Skype Connects Via Wireless But IE Will Not Bring Up Web Pages

I'm using my laptop in another country and can connect okay to my friend's wireless system. Skype works (I actually spoke to someone using Skype), but IE will not bring up web pages. I tried Firefox and that did not work either. In both cases I get the "Page cannot be displayed" error.

The OS is XP Home Sp3. I also tried without AVG or Zonealarm but no luck.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated? Thanks.

 

cool.......

 

i think some problme with the HTTP settings. make sure you havent set any proxies.

 

Sounds like a DNS error. Go to Start--> Run and type ncpa.cpl and hit enter. Right click on the wireless network card, select Properties; scroll down to Internet Protocol, select it and hit the Properties button. Make sure "Obtain IP....." and "Obtain DNS...." are both selected.

Then go to Start--> Run and type cmd and hit enter. Type ipconfig /flushdns and hit enter. If you have any Internet pages opened close them. Go to the Start menu and right click on the Internet icon to the top of the list and select Internet Properties. Delete all cookies and temporary files....you could also do this by going in to Tools-->Internet Options in the web browser itself...after doing that close the web page and re-open it. If it still is not loading, do a ipconfig /allin command prompt and post the results here.

Edit: Also make sure the DNS and DHCP services are running. Go to Start--> Run and type services.msc and hit enter. Look for the DNS and DHCP client services and check to ensure they are both started and set to automatic.

 

Makaveli, everything that you suggested checks out okay but still no web pages come up. Here's the result of ipconfig /all with the data for the offending adapter:

Windows IP configuration
Host Name ....... :Aver2
Primary DNS suffix :
Node Type .... : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled ..... : NO
WINS Proxy Enabled .... : NO


Ethernet Adapter Wireless Network Connection 2:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix:
Description ........ : IEEE 802.11g WLAN11g network adapter
Physical Address ....: 00-02-6F-21-3D-11
Dhcp Enabled ....: Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled: Yes
IP Address ..... : 192.168.0.109
Subnet Mask .....: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway ......: 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers ...... : 192.168.0.1
Lease Obtained ..... : Thursday October 09, 2008 1:10:31 PM
Lease Expires ...... : Thursday October 16, 2008 1:10:31 PM

Both Primary DNS Suffix and Connection specific DNS suffix are blank. Is that where the problem is?

Thanks.

 

Well everything there looks fine...the suffix thing is okay. The Wireless Network Connection is what's important and that looks just fine. So therefore... (if you checked everything I mentioned in post#4); the only other thing I could think of that would cause the web pages not to load are 1. Some sort of malware has blocked the Internet ports such as port 80; or 2. The AVG/Zone Alarm applications are blocking them...to be positively sure that they are not the cause of the issue, I would uninstall them. But before that I would run a virus scan on the computer. I personally prefer Panda Antivirus.

 

In your command prompt, type tracert <noparse> www.godaddy.com</noparse>

Post back with the results.

 

The result is:
Unable to resolve target system name www.godaddy.com

I tried a few other sites with the same result. It's really odd that I can use Skype and MagicJack to connect with others, just no web pages will come up.

 

Because it's most likely a DNS issue...DNS doesn't come into play w/ applications like Skype because it doesn't have to resolve Domain Names to IP Addresses (it just uses a port to communicate through). That's for applications like Web browsers and web sites...and Skype doesn't use port 80 (Internet Port) by default either. So as I was saying I would advise to get a hold of an antivirus program such as Panda and scan the entire computer for malware/viruses; if that doesn't solve the issue then I would uninstall the Antivirus/Firewall programs and try then...if that still doesn't work then I would opt for a system restore/re-install. I truly believe it's a malware blocking your Internet port though.....so yea!

 

I scanned the system with a 3-day old AVG (can't update since I can't get to web sites). Nothing was found. I also started the system with both AVG and ZoneAlarm disabled, still no joy. I'll have to wait until I return to the US to do the re-install, but then that may not be necessary since I could always browse the web at home ... it is only since I got to this country 3 days ago and am using my cousin's Internet service that I cannot browse the web.

Could it be that my cousin's system has DNS filtering or something like that? He didn't set up his wireless system himself. All he knows about it are the SSID name and the password. And I'm typing this on his lappy.

 

Well there is a possibility that an Internet Access Restriction was set up on the router for an allocated block of IP Addresses but I doubt that'll be the case as it seems like your cousin doesn't know much about the router....so only the person who configured it will know what and if any restrictions are in place.

 

i have a question here. does skype use http to communicate ???

 

AFAIK Skype doesn't use http per se...it uses a random port to communicate. HTTP is used for web pages as i'm sure you know already. But the port that http uses; port 80 can be used by Skype. If you open Skype and go to Tools--> Options--> Advanced--> Connections you will see the port that it uses to communicate.

 

I had a problem similar to this ages ago. It was the result of one of those stupid toolbars that get downloaded. For some reason it blocked ie7 from connecting to the internet whereas ohter porgrams i used connected to the internet. Have you downloaded any software that installs any tollbars or adware of anykind. Bit of a long shot.

 

i have a weird feeling that this problem is due to http port getting blocked due to some reason (firewall or something) while allowing other protocols to communicate. i had similar experience in my college computer centre where in some computers admins block the http only whereas we get access to chat programs like google talk and yahoo messenger. can we relate these two ???

 

ok try if u can ping the website thru the command prompt.
in run type cmd
then type ping www.yahoo.com
do u get a reply ???

 

An update to this thread. (I'm back home now). Two days before I returned, the person who set the system up said it was DNS filtering that was used and I got the DNS figures to put into the configuration, and got the browser working.
I've searched with Google to find out how to do this and couldn't come up with any answer that said specifically how to get those dns figures. Are the dns figures part of the wireless router - like an IP address? I would like to set my wireless router here at home with DNS filtering.

 

You should have asked him to explain exactly what he did and how you could do it on your network at home if that's what your interested in.

But anyhow, I am not sure what he means by "DNS" filtering; but I could understand if he said "IP" filtering...basically what I was describing in post #11. With IP filtering you could put a range/scope of IP Addresses or a single IP Address in a rule on the Router that basically says do not allow this IP or IP Addresses access to the Internet. So you must have gotten an IP Address automatically from the Router that was in a range of IP's that would be blocked from Internet access. And as I said the Internet uses port 80 to communicate whereby Skype uses a random port so that would explain why Skype worked.

So therefore, i'm thinking he actually gave you a static IP Address that was not configured in the deny Internet access range on the Router. (And not a DNS Address)

 

It done from the host file. I use to use a modified host file to restrict access to sites. The way it work is when you request a page it looks in the host file first, so if it pointing to 127.0.0.1 it does not go out.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

There is a link to Hostman a utility to edit the file and restore to default condition.

 

Okay, to get us all "on the same page", what I had to do to enable browsing is in the TCP/IP properties of the wireless connection, I had to set specific figures in the DNS server, instead of the default "Obtain DNS server address automatically". I hope that makes sense.

I googled to find out how to do this but came up blank. Maybe I'm not putting in the correct query. I'm thinking that somewhere in the wireless router setup one can specify a DNS server address that must be matched by a wireless adapter for its browser to resolve web pages. Am I on the right track?

Blue, that's a wee bit over my head.

 

If your using a public DNS server it's on for static config,if not it will cause problems if you move locations. The DNS can be set in the port properties.

On Skype under advanced options you can fine out what random udp port skype is using for your setup. You must then add a FW rule into the router to forward the port to your pc. Down load the Spype manual or use the on line help, it talks about this.

 

Okay well that makes sense I guess...I say I guess because usually once you have the Router's IP Address set as the DNS IP (as you had it from your post #5 w/ 192.168.0.1) The Router will usually do the DNS Routing automatically; w/ out you having to specify the ISPs or another DNS server's IP Address. So therefore I guess somehow, someway this automatic DNS Routing by the router (which would allow the Internet pages to load) was prevented or filtered as you said, but I honestly couldn't tell you exactly how he done it.

 

can someone please elaborate on this? i am having similar issues. every 30 minutes or so the browser stops working but skype works FINE. its really frustrating.

I went to internet explorer and diagnosed the problem and it says DNS server not responding. can someone please help?

 

i know this is an old post, but the above post seemed to have a fix for this issue. can anyone please explain how exactly??

 

Your issue is different since you actually can browse the Internet for some time ...(whereas in this case the OP wasn't getting online at all). I would suggest then for you to create your own thread with much more details including Operating System being used, what you have done recently, any other details that would help in advising you better etc.