OT:Strange network bug..
 

Hi,

My brother and I have just ran into a strange event regarding browsing the net..

info,.. We are both connected to the net through a hub, but we both connect indipendantly through the DSL. We are both running WinXP.

There is one site (http://www.cogeco.com) that I have no problems connecting to, but he is unable to make a connection to this site. wtf? he has no problems going to any other site, just this one. How can that be?

We've been checking through all the different network and IE settings and as far as I can tell we have identical settings!

We both log on and I can go to the site, when he tries he gets the "page cannot be displayed" message.

I really am perplexed, has anyone had this kind of wierd problem? Do you have any suggestions?

Any help would be apprieciated.

Thanks!

[ January 11, 2003, 20:26: Message edited by: David Gervais ]

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

I have experienced smth similar. There are sites which I can open with Internet Explorer, but I can't do this with Opera7 and vice versa. I have two internet browsers installed on my PC. I suggest that Your brother should try the same.

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

One possibility is a Hosts file "hosts." (no extension) in your windows directory.

That files lists addresses and fixes the IPs associated with them.

I, for example, use it to redirect sites I hate to an incorrect IP address, so they don't load.

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

IE under windows XP has all kinds of annoying security stuff in it. Check your internet settings. It could be blocking a site or IP.

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

It could be a DNS thing. Different ISP's use different DNS servers for domain resolution. THe one your bros ISP is using could be having problems. If this is the problem you would both be able to reach the site by typing the IP address in your browser instead of the www. address.

Geoschmo

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

If I understand this, you share the DSL connection. The site could be preventing the page from being viewed because it has already set a cookie on that Physical address (The DSL modem). You have the cookie, he does not.

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

Hi, no luck so far, I tried all your suggestions and even a few tricks from other sources.

fyi: each and every time I or my brother loggs-on to the net, Sympatico assigns a new IP for each computer. I tried typing the IP reported on my computer for cogeco.com in my brother's computer browser but it still fails to load the page. I looked and noticed that I had 2 cookies for www.cogeco.com and he had none, I had him copy my cookies to his comp, and rename the David to Ken and tried connecting, it took longer to display the error but still could not be displayed.

Ah well, such is yet one more mystery linked to Microsoft. Other than being really annoying, the 'bug' is not crittical, so we're gonna let it slide.

Thanks for all your suggestions and help.

Have a Great Day. Cheers!

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

Call your ISP and chain them to your computer until they fix it.

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

Sympatico people tend to hang up on you as soon as they hear you've got a hub or a router. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

David, I am not talking about the IP for your computers. Those will change each time you log in. But the IP for the website you are visiting shold not ever change. Sorry I can't tell you exactly how to get that number. I don't know enough abou thtis stuff. I just know a couple of months ago when the internet had some DNS problems with hackers attacking the DNS servers some people could get to PBW fine and some couldn't. But anyone who typed in the IP address of the PBW server got through fine.

Geoschmo

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">All you need to do to find an I.P. address is from a command promtp (ms-dos)is type ping www. website name.com and it will show you the I.P.

[ January 11, 2003, 18:41: Message edited by: Mudshark ]

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

Ok, first, I did go to the command prompt and type ping www.cogeco.com the result was IP:24.226.1.243 with 4 packets sent 0(zero) recieved. (typing this IP directly into my brother's browser "http://24.226.1.243" didn't work!)

Second you're right, when my brother called sympatico, they basically said unhook the hub and connect the DSL direct and try that. It didn't work, he called back and they basically said you're on your own. He also called cogeco which is our cable provider they did a quick test (logging on from one of their remote computers) and said the site is working fine. I have to agree, it works fine from my end too. Because we have sympatico and not the cogeco cable/modem internet service they basically said they could not provide tech service! (which makes perfect sense to me!) He also called the computer tech where we bought our computers and he too was at a loss. He purchased two copies of WinXP for Xmas one for me and one for himself. We both installed XP on the same day, dec23 I believe. We both did a 'Typical' install. all was well, then about a week ago he began having all kinds of problems with his computer, system lock-ups, windows crashing, blue screen of death etc. He got it in his head the all this was due to having done a 'typical' install. so he reformatted again and then did a 'custom' install. the computer seems to be running smoother now, the only exception is this bug with cogeco.com.

The funny thing is we only found out about this problem because we were interested in getting more info on the new 'Digital Cable' service comming soon to our neck of the woods!

Now you have the poop the whole poop and nothing but the poop. Like I said, we have given up on seeking a solution. (We both suspect WinXP is the culpret!)

BTW: I've been working with computer for close to 30 years now, and I'm no stranger to these kind of problems. This is just one of the few times that even I am at a total loss!

Thanks again for all your help, Have a great day people. Cheers!

[ January 11, 2003, 20:22: Message edited by: David Gervais ]

Re: OT:Strange network bug..
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The IP address is not the address in question; it would be the MAC address of the first device on the IP address assigned to you by your provider. In your case the DSL modem. When you installed the cookies, it would seem that the site found them but could not match them from its db. I would try “not” renaming them.