UPDATE
Okay, here’s an update. Thanks for the help so far, and I’d appreciate more.
I thought the modem has just died since nothing else worked, so I checked around to see if I could finally get the frock off of dial-up. I did! I got DSL and got it all set up.
But… same problems. When I open Firefox or Thunderbird I get an error saying the web page (any web page) or my email server can’t be found. Same thing it was doing on the old dial-up.
Any new ideas?
Oh yeah, and here’s the real catch: If I start up in Safe mode, it works. Just not in normal mode. DSL tech support said that sounded like a firewall issue. I turned off the Windows firewall and it doesn’t work that way either (so I turned it back on.)
[quote]Chris Shugart wrote:
UPDATE
Okay, here’s an update. Thanks for the help so far, and I’d appreciate more.
I thought the modem has just died since nothing else worked, so I checked around to see if I could finally get the frock off of dial-up. I did! I got DSL and got it all set up.
But… same problems. When I open Firefox or Thunderbird I get an error saying the web page (any web page) or my email server can’t be found. Same thing it was doing on the old dial-up.
Any new ideas? [/quote]
I imagine that you’ve already covered the basics with your provider. You’re getting an IP from your ISP and the settings are correctly configured in your TCP/IP setup.
First, check internet connectivity.
Try pinging a known site:
C:>ping www.oracle.com
Pinging www.oracle.com [141.146.8.66] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 141.146.8.66: bytes=32 time=64ms TTL=241
Reply from 141.146.8.66: bytes=32 time=64ms TTL=241
Ping statistics for 141.146.8.66:
Packets: Sent = 2, Received = 2, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 64ms, Maximum = 64ms, Average = 64ms
If that doesn’t work, try pinging the IP address directly:
C:>ping 141.146.8.66
Pinging 141.146.8.66 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 141.146.8.66: bytes=32 time=65ms TTL=241
Reply from 141.146.8.66: bytes=32 time=65ms TTL=241
If the first one fails, but the second succeeds, it would appear to be a DNS issue. You should check your configured DNS servers in your setup. Also, make sure you don’t have a personal firewall (or hardware router) blocking port 53.
If neither works, you might have a corrupted IP stack. This might be the case if you’ve recently erased spyware from your machine. If that is the case, you can try the following to reinstall the IP stack on Windows:
Also, Quicktime and other non-web page, non-email things won’t connect either. If that makes any difference.
[quote]Chris Shugart wrote:
Oh yeah, and here’s the real catch: If I start up in Safe mode, it works. Just not in normal mode. DSL tech support said that sounded like a firewall issue. I turned off the Windows firewall and it doesn’t work that way either (so I turned it back on.)
[/quote]
Follow the procedure from the bottom link of my previous post. Internet access that only works in Safe Mode is a common symptom of a corrupted IP stack.
Alternatively, check here: LSP-Fix - a free program to repair damaged Winsock 2 stacks
Make sure you do not have any proxy servers installed on Firefox.
Tools
Options
General
Connection Setting
It should be set to ‘Direct Connection to the internet’.
what pookie said.
Yes, Quicktime etc. often use your browser settings to connect. That’s why I think you have something strange in your connection setting in your browser options.
I think the reason why you find it works in safe mode is that the browser settings are all stored in your user specific information. Whenever you load up fully these settings are applied and you aren’t able to use your browser properly…
But - could be wrong, best guess at a distance. Hope it works out.
[quote]oxymoron wrote:
Make sure you do not have any proxy servers installed on Firefox.
Tools
Options
General
Connection Setting
It should be set to ‘Direct Connection to the internet’.
[/quote]
Checked this. All is correct already. But thanks for the idea.
Checking into Pookie’s ideas now.
How sure are you that you are not running any other firewall programs (Not the Windows Firewall)? Some antivirus programs have them included so it might help to double check that. If you used to have broadband, it seems as if you’d almost have to have had some sort of 3rd party firewall program.
Bingo! I think we’ve hit on something.
I turned off the Norton Anti-Virus firewall and it worked.
Thank you!
My only concern now is I’ve turned off my Norton firewall, which is bad, right? Any way to make it work but leave my internet alone?
If you have the Windows Firewall on, you are better off leaving the Norton one off. They can conflict with each other.
Yeah, you should definitely only have either Norton or the Windows Firewall on, not both. I’m guessing that’s already the case, though, since Norton’ll bitch if the Windows firewall is enabled.
In my experience, Norton Internet Security is a real pain in the ass. In its default state, it tends to like to block all Internet traffic without telling you about it. Which version are you using? 2005?
I don’t know much about computers, but I do know that I have a problem when I move between my work and home connections. I have to go to “Tools” on my Firefox page and then go to “Options” and then to “General” and then to “Connection Settings”, and switch between “manually configure”, which is what I need for my office, and “autodetect” which is what I need for home.
If it’s set incorrectly I get the same error message you describe.
Hope that helps.
Thanks as always, everyone. I’ll leave the Windows firewall up and leave the Norton off.
Wow, I’m on DSL at home finally!
Now to go checkout (finally!) those butt and rack threads in the Sex and the Male Animal section.
[quote]Chris Shugart wrote:
Bingo! I think we’ve hit on something.
I turned off the Norton Anti-Virus firewall and it worked.
[/quote]
You still should probably use the LSP Fix that Pookie linked in his post to remove the corrupted Norton Firewall LSP. Even totally uninstalling the Norton Firewall software will not guarantee removal.
FWIW, I’ve been having some of my clients try alternatives to Symantec products lately, and they’ve been having fewer problems. Check out Panda products: www.pandasoftware.com good stuff.