Desperately need some Internet Explorer help

[Teej]

I know there are some PC genius minds on this forum. I know a little bit about computers, enough to have built my own and have enough parts around the house to build a couple others.

But here's my problem. I recently purchased a D-Link D1-604 router to split my DSL usage between 2 pc's. My main computer that i have always used lets me go anywhere I want on the internet. However, my secondary computer's browser does not. I built this PC specifically for my fiance to use the internet on and do her shopping, homework, etc....

I have tinkered with the basic and obvious security settings in the Internet Options of the browser and even set the risk to LOW. I can always access msn.com, espn.com, and even my girlfriends home page of victoriassecret.com. But pages like ebay, hotmail, and yahoo.com for some reason give me one of those "this page cannot be displayed" screens. You can actually see Yahoo and Ebay start to load up before it goes to the "this page cannot be displayed" screen.


Whats even more strange is that on several occassions, I can get all the pages to load and I can get the computer to go anywhere I want it too. I was on the phone with the dlink people yesterday for an hour, we changed some settings in the router, and it worked great!!! Without shutting down the PC or even closing the router, I left for a couple hours. Upon my return, I found myself back at step one. I called the dlink people back, and they couldnt figure it out and issued me a trouble ticket.
So I called them just now, and this time they said its not their router, its my browser.

Okay, so now that I have given a good gist of the problem, has anyone encountered the same thing? If it is my browser, and I have played with the network connections to ensure the firewall and filters were not "on", then do I have to just reinstall XP?

I have nothing on the second computer that I cant spare losing.

 

[POWERED by HONDA]

Prove them wrong (or right?). Download Mozilla/Netscape and see if that works for you.

Have you also tried updating the firmware of the router? (I'm sure they had to have at least mentioned that.)

 

[Ludgero]

Do you have any kind of software firewall, such as ZoneAlarm?
If so, you might want to shut that down.

You might also want to check your network settings and make sure that your gateway is setup in both computers.

Hope this helps.

 

[Teej]

As far as updating the firmware, yeah, we've done that. I will go the Netscape route and see what happens.

Also, nope, nothing but Symantic Norton 2003, identical setup on both PC's.

 

[Lud]

Dead easy to test in about 30 seconds.... Plug the ethernet cable coming off your DSL modem straight into the computer.

If it works, the problem is not the computer. It's something with the router or the way you are sharing the Internet connection... Are you doing NAT or are both computers pulling an IP from DHCP? Does your ISP provide multiple IP addresses without an additional fee?

If it doesn't work, the problem is with the computer. Corrupt IE install, OS problem, other software problem, hardware conflict, network config, bad cable between the computer and the router, etc.

Obviously you don't want to leave it plugged straight into the DSL modem long-term for security reasons (I assume you run some sort of security at the router level since you said you don't run a firewall on the computers), but it's a good test because it takes the router out of the equation.

Also, verify that the pages that "work" all the time on that system (msn, espn, etc.) are really loading from the web, not just local cache versions of the pages... Clear your browser cache and then close and re-open IE, or try clicking on some links you've never clicked on before on those pages and see if they load.

 

[Teej]

We tried to do the straight plug in from the modem vs router but I didnt have my DSL networking information set up yet on the PC in question. I will set it up on both PC's, then try the router vs modem test.

 

[NSX_Dreamer]

Go to DOS and try pinging the pages that will not come up. IE ping www.yahoo.com and see if you get a response.

Also check to make sure the HOSTS file is not altered.

I doubt it's a problem with your router, or your other PC would have the same problems.

If in doubt, reformat your gf's PC and reinstall the OS, which should resolve the issues for you....

I think most likely there is some funky language option on your IE that somehow got installed which is causing the problems...

For an example, see this:

http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-1008869.html?tag=cd_mh

 

[Teej]

Yeah, I think you are right. I did a full ping test last night before I went out and I thought we fixed it. It was all gravy. I dont have anything worth keeping on her computer as I built it solely for her to do her homework and to network games when friends come over.

I plan wiping out the HD and resinstalling the OS because I have hunch its just something wacked. I also occassionally on her PC get this weird pop up from the lower right taksbar that says "(x) Write Attempt Failed" and usually comes at the strangest times.

 

[Teej]

Thankyou for all the advice and help.

I just reinstalled my OS and everything so far seems to be working just fine.

 

[POWERED by HONDA]

Teej, out of curiousity, did you try installing a different browser such as Mozilla or Netscape to see if that helped before you reinstalled the OS?

 

[fangtl]

I hope you partitioned your HD this time around...don't want it to happen again and have to wipe out the entire HD.

 

[Teej]

It didnt matter, its only a 10 gig. Have a 30 on the way. Its a backup PC. Now,...if I messed up my master PC...then I'd have problems.