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General discussion

Trouble Accessing a Site

Dec 13, 2004 7:46AM PST

Hi,

This is my first question, so bear with me. I've been having trouble going onto the Netflix site lately. My cousin says that it has something to do with cookies but we haven't been able to figure out what's wrong.

I've tried deleting cookies and internet files in the Internet Options section of the Internet Explorer 6. I've tried adding the website to the Always Allow option as well. I'm currently on Windows 98 with a Comcast cable internet hookup. I've had no trouble with any other sites.

Any help is appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Re: Trouble Accessing a Site
Dec 13, 2004 8:57AM PST

Ever,

If you could provide us with the exact URL you're having problems with we might be able to check it out. I can easily reach the Netflix home page at the link below, simply by clicking on it:

http://www.netflix.com/Default

Are you using a HOSTS file which might be blocking the site?

In addition, please note that there were a few problems with Comcast customers reaching McAfee sites about a week ago. It had to do with one of the various "hops" through the internet path to the McAfee servers. It's possible that the same thing is happening to Comcast again, although that possiblity might be a "stretch".

Hope this helps and let us know more.

Grif

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Re: Trouble Accessing a Site
Dec 13, 2004 9:42AM PST

Grif,

I type in www.netflix.com, then it redirects me to www.netflix.com/Default but it can't load. The status bar on the bottom of Internet Explorer loads slowly and flickers as it loads. It goes to that page that says "Cannot find server." It lists hit refresh (which I did), detect network settings (Which I clicked on and nothing happened), etc. on the page.

Sorry, but I'm not very sure what a HOSTS file is. And now that you mention it, I haven't been able to get onto the Comcast website, either. Netflix worked fine up a few weeks ago, while I have never been able to get access to Comcast's website (I don't know if that's related).

Thanks,
Ever1322

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Re: Trouble Accessing a Site
Dec 13, 2004 1:43PM PST

Ever,

I suggest contacting Comcast and see if they have a solution for you. This computer will correctly load:

http://www.comcast.com/comcasthome.html

If your's doesn't, but it loads most other sites correctly, then it appears like Comcast is having issues.

A couple of other suggestions are below:

1. Open the Control Panel, then double click on the 'Internet Options' icon. When that loads, click on the "Connections" tab, then click on the LAN settings button, and make sure there is a dot/tick placed in the "Automatically Detect Settings" button.

My only other suggestion would be to download, install, then update, then run the free spyware removal tools from the links below:

Ad-Aware">http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/]Ad-Aware

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Re: Trouble Accessing a Site
Dec 14, 2004 4:30PM PST

Grif,

Sorry it took awhile for me to get back...Christmas shopping.

Anyway, thanks for the Comcast link, it works fine. I already tried the "Automatically Detect Settings" and I tried all three of those spyware detecters and it did not help (Unless I did it wrong...I did update, I did full scans and I eliminated any troublesome stuff). So now I'm stuck.

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Re: Trouble to access a site.
Dec 14, 2004 8:00PM PST

Ever,

Interesting site.

You go to www.netflix.com. That goes to www.netflix.com/welcome.html and that has the following code:

<html>
<!-- If we ever move away from a free trial, Robert H has agreed to make sure this gets updated Happy -->
<head>
<title>Netflix: Rent DVDs Online -- Try Free!</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<script language=JavaScript>
location.replace('/Default');
</script>

</body>
</html>

so it uses some javascript code (location.replace) to go to another page. That could be the problem. It's a rather unusual way to do it (the usual way is to use a http-equiv, but that doesn't concern you).

Two things to try:
- type the url that gives problems directly in the address bar (so: http://www.netflix.com/Default) to see if that circumvents a possible javascript problem; if this works, you can make it a favorite and your problem is solved
- download firefox 1.0 from www.mozilla.org and see if this browser handles the situation correctly

It's not a HOSTS problem, that's sure, and I don't believe it's spyware either.

Hope this helps.

Kees

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Following Kees' Lead Here....
Dec 15, 2004 1:28AM PST

It's possible that you need to install the most recent Windows Scripting engine from the link below. Download it to your desktop, scan it with your current antivirus program (just to be sure it's clean), then shut down all background programs, then double click on the file to install it. Restart the computer.

Windows Script 5.6 for Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, and Windows NT 4.0

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Tried that address.
Dec 15, 2004 2:00AM PST
www.netflix.com gets you to the Homepage where you find
out about Netflix and JOIN. www.netflix.com/default will
get you a notice that they can't find the page beause it doesn't exist. Did you try the trial membership and now it ran out? chuck
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The address does exist.
Dec 15, 2004 3:18AM PST

Chuck,

They seem to have a Unix web-server, because it's case-sensitive. It's /Default, not /default. But then I don't have any troubles to open it. That is, after I had removed it from my hosts-file. That's some old standard one (of about 150Kb) and it had:

# The Weather Underground [NETFLIX = Ad Server]
127.0.0.1 image.netflix.com
127.0.0.1 www.netflix.com
127.0.0.1 ads3.wunderground.com
127.0.0.1 ads.wunderground.com

But if you get through the first two pages then it isn't a hosts-problem, I think.

Regards,


Kees

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Kees, It's Not In My Current HpGuru HOSTS File
Dec 15, 2004 3:36AM PST
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Firefox works
Dec 15, 2004 4:31AM PST

Okay, I tried using the Firefox browser and it was able to access the Netflix site, so thanks to Kees. This leads me to believe that the problem originated with Internet Explorer.

Also, I did try updating the script reading program that Griff suggested, but that didn't work.

So, in general, thanks for the help. But I'll also keep trying to get access with Internet Explorer just in case.