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General discussion

problems accessing one web site on cable ISP but not dialup

May 24, 2007 5:46AM PDT

Shines the Geek Light in the Sky Hoping for Answers

I have a question for you all that I hope someone can help me with.

I have to check email and the website for where I work from home. I have a problem that I had for a couple of days 2 weeks ago, and that has again developed the last two days.

I have cable internet at home, and lately, when I try to access any of the work websites, I either get one of those pages that says there's no DNS entry or the DNS thing is down, or I get a message saying the page can't be found, or I actually get on the main page, but every link from there says can't be found.

I tried all 3 browsers (IE, Mozilla, Netscape) and all gave me the same result. I had a friend log on to the site from her house to verify it wasn't a problem on that end. So, the next thing I tried is logging onto my backup dial-up ISP, and voila, it worked.

I had the same problem today. I couldn't get into anything on the site with my cable ISP, but as soon as I logged on to dial-up, it worked. I even tried getting into email with dial-up, disconnected and then tried to click stuff in my inbox when just on cable while I had the page up. It didn't work.

As far as I can tell, I've not had this problem with any other web site.

My question for you is, do you have any clue what would cause this? Is it an ISP issue, a Windows issue, or something else weird? I'd like to get this fixed since obviously working from home is much easier and faster on broadband than dialup.

I'm using Win xp media edition. (Other specifics available as needed at the discretion of the poster.)

Any clues would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Just fixed one like that.
May 24, 2007 5:54AM PDT

The Cableco's DNS didn't have the entry for the site.

So instead of http://www.cnet.com I had to use http://216.239.122.220

Later we added this IP address to the HOSTS file so they didn't have to see the address in its naked form.

Bob

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thanks for the fast reply
May 24, 2007 5:56AM PDT

THANKS!
You know I kept thinking last night maybe I needed to look up the IP numbers and try that. No clue why I had that urge, but I told myself I was silly to think that would help lol. Maybe I should trust my instincts. But I'll give that a shot.

Thanks again for being so speedy.

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Another option
May 24, 2007 7:37AM PDT

You could also try using a DNS system like OpenDNS. It may or may not work, and could quite possibly have its own gaps here and there, but all it requires is changing the IPs for the DNS entries in the TCP/IP settings for a connection.

Always good to have multiple options I think. Especially if you have an ISP with dodgy DNS servers.

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Thanks!
May 24, 2007 12:01PM PDT

Ok, I'll try that. :o)

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try flushing your dns cache
May 24, 2007 8:46AM PDT
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Thanks again!
May 24, 2007 12:02PM PDT

It's good to know there are multiple options.
Thanks!