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    No program can access the Internet?

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by Lil Mayz, Jun 17, 2007.

  1. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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    Hey guys, on my laptop, the only thing that can access the Internet seems to be Steam, for gaming. But everything else simply cannot get connection to the Internet. Sophos Anti-Virus cannot update, MSN messenger cannot connect, and Internet Explorer and Firefox simply report "Server not found". I don't know whats going on, and MS Visual Basic setup couldn't access the Internet. Anyone have any ideas?
     
  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Reboot the router.

    I had something similar a week or two back. The router wasn't passing on requests for web addresses. In my case Skype was happily connected becasue it knew where to connect.

    John
     
  3. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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    I have Rebooted my router several time John, on many occasions, but the problem persists. I don't why it is only Steam that connects to the Internet. :confused:
     
  4. blue68f100

    blue68f100 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Sounds like the DNS server is down. See if you can "ping yahoo.com", if not it is down. if you can ping an IP address like 66.94.234.13 your gatway is working.

    Now if your dns is down check to see what IP address your router WAN port has. Then try to ping it. if down contact your ISP. If not down check you port settings. Should be your gateway IP for most. Then try to over ride your settings by manually entering your port settings (like a static Ip).
     
  5. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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  6. mattireland

    mattireland It used to be the iLand..

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    Are you sure that your router isn't playing up again? What I'd recomend is pinging the website that you want to access, then typing the IP into the hosts file in the win32 directory and then go onto the site that you've replace by the yahoo ping and see if you can get round it that way.

    If your not sure about this I'll talk to you at school tommorrow.

    Cya.
     
  7. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    If you are running XP, right click on the network icon in your system tray and select repair. This should refresh the DNS cache, if that is the problem.
     
  8. blue68f100

    blue68f100 Notebook Virtuoso

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    DNS server is a server that convert Domain Names into IP address. So when you type www.yahoo.com the dns server changes it to IP 66.94.234.13. Since you other computer works fine that will eliminate the ISP problem.

    Use system restore to backup to a working state.

    It's possiable that you have a DNS posioning or hijacked. This site http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm will explain on how the host file works. And will help you out.

    Check to see if the DNS service is not turned off.
     
  9. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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    Okay so what exactly do I need to do? That site is really confusing... Where do I find the host files on my PC, and where what do I do with them?

    My DNS is Automatic From ISP according to my router management page.
     
  10. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    Suggestion #1, above.

    Suggestion #2, after you do #1: Bring up a DOS box (CMD prompt) and type in ping yahoo.com. If that replies and does not time out, your DNS is OK.
     
  11. blue68f100

    blue68f100 Notebook Virtuoso

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    I would try the system restore first, before you start messing with the DNS settings.

    Like previous posted from a cmd window (dos) type "ping yahoo.com" if you get a reply DNS is working. if not "ping 66.94.234.13". If only the IP address works your dns file has more than likely been hijacked. Provided your FW is not blocking it.

    If you were messing with your router setting prior to this happening I would do a reset to factory and see start over. It's possiable to forward ports so thing will not work.
     
  12. Metamorphical

    Metamorphical Good computer user

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    Lil_Mayz

    To ping yahoo.com follow these steps

    --> Start
    --> Run
    -->CMD
    -Once in their at the commandline which will be an old black and white dog window type in ping yahoo.com
    -Report back to us wether you get replay, failed, or timed out and account for all four tries.
     
  13. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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    I did Niki, but it says the command is invalid...?
     
  14. blue68f100

    blue68f100 Notebook Virtuoso

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    CMD = command
     
  15. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    Like this:
     

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  16. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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    Thanks so mcuh for your help people, and John :)

    I did what you illustrated in your screenshot, but I'm not able to ping yahoo.com. I took a screenshot:
     

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  17. blue68f100

    blue68f100 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Did you try "ping 66.94.234.13"
     
  18. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    Did you also try the right-click and Repair option?
     
  19. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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    Yes, and the problem persists...

    Any other ideas?
     
  20. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    Well, if you can ping yahoo.com with the IP address, but not with the name, you are either not getting a Domain Name Server (DNS) or it is being blocked. You could ask your ISP (internet service provider) what the IP addresses of their DNS servers are and hard-code them into your network configuration.

    It could also be that this game that does seem to work has corrupted your network settings in favor of itself.