Internet issues

The Saint

Hey folks,
Hope someone can help me here. I'm having trouble with the internet on my laptop. I'm using Internet Explorer on Windows XP. The connection is fine and MSN signs in fine and I can access Outlook web mail. However when I open internet explorer it comes up with the connection problem screen like when there's no internet connection. I've disabled Windows firewall to no avail. It was working fine before and I'm not sure what could have changed to cause this problem. Hope someone can help.
Cheers.

calex71

try going to tools / internet options / connections tab / check box for never dial a connection

oh check the file menu also and make sure your no working off line .

report back if this doesnt get you sorted and we can try some other things

The Saint

Hey Calex71,
Thanks for the reply. I've gone into the connection tab but there is nothing in the "Dial-up and Vitual Network settings" and I can't change the settings below it. Should there be something in the Dial-up....box?
Cheers.

calex71

Ok well thats not your problem then, what exactly happens when you open internet explorer? messages / dialog boxes etc.
Do you have another browser such as firefox installed ? Interesting to see if it has the same issue.

What firewall / Anti Virus have you got,

The Saint

Internet explorer comes up with the "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" page. I don't have another browser installed. I have Symantec anti-virus installed. I ran an update for it no the day before it clapped out so I don't know if that had anything to do with it.

calex71

ok , try and disableAnti Virus as a temp meassure and try it again.

try going to http:/89.234.66.107 and see if that works

Feelgood

=> Start
=> Run
=> cmd
=> ipconfig /all

Is there an IP address listed beside DNS server??

The Saint

calex71 wrote: »

ok , try and disableAnti Virus as a temp meassure and try it again.

try going to http:/89.234.66.107 and see if that works

Disabled the antivirus and it didn't work. Went to that address and it came up with same thing.

Feelgood wrote: »

=> Start
=> Run
=> cmd
=> ipconfig /all

Is there an IP address listed beside DNS server??

Hey, did this and there is an IP address beside the DNS server.

calex71

try doing ipconfig /flushdns cant hurt but doesnt seem to be a dns problem either

Feelgood

Same thing again kinda..

=> Start
=> Run
=> cmd
=> ping 89.234.66.107

If you get a 'reply' then there is something wrong with your DNS settings.

The Saint

nope, still not working

calex71

ok go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc look for a file call lmhosts.sam

open in note pad , and tell if there is anything under the text with each line starting in #

ie whats below that block of text

The Saint

Hey, all lines have the # symbol before it. I've pasted whats in the file below'



# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample LMHOSTS file used by the Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to computernames
# (NetBIOS) names. Each entry should be kept on an individual line.
# The IP address should be placed in the first column followed by the
# corresponding computername. The address and the computername
# should be separated by at least one space or tab. The "#" character
# is generally used to denote the start of a comment (see the exceptions
# below).
#
# This file is compatible with Microsoft LAN Manager 2.x TCP/IP lmhosts
# files and offers the following extensions:
#
# #PRE
# #DOM:<domain>
# #INCLUDE <filename>
# #BEGIN_ALTERNATE
# #END_ALTERNATE
# \0xnn (non-printing character support)
#
# Following any entry in the file with the characters "#PRE" will cause
# the entry to be preloaded into the name cache. By default, entries are
# not preloaded, but are parsed only after dynamic name resolution fails.
#
# Following an entry with the "#DOM:<domain>" tag will associate the
# entry with the domain specified by <domain>. This affects how the
# browser and logon services behave in TCP/IP environments. To preload
# the host name associated with #DOM entry, it is necessary to also add a
# #PRE to the line. The <domain> is always preloaded although it will not
# be shown when the name cache is viewed.
#
# Specifying "#INCLUDE <filename>" will force the RFC NetBIOS (NBT)
# software to seek the specified <filename> and parse it as if it were
# local. <filename> is generally a UNC-based name, allowing a
# centralized lmhosts file to be maintained on a server.
# It is ALWAYS necessary to provide a mapping for the IP address of the
# server prior to the #INCLUDE. This mapping must use the #PRE directive.
# In addtion the share "public" in the example below must be in the
# LanManServer list of "NullSessionShares" in order for client machines to
# be able to read the lmhosts file successfully. This key is under
# \machine\system\currentcontrolset\services\lanmanserver\parameters\nullsessionshares
# in the registry. Simply add "public" to the list found there.
#
# The #BEGIN_ and #END_ALTERNATE keywords allow multiple #INCLUDE
# statements to be grouped together. Any single successful include
# will cause the group to succeed.
#
# Finally, non-printing characters can be embedded in mappings by
# first surrounding the NetBIOS name in quotations, then using the
# \0xnn notation to specify a hex value for a non-printing character.
#
# The following example illustrates all of these extensions:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino #PRE #DOM:networking #net group's DC
# 102.54.94.102 "appname \0x14" #special app server
# 102.54.94.123 popular #PRE #source server
# 102.54.94.117 localsrv #PRE #needed for the include
#
# #BEGIN_ALTERNATE
# #INCLUDE \\localsrv\public\lmhosts
# #INCLUDE \\rhino\public\lmhosts
# #END_ALTERNATE
#
# In the above example, the "appname" server contains a special
# character in its name, the "popular" and "localsrv" server names are
# preloaded, and the "rhino" server name is specified so it can be used
# to later #INCLUDE a centrally maintained lmhosts file if the "localsrv"
# system is unavailable.
#
# Note that the whole file is parsed including comments on each lookup,
# so keeping the number of comments to a minimum will improve performance.
# Therefore it is not advisable to simply add lmhosts file entries onto the
# end of this file.

Feelgood

Feelgood wrote: »

Same thing again kinda..

=> Start
=> Run
=> cmd
=> ping 89.234.66.107

If you get a 'reply' then there is something wrong with your DNS settings.

Whats the result of this ??

The Saint

Here's the results:

Pinging 89.234.66.107 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=61
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=61
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=22ms TTL=61
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=23ms TTL=61

Ping statistics for 89.234.66.107:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 21ms, Maximum = 24ms, Average = 22ms

Feelgood wrote: »

Whats the result of this ??

Compushed

Download Firefox portable and try it.

If it works then the problem is with either Internet Explorer settings (probably a proxy setting) or a firewall.

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

calex71

is it a home or work laptop op?

The Saint

calex71 wrote: »

is it a home or work laptop op?

Its a home laptop. Was a work one until I left the job a few months ago. Been working fine up until now though.

Feelgood

Alright...

Go to

=> Tools
=> Internet Options
=> Click on the 'Advanced' tab.
=> On the very bottom of the advanced tab you will see a 'reset' button to reset internet explorer settings. Click reset and restart your browser.

Your internet connection seems to be working fine, its either a problem with your DNS server settings or possibly spyware is preventing your browser from viewing a webpage.

If you can at all, I would recommend downloading Firefox to see if you get the same issue.

The Saint

Hey. Did that and it came up with a message saying to close all windows and didn't delete the browsing history and the other stuff.

Installed Firefox and it worked so at leaset thats something. Would still like to get IE working though.
Thanks for your help folks.

Feelgood wrote: »

Alright...

Go to

=> Tools
=> Internet Options
=> Click on the 'Advanced' tab.
=> On the very bottom of the advanced tab you will see a 'reset' button to reset internet explorer settings. Click reset and restart your browser.

Your internet connection seems to be working fine, its either a problem with your DNS server settings or possibly spyware is preventing your browser from viewing a webpage.

If you can at all, I would recommend downloading Firefox to see if you get the same issue.

Feelgood

No probs your welcome...

Firefox is the way to go always!. Best and fastest browser available. Unless there is some specific reason to use IE, dump it. You will also find that Firefox can do everything IE can, but a lot lot more..

biko

What page is IE trying to display when you start it?
You can change that under tools / internet options /

The Saint

OK. When I said it was working with Firefox it was working with the portable version. I installed the normal version and it didn't work. Said something about proxy settings. I went into Tools>Options>Connection>advanced>network settings and it was set to Manual proxy configuration. I set it to auto-detect proxy settings for this network and it worked. Is there a version of this in IE that I can't find?

dubfir

In ie go to tools connections lan settings

The Saint

dubfir wrote: »

In ie go to tools connections lan settings

Yeah, just found that. Back working. Thanks a million to everyone for their help.