Have internet connection, yet browsers won't connect

[joyojoy]

I was happily working and browsing away in my 64-bit Vista system yesterday when all of a sudden I started getting "web site cannot be found" messages in my Firefox window. IE wasn't working either. I checked my network connection and it said I had a strong connection. I checked on my daughter's laptop, which is connected via the wireless, and she had no problems with her internet connection. I checked my MagicJack phone (which operates via the internet), and it was working fine. I did a send/receive on my email, and it wasn't connecting. So, all of the internet connections were working except my browsers and my email.

I called my brother, and we did all he could think of:

• restarted the system
• turned of system and rebooted both modem & router
• went into command prompt and tried dns flush, renew and all that stuff.

Nothing worked.

I called Comcast tech support, and they ran me through their routine, but nothing worked there, so they basically declared that it was my problem, not theres, told me to take the computer to the Geek Squad where I bought it. It was too late at night to do that, and I was really not willing to take "no solution here" for an answer. Plus I was starting to go into an internet withdrawal anxiety attack (MUST... HAVE... INTERNET!!!!!!). So I took a few breaths, and figured it wouldn't hurt to try a system restore, since I hadn't done any dramatic additions to my system in the past week. I reset it back two days and, Voila! That did the trick!... for about 10 minutes, and then it happened again. So I did another restore, taking it back four days, and it's been working since.

But... My brother is still concerned that there may still be some bad juju lurking in my system. (Norton scan found no problems). Any idea what could have caused this? Have there been rumors of any Windows updates that have been causing problems like this?

As always, I appreciate your expert insights and advice...

(BTW, I'm STILL getting duplicate emails in that one stupid account...)

 

[fitz]

without really knowing the cause of the issue, it's hard to say.

While you were going through forced withdrawal, were you able to ping the router or the other machines on the network? when you say "I checked my network connection", was that in windows? Did you confirm that you had a link light (assuming it was a wired connection). There are some other things you can try to troubleshoot during an outage like that before going down the system restore.

'Tis a bit odd, but, again, without a "broken" system, it's hard to determine what went wrong to begin with.

 

[joyojoy]

Yes, one of the things the Comcast techie had me do was a ping, and it was successful, which made it all the more frustrating: I obviously had a connection from my computer, I just couldn't access it with browsers or email. Even my MagicJack phone device could access it.

 

[assclown]

Sounds like something is making it so you cannot resolve with the DNS server. I had the same issue with Comcast, but it was something they were able to fix through a cable modem reset from their end and i think i may have had to re-register my PC with the comcast server to get service. You obviously can restore and re-gain service, so it is probably not the comast server. You using any sort of cable modem booster software?

 

[zeke_mo]

Have you tried updating your network card drivers? Could be something foobar in there

 

[mlakrid]

Have you tried updating your network card drivers? Could be something foobar in there

I would agree with you Zeke except her TCP/IP stack is working if she can ping something and geta correct return...

As was said previously...

Try resolving any DNS name you know that is near you...

Any local store which has a website near you will work...

Goto your command prompt:

Start/Run:
Type: Cmd (presss enter)
then try a NS lookup of that website, the close the better...

Type: Nslookup (entermywebstiename.com) (press enter)

it should look something like this if it resolves correctly:
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: yahoo.com
Addresses: 206.190.60.37, 68.180.206.184

I do not know much about that browser, but if this works I would say it is something messed up with the browser and NOT your DNS...

Mike A!

 

[Unleashed]

Firewall blocking your browser? I had this with a client the other day, turned out their McAfee PF had decided IE was evil and blocked its connections to the network.

 

[mlakrid]

Firewall blocking your browser? I had this with a client the other day, turned out their McAfee PF had decided IE was evil and blocked its connections to the network.

If a firewall is blocking the standard ports for HTTP please let me know if it was out of the box, or a user configured... if the first portion, even if it was mcafee, then toss it out...

NO firewall should ever do that... they are "supposed" to know better...

Mike A!

 

[Unleashed]

You would have thought so. I don't know how it came about, but I was called out, arrived and that's how it was. The computer had been fine for the longest time then all of a sardine it decided throw caution to the wind and pounce on IE!

 

[Johnny]

Uninstall it and reinstall it, then try it out. If not see if you can connect with Ie ...

 

[zeke_mo]

try using 4.2.2.3 and 4.2.2.4 as DNS servers, I believe they are verizon and have always worked well for me

 

[tdinc]

or use openDNS and see if that works 🙂
http://www.opendns.com/

 

[trukkmann]

Almost sounds like another computer on your LAN is taking your IP address, but usually you get a notification if that happens ("Connection has Limited or No Connectivity"). I would set a static IP, and set the Gateway to the IP of your router. Is this wired or wireless?

 

[Shamus MacNoob]

http://www.xp-smoker.com/freeware.html

Go here download and run the tcpip fix from this site ... it sure cannot hurt to try

 

[Mainframeguy]

and let us know what worked - it's always good to have the happy ending to the thread (and it makes them a whole lot more useful to browsers of the site 😉 )

 

[joyojoy]

Thnks for all the great tips. You guys are the best.

So far, so good. My system has been behaving relatively well. I'm a little concerned about my virus protection, though. I'm using Norton, and several times in the reports, it has told me it found all sorts of Trojan horses and viruses that it couldn't/didn't fix. Which makes me wonder A) WTF? Why do I have this software if it's not fixing these things?; and B) Could that be the cause of my problems?

For example, I just checked my security history, and found a risk called Trojan.Brisv.A!inf with a High risk level. I told the program to remove it, and it tells me that this security risk cannot be removed. So what do I do? I'm almost due to renew this program (I'm getting the pexky messages every morning), so is there a better program out there I should consider getting instead?

 

[mlakrid]

Yep thats your problem...

See Symantecs website about the trojan:

http://www.symantec.com/en/ph/enter...writeup.jsp?docid=2008-071823-3029-99&tabid=1

and the removal link:

http://www.symantec.com/en/ph/enter...writeup.jsp?docid=2008-071823-3029-99&tabid=3

Pay special attention to this portion:
Important: If you are unable to start your Symantec antivirus product or the product reports that it cannot delete a detected file, you may need to stop the risk from running in order to remove it. To do this, run the scan in Safe mode. For instructions, read the document, How to start the computer in Safe Mode. Once you have restarted in Safe mode, run the scan again.


Cheers...

Mike A!

 

[Johnny]

yeah, norton is the reason, as mlakrid said. The best thing to do is get rid of it. As for antiviruses go I always suggest the free ones -> AVG or Avast! , they are both really good ..

 

[trukkmann]

Trend Housecall is a good, free online scanner that I use if AVG/Avira dont get rid of the problems.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

 

[joyojoy]

Trend Housecall is a good, free online scanner that I use if AVG/Avira dont get rid of the problems.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

My brother recommended Trend Micro, too. I think I'll order that. I'm so ticked at Slime-antek, I can't wait to get Norton off my computer.