Strange internet problem. please help

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Hello all.

Please could some one advise me about this problem.

A week ago a website i frequent suddenly disapeared i got a cannot find the server message.
So the next day i tried again and still no site.
So i pinged the address and it timed out with a 100% packet loss i also did a tracert which could not find the site either.
I then contacted the company that own the site to see what was going on, i was told there was nothing wrong with their site it was up and running, they told me to contact the last website that apeared on the tracert, so i did it was an american hosting company they told me they had nothing to do with my problem and do not activly block ip addresses.
So then i contacted my isp they said it is a very odd problem and there tech people had no idea how to help.

Anyway 3 days later i pinged the site again and this time i got a response so everything was ok, but yesterday i was on the site i pressed back on my browser and the site dissapeared with a cannot find the server message again and i get no response when i ping it, WHATS GOING ON ?.
Everyone i know who uses the site says its up and running but i again cant access it.
The site is www.a4uforum.co.uk

Any assistance you can give me would be gratefully received.

 

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Not trying to be funny here - but why would you want us to help you visit an affiliate advertising site?

Especially having never posted here before.

Wait - whast that?

'sniff - sniff... sniff' - does anyone else smell ?

 

I joined the site today because i have a genuine problem to solve, but this isnt the only forum im a member of.

Why would you think my thread was spam or was it just an uninformed remark ( not meaning to be insulting) do you think affiliates engage in spam then?

Affiliate marketing was introduced by large companys as another way to market their products/services by reaching a potential of millions of web site owners who wanted to expand their revenue streams, by getting paid for producing leads etc for the merchant.

But just like any other industrie there are bad apples.




Anyway please could someone help with the reason i posted this thread.

 

Oh and just to add some confusion do you see the adds by google further up this page, or down the page thats called adsence so if you click on one of the google adds the forum owner receives money for it and that is affiliate marketing so this site is affiliated to google so what where you saying about spam

 

have you tried emptying your cache, temp internet file, chocolate cookies etc...

 

ive emptyed the choc chips and the temp files but how do i delete the cache?

 

Ive just checked the dns server settings in my netgear router and they are correct, also after reading a similar post on this forum i did a ipconfig/all test in command prompt below are the results.

ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : wallscomp1
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-F2-73-24-CA
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 05 September 2006 10:38:12
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 06 September 2006 10:38:12

C:\Documents and Settings\Darren>

 

yeah i had that problem, but if your connecting to other sites (just like this one) it wouldn't of thought it to be with your network lan connection settings...

 

Dazza,

Welcome aboard. Next time you have a problem viewing web pages try and ping your ISP's DNS server.

Si

 

So how did you solve the problem?

 

Thanks for the welcome Boyce, so got any used cars for sale, lol

 

How did you solve the problem cheekmaster?

 

How about a 1980 2.0GL Cortina estate, in Diamond White?

 

Apologies then - I'm just so sick to death of spammers trying neat little tricks to get round having their 'first posts' on message boards instantly deleted.

I've seen your other posts now, and your 'Hi' message in the newbies forums - I stand, humbly, corrected.

With regard to your problem - have you checked your hosts file to see if the site has been blocked there? You may have a spyware infection which has added an entry blocking you from visiting that site. Run a search in Windows for 'hosts' - you'll probably find it under "C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc" (although that may not be the case if you aren't running XP or are running an upgraded version). If there's an entry in there for the site you're having problems with prefaced by '127.0.0.1' then removing this entry will resolve the problem. In fact, if there are ANY entries in this file and you haven't put them there yourself, or downloaded a legitimate hosts file as a way to block spyware, then you may have a spyware infection and your problems will certainly run deeper than this.

Affiliate Marekting may not be everyone's cup of tea (it certainly isn't mine) but I take your point that it doesn't count as 'spam'. That said, I still block it in my filters at work - including Google's ad-sponsored search results. AdSense is also blocked by my filters and many others, simply because it is a known vector for spyware and a potential entry point for trojans. In fact, a POC Trojan injection technique has already been demonstrated using AdSense.

Incidentally, the site you're trying to access comes up as 'Mass Market Advertising' in my content filtering system - one of the main reasons I was suspicious at first. I'm sure you can understand why that, coupled with the fact you hadn't posted here before set alarm bells off for me.

I don't want to get into a flame war with you, nor a semantic argument about the rights and wrongs of Internet advertising (be it spam, UCE, spit, commercial mass mailings or affiliate advertising) but, to be honest, if you knew my background, you'd realise that 'uninformed remark' is so far off the mark its not true.

That said, I didn't take offence - I hope you didn't take offence either

 

Try adding your ISP's dns server directly to your ip configuration. Also try adding a secondary dns server from another network. One dns server that is well known is 4.2.2.2. It's located in the US so it might take a little longer to get a response but it also might fix your problem if the symptoms you are having are caused by your ISP's name server having problems. That's the first thing I would suspect after a malware problem seeing that you are able to connect to other sites.

 

Zebelubu thanks for the response, i was feeling a little touchy earlier today because this problem has been bugging me for two weeks now.

Ill give you some more information on the problem there seems to be a pattern forming (i think) 1 day with access to the site then 3 days without at first i thought it was a security precaution on the sites server because i had a power faliure which turned my pc off while on the site. So i thought my ip had been temp blocked but the answer from the owners of the site was no they dont have that security procedure.

 

This is what i found in the host file also in the folder i opened there was a lmhosts file, oh and im running xp pro and ie6.

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host


127.0.0.1 localhost

 

Hosts file is clear then. Have you checked with you ISP yet ?

 

OK - nothing wrong there then.

Try Freddie's tip from above - add your ISP's DNS to your NIC settings (open your Network Card, highlight the 'TCP/IP' entry (you will have to scroll down - usually to the bottom of the list) then click 'properties') You'll see a window which gives you your Ip address, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway - underneath this will be two entries for your DNS servers.

I'm guessing, from your IPConfig, that your IP address & other parameters (including your DNS server) are assigned by a local DHCP server - probably from your Router. You can tell this is the case if, when you open the TCP/IP properties of the Network Card, the radio button marked 'obtain an IP address automatically' is selected - all the other options will be greyed out. Your problem is, you can't assign a DNS server manually without statically assigning an IP address to the NIC.

This isn't an insurmountable problem - you just need to use an IP address which you know isn't in use on your subnet (you should have 254 to play with, so it shouldn't be an issue). You may be able to take a look on your router's config page (most of them have a little GUI) to see which IP addresses are assigned at the minute but, if you can't I reckon choosing a high random number might work - so enter the following in your properties:

IP address 192.168.0.163
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway 192.168.0.1

DNS 4.2.2.2
Secondary DNS (your ISP's DNS server)

Once you've done that, OK out of everything, then run another IPConfig - you should see your new settings updated as above.

Then try accessing the site. If it works, its 95% certain its an upstream DNS issue at your ISP