Can't ping msn.com

G

Guest

I posted this earlier thinking it was an internet explorer problem. I searched further.

This is a small network of 12 computers behind a cable modem router. It has a mix of XPPro, 2000Pro, and 98 machines.

Some users could not open the www.msn.com website, where previously they could. Others can open the website.
I did some more testing. Only www.msn.com and www.msnbc.com are affected. Users have reported no problems with any othere websites.

Network login name doesn't matter. If I log into a computer that can't connect with a user name that can, computer cannot connect.

I tried pinging www.msn.com. I get message "Unknown host www.msn.com".

on a computer that can connect, I get MSN's IP number and a time out on the ping (as expected)

www.msn.com IP number is 207.68.171.247. These computers that cannot ping msn can ping www.hotmail.com which has an IP number of 207.68.173.245.

This smells of a hijack or a virus, more and more. Anyone have any insights.

Buy the way, the local network is a Win 2000 domain, which has not recently changed or caused problems.
 
P

purplehaz

Try pinging by ip address. Also try accessing msn.com by ip address in
internet explorer. If you can ping and connect by ip address, but not by dns
name, then this points to a registry problem with dns. When ever I have
found this problem it was always easier to format and start over rather than
try to fix it.
 
J

Jim Macklin

Many sites will not reply to a ping, msn included. Yahoo
does.

use tracert, it will show the path to msn and that is where
it stops.

Ping requests are often used to stage DDos attacks.



| Try pinging by ip address. Also try accessing msn.com by
ip address in
| internet explorer. If you can ping and connect by ip
address, but not by dns
| name, then this points to a registry problem with dns.
When ever I have
| found this problem it was always easier to format and
start over rather than
| try to fix it.
|
| Andy wrote:
| > I posted this earlier thinking it was an internet
explorer problem.
| > I searched further.
| >
| > This is a small network of 12 computers behind a cable
modem router.
| > It has a mix of XPPro, 2000Pro, and 98 machines.
| >
| > Some users could not open the www.msn.com website, where
previously
| > they could. Others can open the website.
| > I did some more testing. Only www.msn.com and
www.msnbc.com are
| > affected. Users have reported no problems with any
othere websites.
| >
| > Network login name doesn't matter. If I log into a
computer that
| > can't connect with a user name that can, computer cannot
connect.
| >
| > I tried pinging www.msn.com. I get message "Unknown
host
| > www.msn.com".
| >
| > on a computer that can connect, I get MSN's IP number
and a time out
| > on the ping (as expected)
| >
| > www.msn.com IP number is 207.68.171.247. These
computers that cannot
| > ping msn can ping www.hotmail.com which has an IP number
of
| > 207.68.173.245.
| >
| > This smells of a hijack or a virus, more and more.
Anyone have any
| > insights.
| >
| > Buy the way, the local network is a Win 2000 domain,
which has not
| > recently changed or caused problems.
|
|
 
P

purplehaz

True the ping may timeout, but that is why you try it by ip address in
internet explorer. If ip works in IE then they have a dns issue in the
registry.
 
P

purplehaz

Possible spyware/hijacker, possible corrupt java.
Any popup blockers?
Hmmmm......... gotta think about this one more.
 
A

Andy

I understand that many sites will not respond to a ping.

The difference is that on some computers the ping times
out and on the errant ones the ping command after a time
returns the message "Unknown host www.msn.com". From the
errant computers a ping to msn.com IP will time out as
expected. The errant computers can ping other websites by
both IP and name.

Ping is done from a dos box.

Does anyone know how pinging from a dos box will be
affected by the computer's registry settings? How is the
ping command routed out of the computer? Where does the
message "Unknown host www.msn.com" originate from, locally
or at the name server being queried?

Andy
 

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