Comcast, SweepStakes Clearing House and a Dying XP PC

[W. eWatson]

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?

 

[Nil]

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.

 

[mm]

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.

 

[Paul]

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/packages/article/0,28804,1914815_1914808,00.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

 

[mm]

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/packages/article/0,28804,1914815_1914808,00.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.

 

[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

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

 

[mm]

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.

 

[NDB]

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.

 

[W. eWatson]

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.

 

[W. eWatson]

So it's been working for almost 4 years.


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.

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 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.

 

[W. eWatson]

IF this recently happened, the simplest fix might be to use System Restore
to roll back, assuming he's got an older good restore point to do so. If
this happened quite awhile ago (like weeks ago), that's probably not an
option now, though.

It's worth a try.

 

[W. eWatson]

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/packages/article/0,28804,1914815_1914808,00.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

I'll take a look. Unfortunately, I'm leaving town for a week in about
six hours. However, the use of the computer is infrequent. Maybe twice a
week.

I would think the fact the PC can connect to the network successfully,
and I can run IE means the network connection is fine.

 

[W. eWatson]

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?

Thanks for the input to all. I'm leaving on 7 day trip, and will deal
with this matter when I get back.

www.xfinity,comcast,net./?cid=xstart_tech_main -- Windows Explorer.

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the input to all. I'm leaving on 7 day trip, and will deal
with this matter when I get back.

www.xfinity,comcast,net./?cid=xstart_tech_main -- Windows Explorer.

When you get back, check the syntax again. I found this worked...

http://xfinity.comcast.net/?cid=xstart_tech_main

The commas should be periods. The period after net should be removed. And
then it starts to work.

That string is likely stored in the "home page" entry of the browser
preferences. Look in there, and see if the URL syntax is valid or not.

Paul

 

[W. eWatson]

When you get back, check the syntax again. I found this worked...

http://xfinity.comcast.net/?cid=xstart_tech_main

The commas should be periods. The period after net should be removed. And
then it starts to work.

That string is likely stored in the "home page" entry of the browser
preferences. Look in there, and see if the URL syntax is valid or not.

Paul

Commas are typos. I brought home his PC yesterday. I will play with it
here today.

 

[W. eWatson]

I ran a virus scan, but found nothing.

Next I'll try to install FF, then a system restore to an earlier point.

 

[Tester]

Don't waste your time doing any of it. Your best chance is to reformat
the HD and start all over again. You have struggled with this problem
since 10th May and so it is good idea to forget everything you have read
here and start again afresh!.

Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[W. eWatson]

Don't waste your time doing any of it. Your best chance is to reformat
the HD and start all over again. You have struggled with this problem
since 10th May and so it is good idea to forget everything you have read
here and start again afresh!.

Hope this helps and good luck.

What you say isn't quite true. I was gone for 10 days. I'm now back.
Secondly, my neighbor cannot find the original install material.

If I can't get this to work today, then I think we will be looking for a
cheap PC with XP installed.

 

[W. eWatson]

FF works. Back later. 640x480 screen. stuck with it. Pretty slow. bye.

 

[Paul]

FF works. Back later. 640x480 screen. stuck with it. Pretty slow. bye.

Probably needs a video card driver, to escape 640x480. Or at least
check the Display control panel, to see if other resolution options
are present.

Paul