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by garthramsay

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When connected (dial up) I can view web pages for 3 to 4 minutes before Cannot display page, server not found message comes up.

Connection is still present and I can successfully ping or tracert.

Disconnecting and redialing gives me another three or four minutes.

Downloading files keeps going

Adaware and Spybot show nothing and I have scanned with Mcafee and Norton with no problem.

Running XP SP2 and have disabled anti virus , fitrwall and everything else I can think of

Thought it was an IE6 problem but the same thing happens using Firefox

Did once see a message flashing through the screen about stack overflow 0 - thought this was not an XP thing!

Any ideas?

Garth

3 replies

by softcorp.us

Hello...

Very peculiar.

The "server not found" message indicates that the domain name cannot be resolved to an IP address. This is a DNS issue. So, it is consistent that downloads can keep going as there is no DNS resolution during a download that was started before the DNS resolution began to fail. And, it is consistent that the problem happens with IE and FireFox.

What is still a mystery is why it works for a few minutes and then stops working. It suggests an ISP problem.

Regarding: "Connection is still present and I can successfully ping or tracert"

Are you entering an IP address or a domain name requiring resolution?

Suggestions:

- Presumably, your ISP is providing a dynamic IP address to you via DHCP.

- Be sure your network configuration is set to "Obtain IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically".

- Does your PC have a wireless and/or wired NIC? If so, disable them and see if the problem goes away.

- Consult with your ISP about losing the ability to resolve domain names through DNS as that is the apparent problem. You should be able to demonstrate this to them via PING that works during the first 3-4 minutes and stops working afterward.

Did this help?

-----Steve Jackson

CEO/CSA
Software Corporation (Softcorp)
http://www.softcorp.us/probono
Advanced pro bono tools and utilities free for personal use

by softcorp.us

Hello Garth...

NIC
===
NIC = Network Interface Card -- Your ethernet card or port. If you have multiple network interfaces, the idea was to try disabling all except the one you are trying to use. This will ensure there are no packet routing problems. In your case, your dial-up connection is one of the "NICs". Other "NICs" could be a wired or wireless ethernet interface. Disable them "Network Connections". But, shouldn't be the problem because routing and DNS continue to work.

PING AND NO BROWSE
==================
Yes. There is no DNS resolution problem because you can ping the domain name when the browser reports "server not found". Something else is the cause.

IE BROWSER CACHE?
=================
Running out of ideas that don't contradict other things...

Temporarily ignore that FireFox also fails.

Let's review: Network routing still works. DNS still works. Downloads continue after browsing stops stops working. This points to the browser itself as the problem.

It is as if port 80 (web browsing) is allowed for 3-4 minutes and then disallowed.

When IE cannot connect to a server, it sometimes does not report it right away and will display a cached copy of a page. To prove IE is getting fresh pages during the first 3-4 minutes, go to a website with frequently changing content like CNN.COM.

WEBSITE PROBLEM
===============
Running out of ideas: Is the website the problem? Proof: Try to browse multiple websites.

DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACK?
=========================
Out-of-the-box: If your PC were being attacked with a large number of packets as in a denial of service attack, web browsing might fail in this way but small quick things like PING might not. The attack might not start for 3-4 minutes hence the correlation with time. After the browsing fails, check your PING response time vs. before the failure (would be higher) and your connection "packets received" count on the "Status" window (would be rising continuously).

-----Steve

by garthramsay

Dear Steve

Thanks for taking the time to try and help

Problem is that even when I can receive nothing but the "Server not found" message I can ping and tracert both an IP address and a domain name - so it does not feel like a DNS resolution issue...

I can connect to the same ISP through other computers without problem.

To answer your specific points

ISP provides dynamic address

Network config is as you suggest

Not sure I understand this one - NIC=Network Internet Connection? At the moment the machine is stand alone and I have tried disabling the on board Network adapter.

As above DNS continues to resolve even after IE6/Firefox cannot connect!

Only other indication that may be relevant is that often the last page that I can open (before I get back to Server not found) does not load fully - often the pictures are not loaded.

Any further thoughts?

Garth

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