I cannot browse websites with IE6 or FireFox after sometime

  • Thread starter Thread starter bostonguy
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bostonguy

My Dell pc (XP SP1) keeps "loosing its connection" to the Internet.
When I reboot my pc, I can once again browse websites, but only for a
while. It doesn't matter whether I am using IE6 or FireFox1.5.

Here are some more facts.

1. I can still ping external websites when this happens (e.g.,
yahoo.com)
2. My Outlook client can no longer connect to the yahoo POP or SMTP
servers
3. My IM client can no longer connect to its server (but if I have an
IM client already running, I can continue to send and receive instanct
messages)
4. I experience the problem even when my pc is directly connected to my
cable modem (I eliminated the router from the equation)
5. The problem does NOT happen when my laptop is connected directly to
my modem (which suggests to me that the problem is NOT the modem)
6. Dell tech support tells me to try repairing windows or reinstalling
XP. Seems kind of drastic to me and extremely time consuming.
7. My ISP (Comcast) says they can ping my modem and that "everything
looks OK on their end"
8. Anyone else have any other ideas or trouble-shooting tips?

Thanks in advance.

Michael
 
My Dell pc (XP SP1) keeps "loosing its connection" to the Internet.
When I reboot my pc, I can once again browse websites, but only for a
while. It doesn't matter whether I am using IE6 or FireFox1.5.

Here are some more facts.

1. I can still ping external websites when this happens (e.g.,
yahoo.com)
2. My Outlook client can no longer connect to the yahoo POP or SMTP
servers
3. My IM client can no longer connect to its server (but if I have an
IM client already running, I can continue to send and receive instanct
messages)
4. I experience the problem even when my pc is directly connected to
my cable modem (I eliminated the router from the equation)
5. The problem does NOT happen when my laptop is connected directly to
my modem (which suggests to me that the problem is NOT the modem)
6. Dell tech support tells me to try repairing windows or reinstalling
XP. Seems kind of drastic to me and extremely time consuming.
7. My ISP (Comcast) says they can ping my modem and that "everything
looks OK on their end"
8. Anyone else have any other ideas or trouble-shooting tips?

Thanks in advance.

Michael
Click to expand...

You might be infested with malware.
What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/devioussoftware.mspx

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971

Help with Hijackware
All MS - MVP Sites.
(http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm)
(http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm)
(http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm)
(http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html)
(http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm)

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
 
My Dell pc (XP SP1) keeps "loosing its connection" to the Internet.
When I reboot my pc, I can once again browse websites, but only for a
while. It doesn't matter whether I am using IE6 or FireFox1.5.

Here are some more facts.

1. I can still ping external websites when this happens (e.g.,
yahoo.com)
Click to expand...


This might not be proving very much. For example, if you are getting
the IP address from a HOSTS lookup or from dnscache you might
be bypassing your DNS which is where the blockage might be.

Try using nslookup instead. For example, when this happens to me
just entering nslookup (e.g. in a cmd window) shows the symptom
if the reverse lookups done for the two server addresses fail (e.g. timeout).
When it happens I just hangup (e.g. enter rasdial /d ) and reconnect.

2. My Outlook client can no longer connect to the yahoo POP or SMTP
servers
Click to expand...

Again, that could be symptomatic of a problem connecting to your DNS
server when you didn't already have an IP address for those mail servers
from another source. So a way of testing this possibility would be
to use their IP addresses instead and try connecting to them using
a telnet command simulation. In order to do that, of course, you would
either have to have your mail hosts server addresses in HOSTS or
have them recorded some other way.

3. My IM client can no longer connect to its server (but if I have an
IM client already running, I can continue to send and receive instanct
messages)
Click to expand...

Again, in the first case you might need a DNS connection to establish
the IM connection but if you already had one running DNS would not
be needed.

4. I experience the problem even when my pc is directly connected to my
cable modem (I eliminated the router from the equation)
Click to expand...

It is very difficult to know where the problem is without doing a packet trace.
The symptoms could be the same whether your computer was refusing to
make DNS connections or whether your ISP's DNS server was refusing to
accept them.

5. The problem does NOT happen when my laptop is connected directly to
my modem (which suggests to me that the problem is NOT the modem)
Click to expand...

Can that test be done after an outage is detected?
If so I think it might pull the finger of blame closer to your XP
(e.g. away from your ISP for that particular instant on that particular link).
However, unless your laptop is transparently mimicking what your workstation
should be sending, it still doesn't prove anything really because the blockage
may only be occurring for connections with the first device and still be on
the host side.

6. Dell tech support tells me to try repairing windows or reinstalling
XP. Seems kind of drastic to me and extremely time consuming.
Click to expand...


And since so many others report the same symptom, kind of pointless.

7. My ISP (Comcast) says they can ping my modem and that "everything
looks OK on their end"
Click to expand...


That doesn't prove a thing that's important to you
that you don't already know. You have _some_ connectivity.
Why don't they try to help you figure out why you don't have
_full_ connectivity? (I have the same problem with my ISP:
fingerpointing but no proof and no help.)

8. Anyone else have any other ideas or trouble-shooting tips?
Click to expand...


Here is a link to a networking troubleshooter.
It includes a link to an XP networking newsgroup for followup questions.

http://www.michna.com/kb/


Please post back if you find an effective resolution.
I know that one solution that some people seem to have taken
is to operate their own DNS host.

Thanks in advance.

Michael
Click to expand...


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---
 
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