Quick question for those of you who are more informed than I in the finer details of the Internet. All morning, I’ve been trying to go to a site that I go to each day (including yesterday). For some reason, I can’t bring it up now. I sent the link to a few friends, and they’ve both been able to access it without a problem. I’m wondering why my computer (or their site) isn’t allowing me to access the site. I have a fairly significant financial investment in the site, so I really hope that someone has some advice to offer. Thanks a lot, and Merry Christmas!
First of all, make sure your friends have caching disabled. If they have been to the site before and it is cached, they may be seeing an old version. In IE do Tools → Internet Options → Settings → Choose Every Visit To The Page.
If that's it, then it is a problem with the web site. If not, then it is probably a problem on your end. Are you getting a specific error, or is it the default page cannot load message?
Your cache might be full. Try going to “Tools > Internet Options” and under “Temporary Internet Files”, click on “Delete Files” (assuming, of course, that you are running Internet Explorer). And assuming you didn’t fiddle with some other setting on your PC or browser 
No luck with either suggestion:( I’m still getting the “this page cannot be displayed” message. The problem is definitely on my end, as my friends were able to access it without a problem. Anyone else have any magic tricks up their sleeves?
There can be any number of reasons. Can you possibly tell us exactly what is happening, you know, diet, training, etc…whoops. Just kidding. Seriously, if there is an error message can you tell us what it is? Your computer might just need a reboot, you can try the other suggestions listed above (however I would not recommend turning off caching if you have a slow connection). If you are getting a message that seems to be coming from the site then that’s a different story. Also it is possible that your ISP simply could not reach the site.
Again, tell us what kind of messages you are getting.
I always have two browsers installed on my computer and use a dial up as well as my cable connection to cross check such scenarios.
Here it is. Again, it isn’t a problem on their end:
The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.
Please try the following:
Click the Refresh button, or try again later.
If you typed the page address in the Address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly.
To check your connection settings, click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Connections tab, click Settings. The settings should match those provided by your local area network (LAN) administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).
If your Network Administrator has enabled it, Microsoft Windows can examine your network and automatically discover network connection settings.
If you would like Windows to try and discover them,
click Detect Network Settings
Some sites require 128-bit connection security. Click the Help menu and then click About Internet Explorer to determine what strength security you have installed.
If you are trying to reach a secure site, make sure your Security settings can support it. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Advanced tab, scroll to the Security section and check settings for SSL 2.0, SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0, PCT 1.0.
Click the Back button to try another link.
Cannot find server or DNS Error
Internet Explorer
Eric, you have to turn off the porn filter. After that, you can go back to your favorite site at your leisure. 
Eric, Open a dos window, type Ping www.yoursitename.com Your computer will now try and reslove the IP number to the URL, If it is able to do that, it will now ping the ip number and you should see replys from the internet site. This tells you two things, the DNS (Domain Name server) is working and that the site is up. You can now start to trouble shoot your Web Browser/Firewall applications. If you get a message “Bad Ip address” then your DNS is down and your system cannot resolve the name(I don’t think this is the problem as you can sccess this site just fine). IF your system can resolve the name (You see an Ip address) but you get no reply from the IP number type TRACERT XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX where the XXX is the IP number of your Web Site. Tracert will send you back the IP number of every router that your packet crosses and help you to see where your packet is getting lost. Thats if your packet does not cross a firwall or router that blocks or filters tracert information(snmp packets).
This will help you to figgure out if the problem is on your end or your ISP. If your tracert comes back with a “Destination net unreachable”, It at least gets you to the IP address where you last knew your packet got to and you can report it it your ISP so they can trouble shoot it. Again if your trace comes back clean, no errors, then we can start looking at your Browser and any firewall software you have installed. Hope some of this has helped.
Ok, a couple other questions?
Are you at work? If so, are you behind a firewall? If so, would your company have any reason to block access to the site you are trying to access?
Do other websites load without error? Have you installed any new software recently?
Sorry, about all the questions, but there could be a million different reasons as to why this is happening.
Download another browser, such as “Opera (at www.opera.com, naturally)” and try accessing the site through it.
Try this and let us know if the error changes. Click on Tools → Internet Options → Advanced (tab) → uncheck the option for “Show friendly HTTP error messages”. Hopefully this will give you a more detailed error.
Also, you made sure to turn your friends caching off and try it again, right? Your friends may be looking at a page from a few days ago, and don't realize it.
Still no luck. At home, no firewalls, no recently installed software. I last accessed this site on the 23rd.
Colin-What’s with the “Ping www.yourwebsite.com” thing? I have no idea what a “dos window” is. I tried to just type it into the address bar of a separate explorer screen, but it read it like it was just a separate URL.
Interestingly, my laptop is one of two computers in the house. The desktop and modem are upstairs and connected to a hub and router. I can’t see anything that would have caused this to occur spontaneously. I CAN’T access the site on the desktop either.
I case you’re interested, the site is www.playersbet.com. I do my online gambling through them, so they have some of my $$$:( Not as frowned upon as porn, DocT, but it’s still of concern. Thanks for all your help, guys.
Sorry, not much help but it came up fine on mine.
To get a DOS prompt go to Start → Run and type cmd, then hit enter. This will bring up a window with something like C:>. Type in ping www.playersbet.com and hit enter. Chances are you will get something like Request Timed Out.
Also, I would get into contact with someone at the site (ask your friends to look around for an email address/phone number). Maybe there is something in your firewall you aren't aware of that is blocking it. Good luck.
Are you using Windows? If so, what version? Are you using Internet Explorer? If so, what version? Are there any other websites you cannot access? Does the error occur on the desktop or laptop? What router and modem do you own? It’s nearly impossible to pinpoint what is wrong with your diet if we only know one of your meals includes cottage cheese.
I think it’s time for another pissing match on the phone with Adelphia’s Tech Support. Thanks anyway, everyone.
Hey Eric, Since you say you cannot get to the site on either computer I am starting to suspect a problem with your Router,ISP or the web site. If you click on start → run and type command you will see the Dos prompt. A ping is a small packet that one IP address sends to another to find out if that IP is alive.
It’s like “Hey you there” and the other says “Yes” If you can reach him. The IP number for your web address is 200.9.61.94
I just tried to ping it from here in NE Ohio (c:\ping 200.9.61.94) and I did not get a reply, A trace shows the packets getting dropped at 63.216.0.18
Colin-I spoke with the tech support at Adelphia today. The “troubleshooting for dummies” explanation they gave me was as follows:
Most sites do all their major site maintenance on holidays when traffic is low (in this case, when there aren’t any games to bet on).
When they’re done, and have to get back up and running, they must reestablish a connection with not only ISPs, but different regions from each ISP (some locations serve several T1s). This can take up to 7 days (if it occurs at all).
Again, I’m an Exercise Science and Sports Management double major; I don’t know a whole lot about computer science. As such, my explanation is probably oversimplified and erroneous in some regards. Nonetheless, I’ll probably call the people in charge in the next day or two to see if anyone else has reported any trouble. Thanks again for all your help; I really appreciate it!
Problem solved. Would you believe that they changed their IP address to 216.194.167.153 without notifying anyone?