Can't connect to one web site

[Charlie Bress]

I have LAN that has two XP systems and a printer.
On one system I cannot access the site of one store. There is no problem
accessing the same site from the other system. Using IE6 on the non
working system there is no response at all when trying to connect. I have
not found any other web site that will not connect using the troublesome
box. I have Zone Alarm running on both boxes.

Any suggestions or clues as to what is causing this?

Charlie

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

I have LAN that has two XP systems and a printer.
On one system I cannot access the site of one store. There is no problem
accessing the same site from the other system. Using IE6 on the non
working system there is no response at all when trying to connect. I have
not found any other web site that will not connect using the troublesome
box. I have Zone Alarm running on both boxes.

Check C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc for a file named HOSTS with no
extension. (Not Hosts.sam)
Make sure Windows is set to show hidden files and folders and is NOT set to
hide extensions for known file types.
If HOSTS exists, rename it to HOSTS.OLD
Reboot an try again.

Or, In a Cmd window, enter
ipconfig /flushdns
then clear your TIF also, and re-boot.

 

[Charlie Bress]

Check C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc for a file named HOSTS with no
extension. (Not Hosts.sam)
Make sure Windows is set to show hidden files and folders and is NOT set
to hide extensions for known file types.
If HOSTS exists, rename it to HOSTS.OLD
Reboot an try again.

Or, In a Cmd window, enter
ipconfig /flushdns
then clear your TIF also, and re-boot.

No joy yet. No HOST files, ran ipconfig /flushdns and got positive response
and deleted Temp Internet Files.
Rebooted
The problem persists


Charlie

 

[Guest]

Also experiencing a similar problem. Just started recently and am no longer
able to connect to my online banking site and a number of other sites. Does
not appear to affect majority of sites I use or browse, but this is really
odd. I get an error msg that indicates my internect connection had trouble or
I am offline, yet the computer isonline and able to immediately connect to
other sites. HAve also tried purging temp files, dropping and reloading my IP
etc. all to no avail.. I also do not have a Host file..

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

No joy yet. No HOST files, ran ipconfig /flushdns and got positive
response and deleted Temp Internet Files.
Rebooted
The problem persists

I have never yet seen a computer with no Hosts file at all. Are you sure
Windows Explorer was set to show hidden files and folders?

 

[Charlie Bress]

I have never yet seen a computer with no Hosts file at all. Are you sure
Windows Explorer was set to show hidden files and folders?

I guess I was asleep at the keyboard. I found Hosts, renamed to Hosts.old,
rebooted and still not accessing this one site.

Charlie

 

[Charlie Bress]

John, I had a neighbor who could no access his bank and a few other sites.
What I discovered was that all the sites he couldn't access had a URL that
started with https instead of plain http. They were all secure sites. This
had happened a few days after he tried to do an upgrade a GPS system and he
was following tee advice of the manufacturer who was guiding him over the
phone. In his case a restore fixed the problem. There were other fixes shown
in the MS knowledge base. If you problem is all secure sites, it would lead
you to rephrase your question. It is not my case.

Charlie

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

I guess I was asleep at the keyboard. I found Hosts, renamed to Hosts.old,
rebooted and still not accessing this one site.

Charlie

I don't know then. Sorry.

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

I guess I was asleep at the keyboard. I found Hosts, renamed to Hosts.old,
rebooted and still not accessing this one site.

Do both box's pings look identical? E.g. just use ping -n 1 <sitename>
and compare them for the lookups they do.

If it looks as if it is a problem with the lookup what you could do is add an entry
to your HOSTS file to override that lookup.

You could also compare performance on the problem machine
using telnet 80 or a different browser.

In fact, that would be best because unless you know for sure that the server
name you start with is the final server name which does the HTML rendering
any such simplistic comparisons might only be proving that the problem occurs
after a redirect. Doing a GET with telnet 80 (or otherwise tracing the HTTP
responses with FiddlerTool or netcap) could at least show you how far
the problem machine does get.

Etc. (It's rather difficult to offer advice when no details are being provided.)


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---

 

[Guest]

I have LAN that has two XP systems and a printer.
On one system I cannot access the site of one store. There is no problem
accessing the same site from the other system. Using IE6 on the non
working system there is no response at all when trying to connect. I have
not found any other web site that will not connect using the troublesome
box. I have Zone Alarm running on both boxes.

Any suggestions or clues as to what is causing this?

Charlie

First make sure the Site cookies not blocked under this option:
Click start >> Control Panel >> Double Click Network and Internet
Connections >> Double click Internet Options, on the IE Properties window
you will see these Options:
General | Security | Privacy | Content | Connections | Programs
| Advanced.
Click Privacy Tab, then click on Sites button and clear any blocked cookies
for that site and you can assign it as Trusted site there.
Reboot your computer and see if you could access it.
If still no joy then Power Down the Modem/Router , computer1 and computer2
for 30 seconds or so hen Power them Up in the same order Router, computers
and try the site.

If still then be sure this entries here exist on your Registry or you can
Add them:
[-] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Widows\CurrentVersion\URL\Prefixes =
[ab] (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
[ab] ftp REG_SZ ftp://
[ab] gopher REG_SZ gopher://
[ab] home REG_SZ http://
[ab] mosaic REG_SZ http://
[ab] www REG_SZ http://

Also I will check the ZoneAlarm settings not blocking that Site.
HTH.
Let us know.
Regards,
nass

 

[Charlie Bress]

I have LAN that has two XP systems and a printer.
On one system I cannot access the site of one store. There is no problem
accessing the same site from the other system. Using IE6 on the non
working system there is no response at all when trying to connect. I have
not found any other web site that will not connect using the troublesome
box. I have Zone Alarm running on both boxes.

Any suggestions or clues as to what is causing this?

Charlie

First make sure the Site cookies not blocked under this option:
Click start >> Control Panel >> Double Click Network and Internet
Connections >> Double click Internet Options, on the IE Properties window
you will see these Options:
General | Security | Privacy | Content | Connections | Programs
| Advanced.
Click Privacy Tab, then click on Sites button and clear any blocked
cookies
for that site and you can assign it as Trusted site there.
Reboot your computer and see if you could access it.
If still no joy then Power Down the Modem/Router , computer1 and computer2
for 30 seconds or so hen Power them Up in the same order Router, computers
and try the site.

If still then be sure this entries here exist on your Registry or you can
Add them:
[-]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Widows\CurrentVersion\URL\Prefixes =
[ab] (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
[ab] ftp REG_SZ ftp://
[ab] gopher REG_SZ gopher://
[ab] home REG_SZ http://
[ab] mosaic REG_SZ http://
[ab] www REG_SZ http://

Also I will check the ZoneAlarm settings not blocking that Site.
HTH.
Let us know.
Regards,
nass

Still not working. I have checked the four items you suggested. The site is
not in the blocked site. The registry key is correct. I have tried with ZA
shut down and even uninstalled. This has been a problem for several days so
everything has been shut down and restarted at least every 24 hours.

Charlie

 

[Charlie Bress]

Do both box's pings look identical? E.g. just use ping -n 1
<sitename>
and compare them for the lookups they do.

If it looks as if it is a problem with the lookup what you could do is add
an entry
to your HOSTS file to override that lookup.

You could also compare performance on the problem machine
using telnet 80 or a different browser.

In fact, that would be best because unless you know for sure that the
server
name you start with is the final server name which does the HTML rendering
any such simplistic comparisons might only be proving that the problem
occurs
after a redirect. Doing a GET with telnet 80 (or otherwise tracing the
HTTP
responses with FiddlerTool or netcap) could at least show you how far
the problem machine does get.

Etc. (It's rather difficult to offer advice when no details are being
provided.)

Both boxes return the same IP when pinging the site.
The inability to connect is also evident with Firefox.
I do not have Telnet, FiddlerTool or netcap.

I am sorry I did not provide more details in my original post, but if I had
been conversant with all the tools that you cited annd had the expertese to
use them I would not have come to this NG for advice.

Still no joy.

Charlie

 

[Charlie Bress]

Do both box's pings look identical? E.g. just use ping -n 1
<sitename>
and compare them for the lookups they do.

If it looks as if it is a problem with the lookup what you could do is add
an entry
to your HOSTS file to override that lookup.

You could also compare performance on the problem machine
using telnet 80 or a different browser.

In fact, that would be best because unless you know for sure that the
server
name you start with is the final server name which does the HTML rendering
any such simplistic comparisons might only be proving that the problem
occurs
after a redirect. Doing a GET with telnet 80 (or otherwise tracing the
HTTP
responses with FiddlerTool or netcap) could at least show you how far
the problem machine does get.

Etc. (It's rather difficult to offer advice when no details are being
provided.)

I found an application called VisualRoute that gives tracking information as
your request propogates through the internet.
This gave me a chance to compare the results on the two machines.
In both cases it seems that the data leaves the appropriate nod on my router
and proceeds to my ISP (Comcast) from there it heads off to the final
destination at 63.73.131.68. Surprising to me is that after a few more hops
the paths diverge. One apparently gets through and the other does not.
That indicates at least that the problem does not exist within OE6 or my
router but somewhere in cyberspace. Why the request from two systems on the
same LAN end up taking different paths to the final destination is beyond
me.
The problem has existed for more than a week so it is not a temporary
perturbation..
Now what do I do?

Charlie

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

....

I found an application called VisualRoute that gives tracking information as
your request propogates through the internet.
This gave me a chance to compare the results on the two machines.
In both cases it seems that the data leaves the appropriate nod on my router
and proceeds to my ISP (Comcast) from there it heads off to the final
destination at 63.73.131.68.

Thank you for finally providing some details. ; )
I previously alluded to the possibility of redirect changing the analysis.
This site evidently will redirect to a different server,
so trying to fix problems accessing the first one may not be
as productive as simply going to the final destination to start with.
Use netstat -anp tcp (in a cmd window) quickly after successfully
connecting on the machine which works to see where it is really going.

Surprising to me is that after a few more hops
the paths diverge. One apparently gets through and the other does not.
That indicates at least that the problem does not exist within OE6 or my
router but somewhere in cyberspace.

Why the request from two systems on the same LAN end up taking
different paths to the final destination is beyond me.

A believable reason for investigating the possibility of spyware
on board one machine but not the other? ; )


Another possible explanation (though perhaps less so with the disclosure
of the variation in routing) would be a difference in MTU size on both machines.
You can try a different ping test for that... ; )

<title>How to change the PPPoE MTU size in Windows XP</title>
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283165/en-us

<title>Browser Connections Appear to Stop Responding When Accessing IIS Over SSL</title>
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/285821/en-us

(MSKB search for
black hole max mtu
)

The problem has existed for more than a week so it is not a temporary
perturbation..
Now what do I do?

Keep refining your symptom diagnosis... ; )


Good luck

Robert
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