Problem with specific sites

[Guest]

Before I begin, let me first let yo uall know I have Windows ME, running
up-to-date McAfee anti-virus and am part of a home network behind a Netgear
router/firewall.

My problem: There is a site I go to frequently, and this site has several
subdomans (http://subdomain.sitename.com/~username). Anyway, a few weeks ago
I found I could not load any of sites hosted under this site. All the
computers in my home network are affected by this problem.

Things I'm sure of:
1) The site is functioning
2) The problem is only in my home
3) The site has not locked out my IP
4) My ISP has not blocked this site

So I'm looking for a way to get access to this site again. I contacted my
ISP, and they said that the site has not been blocked, so the problem exists
somewhere between my router and the site. Can anyone help?

 

[Sandi - Microsoft MVP]

I note that you have not been very precise about what 'could not load'
actually means. Precise symptoms and error messages are essential to
diagnosis.

In any event, perhaps something here will help:

For advice specific to problems with secure sites, have a look at the first
link - for general advice, have a look at the second:

http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/answers2.htm#secure_sites
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/answers.htm#dns

 

[Guest]

By that I mean that no matter how I direct the browser to the site, by means
of manually putting the URL in the address bar, clicking a link or using a
bookmark, IE only gives me a "Page Cannot Be Found" error page. It's not a
secure site, either.

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

By that I mean that no matter how I direct the browser to the site, by means
of manually putting the URL in the address bar, clicking a link or using a
bookmark, IE only gives me a "Page Cannot Be Found" error page. It's not a
secure site, either.

Most likely explanation is a problem with your DNS, either due to your
ISP's server or due to improper overriding by your HOSTS file.

Unfortunately your OS is devoid of tools for helping you diagnose this.
You don't have nslookup so you can't really check the ISP's DNS.
You could use ping -n 1 or tracert to verify that they at least see
names resolved to addresses but because you have no way of checking
whether the resolution is correct (e.g. perhaps being resolved to a
spyware site which has been closed down) just seeing a IP address
is no proof that you are getting the right one.

Since you have not provided a real example we can't help you with
such checking, e.g. using our nslookup.

The other tool that you don't have which would allow you to simulate
IE's lookup more closely is telnet. However, I believe that you do
have HyperTerminal which might be used as a poor substitute
(e.g. at least be able to tell you if it could find an open port 80
at the address that your lookup is resolving to.)
Any other browser might also give you different symptoms
which would give you more information about your problem.

I think you might probably get better help from a newsgroup
which specializes in networking for your OS.


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
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