is provided by Clearing. It is not an MS or
Mozilla program. I doubt there's anything of use in his e-mail.