IE doesn't work after installing W2K SP4

[Guest]

My dial up connection seems to be working, using the Network and Dial Up
Connections, it dials, and modem seems to connect. The status shows as
connected but no web pages can be browsed. All come up with "The page cannot
be displayed". Using the same phone # for my ISP that was working until SP4
was applied. My ISP account works on other PC's, so it appears SP4 is the
culprit. I've spent days trying various configurations, using the Network
Connection Wizard. I've uninstalled my Norton Security, as someone suggested
those settings could be causing the problem. Nothing works. Any help would
be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

My dial up connection seems to be working, using the Network and Dial Up
Connections, it dials, and modem seems to connect. The status shows as
connected but no web pages can be browsed. All come up with "The page cannot
be displayed". Using the same phone # for my ISP that was working until SP4
was applied. My ISP account works on other PC's, so it appears SP4 is the
culprit. I've spent days trying various configurations, using the Network
Connection Wizard. I've uninstalled my Norton Security, as someone suggested
those settings could be causing the problem. Nothing works. Any help would
be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Have you tried using an IP address instead of a name, e.g.

http://66.249.89.104 (Google)

 

[Walterius]

It might be your ISP. BellSouth, e.g., is quirky.

 

[Guest]

My ISP vendor is MSN. I've had 4 different techs on this issue and they are
pointing me back to SP4 as the cause. None have suggested using a direct IP
address. I even offered to provide that and they said it wasn't the problem.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The process of solving a problem frequently involves trying all
sorts of reasonable and unreasonable things. After a while you're
likely to stumble over something that points you in the right direction.
While I won't argue with your four different technicians, I feel that
you are restricting yourself unnecessarily by refusing to test a fixed
set of IP addresses (which is a 3-minute test). If a fixed set of
addresses makes no difference then nothing is lost. If it fixes the
problem then your three technicians may have to reconsider their
problem solving approach.

 

[Guest]

After spending another 2 hours with a different MSN tech today (includng
testing a static IP address - finally), the conclusion from MSN was that my
IE files are corrupt and that once I reinstalled, all would magically work
again. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling from the IE folder on the C
drive - a weird thing - the Internet Explorer is not available in the
Add/Remove programs. Any ideas? Since I can't access the Internet, I can't
download a clean version.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

While it is possible that IE is the culprit, it is fairly high up on
the "food chain". It is essential that the things that underpin
IE be checked first. Here is what I would do:

1. Try a fixed IP address. Done, problem not solved.
2. Check the other IP settings:
- Start a Command Prompt
- Type this command:
ping 66.249.89.99
The command sends test packets to the Google site. What
response do you get?
3. If you get a reply in Step 2, install FireFox as an alternative
browser. You can download it freely from here:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Note that Internet Explorer is tightly integrated with Windows.
If you have a problem with IE then can be very difficult to fix.
Installing Firefox lets you walk around the problem.