Cannot reach this page

[Terry Pinnell]

I've been unable to reach this page
http://sdc.shockwave.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi
after many attempts over two days. I always get the familiar message:
"The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site
might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to
adjust your browser settings."

I thought at first it was a Firefox problem (my default browser), but
I'm getting it from MSIE6 too.

Others have advised they can get to it OK. So can anyone suggest what
might be causing the problem here, and how I can fix it please?

 

[Richard Urban]

I have a 3 meg broadband connection yet it just took about 45 seconds to
load that web page. Wait a bit and try again.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Gordon]

I have a 3 meg broadband connection yet it just took about 45 seconds
to load that web page. Wait a bit and try again.

Only 4 secs here - on 1 Meg BB!

 

[Richard Urban]

Different backbone = different route taken.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Only 4 secs here - on 1 Meg BB!

Thanks both, but, after seeing 'Connecting to sdc.shockwave.com' in
the status line for a second or two, I get the "Unable to connect"
box. Every time. The only thing to do then is press 'Try Again' or
close the window. I must have tried 50 times since yesterday.

So I'm beginning to suspect something else, and seeking any
suggestions please.

It's a stretch, but could it have anything to do with my LAN? I rarely
look at it, but I just opened the 'Local Area Connection Status'
window and clicked Repair, which gave this message:
Repair Connection
"The following steps of the repair operation failed:
Purging the DNS Resolver cache.
Please contact your network administrator or ISP."

Networks are a black art to me, but I'm now looking for *any* clues!

As for my ISP, that would presumably be BT, as I have BT Broadband?
From previous experience, I wouldn't have thought contacting them
would be of much help, even if I knew just who to contact.

 

[Doug Kanter]

Thanks both, but, after seeing 'Connecting to sdc.shockwave.com' in
the status line for a second or two, I get the "Unable to connect"
box. Every time. The only thing to do then is press 'Try Again' or
close the window. I must have tried 50 times since yesterday.

So I'm beginning to suspect something else, and seeking any
suggestions please.

It's a stretch, but could it have anything to do with my LAN? I rarely
look at it, but I just opened the 'Local Area Connection Status'
window and clicked Repair, which gave this message:
Repair Connection
"The following steps of the repair operation failed:
Purging the DNS Resolver cache.
Please contact your network administrator or ISP."

Networks are a black art to me, but I'm now looking for *any* clues!

As for my ISP, that would presumably be BT, as I have BT Broadband?
From previous experience, I wouldn't have thought contacting them
would be of much help, even if I knew just who to contact.

Are you having trouble getting to any other sites besides that one? And, is
this computer in a corporate setting where some sites may be blocked by
Higher Powers?

 

[Gordon]

Thanks both, but, after seeing 'Connecting to sdc.shockwave.com' in
the status line for a second or two, I get the "Unable to connect"
box. Every time. The only thing to do then is press 'Try Again' or
close the window. I must have tried 50 times since yesterday.

So I'm beginning to suspect something else, and seeking any
suggestions please.

Have you tried running ping and tracert in a command window?

 

[Bob Eyster]

If you have a firewall try disabling it and see if the page loads then? Try
disabling all pop-up blockers if you have one?

If the page loads you will need to adjust your firewall and/or pop-up
blocker.


Bob Eyster

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Are you having trouble getting to any other sites besides that one? And, is
this computer in a corporate setting where some sites may be blocked by
Higher Powers?

Not really no. There have been occasional other sites (apart from
those advertising sites deliberately blocked) but it's rare. This
morning for example I've been browsing for about 3 hours, and have
visited several scores of sites, and that's still the only one eluding
me.

I'm just a solo home user with XP Home, still on SP1 (I had problems
with SP2's installation a year ago and promptly reverted). I have a
wireless router but no 'network' apart from a W98 PC in my
shed/workshop (from where in 2005 I checked my email while dabbling
with my electronics hobby maybe 3 times during the year).

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Have you tried running ping and tracert in a command window?

Thanks, no, I haven't. But I will, once I get a grasp of the correct
syntax for *both* the ping test I apparently need to apply according
to this:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ping.mspx
"You can use ping to test both the computer name and the IP address of
the computer. If pinging the IP address is successful, but pinging the
computer name is not, you might have a name resolution problem. In
this case, ensure that the computer name you are specifying can be
resolved through the local Hosts file, by using Domain Name System
(DNS) queries, or through NetBIOS name resolution techniques."

 

[Terry Pinnell]

If you have a firewall try disabling it and see if the page loads then? Try
disabling all pop-up blockers if you have one?

If the page loads you will need to adjust your firewall and/or pop-up
blocker.

Pleased to report problem solved ;-)

Turned out to be an entry in my so-called Hosts file, preventing
access.

Many thanks for all the help received here.