Bizzare Connection Problems

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My network arrangement is as follows;

Netgear Wireless Modem/Router
Sky Broadband
2PCs wired to the router
Xbox 360 wired to the router
Macbook wireless to router


First started having problems this afternoon after I removed the cable between PC1 and the router. Using PC2 (which definaitly still has its cable intact) I get this error/warning when using firefox;

"Address Not Found

Firefox can't find the server at www.google.com.

The browser could not find the host server for the provided address.

* Did you make a mistake when typing the domain? (e.g. "ww.mozilla.org" instead of "www.mozilla.org")
* Are you certain this domain address exists? Its registration may have expired.
* Are you unable to browse other sites? Check your network connection and DNS server settings.
* Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy? Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing."

Sometimes have problems with the router dropping the connection and so immediately assumed this was the problem but a restart of both Router and PC solves nothing.

Checked the connection with my macbook and everything is fine and working as normal.

Steam is also unnable to connect and my anti-virus is unable to update however Internet Explorer (Version 6 and completly un-updated as I never use it :)) works fine???

Where can the problem be as it doesn't seem to be the router or wiring, nor one isolated piece of broken software, help me OcUK!!
 
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The firefox error messsage suggests a dns problem which might be a server problem and unrelated to your changes.
A couple of starters for 10:
You did give the router time to reboot and connect?
Are you doing anything odd like using ICS on PC1?
Are PC1 and PC2 set to use DHCP with the assigned DNS addresses, etc.?

If these don't cause a 'doh!' moment, I'd try the following to try to narrow down the cause:
- Unplug all but pc2 from the router and reboot both router and pc
- If the problem magically goes away then reconnect the xbox and see if all is still OK
- If the problem remains, repeat with the pc1 (and different cable) into the same port on the router. If the symptoms are the same then it points to the router, otherwise the PC or cat5 cable.

If it looks like the router then:
- try using a different port
- log into the router admin pages and have a look at connection status, line stats, and check for anything weird

If it's one of the PCs then:
- try a different cable
- in a cmd shell, run ipconfig/all and see what the dns servers IPs are - are these the routers IP or the DNS server IPs shown in the router admin pages?

Let us know what happens and if the problem remains we can hopefully solve the mystery.
 

Sel

Sel

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Have you checked to see if you've another version of FireFox running in the task menu that didn't close correctly. That happens to me quite a bit and I get the same message when I try to start FF.
 
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Checked the connection with my macbook and everything is fine and working as normal.

Steam is also unnable to connect and my anti-virus is unable to update however Internet Explorer (Version 6 and completly un-updated as I never use it :)) works fine???

Where can the problem be as it doesn't seem to be the router or wiring, nor one isolated piece of broken software, help me OcUK!!

Sounds very much like a firewall issue or something confined to the windows machines. Try Turning off the firewalls and see if firefox and steam work. Also check the proxy settings in these apps. This can also cause an issue like you're describing.
 
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Reviving an old thread as I haven't had time to troublshoot this problem until now and can more or less get net access anyway.

The firefox error messsage suggests a dns problem which might be a server problem and unrelated to your changes.
A couple of starters for 10:
You did give the router time to reboot and connect?
Are you doing anything odd like using ICS on PC1?
Are PC1 and PC2 set to use DHCP with the assigned DNS addresses, etc.?

Disabling firewalls totally gave no change.
Definaitly gave the router plenty time to reboot.
The other suggestions go a little above my head I'm afraid :rolleyes: noob that I am but something more detailed (ie. where i might find out these settings) might help.

As a side note I have realised that the IE verson which works is a 64bit version while all the non functional software thats bricked is 32bit if that suggests anything speciffic? (My OS is XP64 pro).

Help much appreciated!

Edit: Not strictly windows related as the mac is running XP and working fine as is PC1 now plugged back in (I was only moving it and needed a longer cable).
 
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I'd forgotton about this one!

The question about ICS was trying to work out if PC2 traffic was being routed via PC1 for some odd reason (which could explain why PC2 stops working when PC1 was unplugged). I should also have asked if PC1 is always on when you're using PC2, and what happens when PC1 is switched off.

Fancy trying this on both PC1 and PC2 and cutting/pasting the results:

Open a command shell (Start -> Run -> cmd) and run "ipconfig/all" (without the quotes)

While you're in the command shell you could also try "ping www.google.co.uk" or "tracert www.google.co.uk"

I haven't used IE for a while, but if you can find any connection or proxy settings it might help.

BRs
 
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I am currently only able to get online using IE 64 (the 32 bit version does not work) on PC2. This seems unaffected by PC1 as IEx64 works and everything else doesn't regardless of PC1 being unplugged/ plugged in switched on or off etc.

Results of "ip/config" run on PC2; (PC1 switched of but plugged in throughout).

PC2


Windows IP Configuration

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

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0F-EA-F6-BE-DD
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
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. . . . . . . . . . : 29 January 2009 12:15:30
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 01 February 2009 12:15:30

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping www.google.co.uk

Pinging www.l.google.com [216.239.59.147] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.239.59.147: bytes=32 time=77ms TTL=246
Reply from 216.239.59.147: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=246
Reply from 216.239.59.147: bytes=32 time=76ms TTL=246
Reply from 216.239.59.147: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=246

Ping statistics for 216.239.59.147:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 74ms, Maximum = 77ms, Average = 75ms


Tracing route to www.l.google.com [216.239.59.147]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 60 ms 59 ms 53 ms cr0.wskiy.uk.easynet.net [87.87.250.85]
3 49 ms 49 ms 49 ms 87.87.131.97
4 63 ms 62 ms 62 ms 74.125.51.218
5 62 ms 61 ms 62 ms 74.125.51.217
6 62 ms 62 ms 62 ms 209.85.255.175
7 77 ms 73 ms 77 ms 209.85.250.216
8 82 ms 76 ms 77 ms 72.14.232.241
9 81 ms 79 ms 77 ms 216.239.49.126
10 75 ms 77 ms 77 ms gv-in-f147.google.com [216.239.59.147]

Trace complete.

PC1

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : piii-550
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : D-Link DE-528 Ethernet PCI Adapter #
2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-BA-AC-A0-9C
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.4
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. . . . . . . . . . : 30 January 2009 23:43:08
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 02 February 2009 23:43:08

Tracing route to www.l.google.com [66.102.9.147]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms piii-550.mshome.net [192.168.0.1]
2 53 ms 53 ms 52 ms cr0.wskiy.uk.easynet.net [87.87.250.85]
3 49 ms 51 ms 49 ms 87.87.131.97
4 63 ms 63 ms 63 ms 72.14.198.126
5 62 ms 67 ms 61 ms 72.14.198.125
6 98 ms 75 ms 62 ms 209.85.255.175
7 73 ms 73 ms 77 ms 209.85.250.216
8 78 ms 86 ms 78 ms 72.14.232.235
9 90 ms 79 ms 83 ms 64.233.174.18
10 77 ms 75 ms 76 ms lm-in-f147.google.com [66.102.9.147]

Trace complete.



Updated with detailes from both computers if that helps??
 
Last edited:
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