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how about a break from . . .

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by who am i really 2 views

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all these windows password reset questions,
and get back to something else ?

-

here's a problem that's just all of a sudden started on my main workstation,

I now can't access mozilla anything can't update add-ons etc.

the add-ons manager gets nowhere, no network activity shows and all the add-ons report back with
"there was a problem . . ."

and when I phone home to mozilla
(help, > check for updates)
to see if there are any firefox updates
I get a dialog with

"the connection was refused"

wtf.

I even blasted the system today and restored to a month old clean backup
where everything was working up to this past Tuesday
the add-ons manager would report back, "There are no updates for ..."

here's the rub;
if I go over to one of my old win2K boxes on the same network,
I don't have the problem of no access to mozilla . . .
it was working last night an this morning
but when I fired up the main workstation: -> no go, no connecting to mozilla . . .

Spybot S&D says: no problems
MBAM says: no problems
ESET is about 35% into a full scan and has already completed the C:\ with no problems found

this system,
which let's me connect to just about anything else as I'm posting this from the problem workstation

I have an ongoing problem of the BS "server not found"
junk when trying to access MS anything and that happens across the network on any system

but a hearty handful of quick repeated refreshes via the address bar and the enter key I can usually connect but so far no go with mozilla. . .

System:
- XP Pro SP3
- most crapdates: No IE7, or IE8, No WiMP11
- Intel Gigabit Ethernet
- C:\> 40GB; 12.5GB used (SATA)
- D:\> 1,000GB; 50% used (SATA)
- E:\> 1,500GB; 70% used (SATA)
- F:\> 278GB; 26% used (SATA)
- G:\> CD/DVD +-RW multi (E-IDE)
- H:\> CD/DVD +-RW multi (SATA)
- I:\> CD RW (E-IDE)
- J:\> 1,000GB; 50% used (SATA)
- K:\> 1,000GB; 40% used (SATA)

Multi-Card Reader assigned:
W: X: Y: Z:

Firefox 3.5.10 was .11 but can't get updates now

basically need to know what if anything can be done:

I even tried removing & re-installing the NIC before blasting the whole thing to restore from the backup

43 replies

by seanferd

or create a new FF profile and try with that.

Server not found: Clear the resolver cache in your DNS server, and/or all the client local resolver caches (if the DNS service is running) and browser caches. Reboot any routers involved, leaving the power off for 30 seconds or so, to be sure any capacitance has drained off.

by who am i really

I have 7 user accounts on this machine and all have the problem

I've already gone through the reboot of the routers
just not the modem
I might just kick the modem off for the next 4 days, that way I should get a different IP from the ISP when I turn it back on

and I might run this workstation with the network disabled for a few days also

I don't have a DNS server as this is a work-group setup

Firefox is configured to delete "everything" when it's closed

and I also use the:
- tools > clear recent history
menu sometimes frequently

I had to disable the DNS Client service due to a problem with SpyBot S&D causing the service to hang while it reads every one of the 14,000+ badsite.* entries that are all pointed to 127.0.0.1 local host

got to take off for about an hour
(need to fill the fridge)

(thumbs for answering, even if it doesn't solve the problem.)

by seanferd

Maybe have a look at nbtstat, and run
nbtstat -R
after poking around for clues. Check also the LMHOSTS file if in use, as well as HOSTS.

With DNS Client service off, no cache, so nothing to worry about there.

Is the network statically or dynamically addressed?

Are all your LAN queries resolved locally right away, or do they bounce off your internet DNS server first? (If they do, and NXDOMAIN isn't returned, no further attempt to resolve the names locally will occur.)

As to FF, I mean "FF Profile". But I assume each Windows Profile has its own FF Profile. Still, if they were to become corrupted in some way, they can really wreck your browsing under certain conditions. The only way to check is to try a clean, new profile.

Any cache clearing has really nothing to do with this. It's settings gone wrong or conflicts, frequently caused by extensions/add-ons interacting poorly. Removing or disabling the add-ons doesn't always help.

edit: Ooh. http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5034239.html

by who am i really

they're "wired" LAN / WAN ready bathrooms?
complete with a Gigibit ethernet plug
and a secured WAP

so one can twitter whilst shaving or having a sitdown . . .

har har!

by santeewelding

I encountered that -- pre-IT -- was in a five-star Tahoe hotel. Had a telephone hanging by the john. My first and last time.

by who am i really

first I left the system idle
whilst I made the trip to the store to fill the fridge

when I came back and tried to open firefox the window popped up and loaded my email without asking for user / pass info.

after a couple of tests I determined that firefox wasn't exiting

so I left it hung and installed the last missing update which required restart
(the one from 03/Aug./2010 to patch the problem with bad .lnk files
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-046.mspx

I continued to fiddle around and after the third "You must Restart Windows" dialog
I kicked everything off and let it go,

when I logged back in
I did some more fiddling around

ran the command in yer post

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
06/08/2010
1:44:35.70
c:\>nbtstat -R
Successful purge and preload of the NBT Remote Cache Name Table.

whatever that did ?
- - -

opened firefox and tried again
weird the add-ons decided that they'd update now
so I've been going through the different user accounts using "Run As" to save logging off an on to each user

[i]Are all your LAN queries resolved locally right away, or do they bounce off your internet DNS server first[/i]

browsing "My Network Places" is a
"go do something else for a while"
so that the system can figure out whatever it needs to figure out before access is available, but when directly addressing the system\\sharename\ it's instant access every time

I use a Linksys/Cisco RVS4000
DHCP enabled IPS, etc. security router
and all the systems get a dynamically assigned IP address
though I've never seen any system get a different address than the first one assigned to it,
even when the router pokes back and says no you can't renew the lease for that address
(as displayed in the event viewer: DHCP error event id: 1003)

this system always gets the first address: 192.168.xxx.100

and as far as I know no LAN traffic actually leaves the LAN, and everything inside the LAN works (ie. connections between systems) whether the modem is connected or not
but when this particular system is on there's always at least 2 active 127.0.0.1
connections reported in the router
at least 1 UDP and 1 TCP

don't know how a 127.0.0.1 request should be able to leave the local host and end up in the router?

the add-ons I use in multiple systems and users accounts, haven't had a problem before on any other install which is, 5 different systems
not including the XP-Pro SP3 problem system:
1- XP-Pro-64 x86 SP2
2- XP-Pro-32 SP3
2- Win2K SP4

add-ons are:
AdBlock Plus
NoScript
FlashBlock
Better Privacy
FlagFox
FormFox

FormFox is dead with 3.5.4 & up when attempting to install post firefox install
but if it's there from previous versions it works all the way up to the current 3.5.x series and is totally dead with 3.6.x

I'm still waiting for them to fix the problems with:
plugin-container.exe
before I'll consider giving up formfox

anyhow, I'm still not sure this has sorted itself out just yet

but I'm probably still going to kick the modem off for the next couple of days

I took a quick peek at that article you added
and I'll give it a more thorough read when the headache subsides

and I'll check back probably on Monday to see if there are anymore ideas etc.
as I'll have to spend the better part of tomorrow trying to catch up on what I didn't get done today because of this crap
which might just turn out to be a problem on the other end @ mozilla

as I still can't access parts of their sites
like blogs.mozilla.com
and any of the support site questions that show up in google search
say page not found on the mozilla support site
and attempting to use the google cache gives some with nothing at all except an xxxx was not found in any documents
and others appear but only in the cached version

my apologies for the mini novel

thumbs all around
-and thx to Santee for the funnies

by seanferd

after a couple of tests I determined that firefox wasn't exiting

Can you kill the process manually, or does it restart itself?
** http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox.exe_always_open **

nbtstat -R ... whatever that did?

That was for your reported local network problems. It clears the NETBIOS name cache and reloads or rebuilds it. NETBIOS is generally what attempts to resolve machine names in a workgroup.

Since you say that you can resolve shares by name, but it is the attempt to browse the network which hangs, I'm no longer sure what to look at besides checking Event Logs and making sure that the services Computer Browser, Workstation, and any "net*" or "remote*" services needed are set to run automatically on all machines. Make sure your router recognizes all the machines by name. But I have had similar Network Browser slow load issues before with apparently no cause, so maybe someone else has a better idea.

when this particular system is on there's always at least 2 active 127.0.0.1
connections reported in the router
at least 1 UDP and 1 TCP

That is the loopback address - it means that anything sent from the local machine is sent right back to the same machine as the endpoint of the connection. On what page exactly are you seeing this in the router?

As to the Mozilla sites, they could have potentially been down.
http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/

** I would email you this page if you cannot connect.

Hey, it is a good mystery novel so far. No complaints. :D

by who am i really

OK so here's some more details,
and maybe? the final verdict:

- I never bothered to study much about networking
- so I have no idea?
- so far I'm able to make my own cat5/5e, & 6 cables (I bought a 500' cable kit with tools & tester)
- the only networking I ever did before, was direct connections with inter-link in DOS,
I even managed to trick win3.1 into allowing "intersvr.exe" to run on the target system while windows was loaded, technically a "no no"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

-> the browse network places still takes forever;
- but a direct connect shortcut will open the target immediately
- the rest of the info still takes forever to populate but it's in the back ground

ie.
if i have 10 systems running and I use a direct connect shortcut to one of them
the folders pane immediately jumps down to the "My Network Places" and expands the tree into the target,
while the rest of the systems are loaded in the background
if I manually navigate, then everything must load in the foreground,
basically hanging explorer for ages until the list is populated
and at each stage the whole work group list is reloaded causing the browse to take forever until the final destination is opened

ie.
- open/expand: "My Network Places" (hour glass)
- open/expand: "Entire Network" (short delay)
- open/expand: "MS Windows Network" (hour glass)
- open/expand: "work group" (hour glass)
- open/expand: "target system" (hour glass)
- open/expand: "target share" (hour glass)
- open/expand: "any other share / folder etc. on the target system" (instant access)
- if I browse back down to the system name (hour glass)

event viewer shows nothing wrong
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

the page in the router is under:
"Status"
(last tab on the main page)

and the area under the "Gateway" subsection is called:
"Conntrack State"

and the button is called:
IP Conntrack

which opens a pop-up window with all the "active" connections

and it seems that connections between system to other systems are using UDP and not TCP connections
it that normal windows networking?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

my next step is to probably live with it until the day comes where I have no choice but to start from scratch,
as my newly formatted system don't have the slow network places issue (except when this system or one of the older win2K boxes with a 10/100 cards holds the "Master Browser" designation),
but, as this is a production system I can't just willy-nilly dump and re-install.

I'm working on a couple of backup production system, but I'm not finished yet.

thanks for the help!

Cheers

by seanferd

The Network Places sloth, I have never figured out. Next time I run into that behavior, I'll try to run Wireshark and Process Monitor to see what the heck is happening, if I can interpret the output.

I'm surprised no one else has chimed in - surely some of our professional members have seen this. Maybe it is your thread title - no hint at the networking problem.

"Conntrack" - check this when you are actually transferring data across the network - I would expect to see active TCP endpoints. UDP is stateless, and does not guarantee a reliable transport or that the datagrams are not corrupted. But it can broadcast. Probably OK for the LAN, and chances are that the active UDP "connections" are for DHCP, DNS and similar. The router and computers should be listening on several TCP and UDP ports.

Does the machine holding the Master Browser designation change? That may be a problem. If more than one machine thinks it is the master browser, trouble will ensue.

by tobif

This sounds like you are using a DNS server that isn't working well. (Let's hope that's not intentional...)

1. Check which addresses your network adapter has for DNS servers. If you have hardcoded addresses, did you put them there yourself? (Click to properties of your current network adapter, or fire up a command window and issue the command "ipconfig /all")

2. Do the same check on your home router (if applicable)

3. As noted elsewhere in this topic, check that your hosts file doesn't have entries you don't know about. Typical place to look for it is C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc\hosts Unless you have a lot of effectivity tweaks made to your system, the easiest way to edit this file is to locate "Notepad" in your menu structure, right-click on it and "Run as administrator", and then open the hosts file from within Notepad (you'll need to search for "all files" to find the needed one, though.

4. By now you should be using your ISP DNS resolvers. If they're not acting, try to enter some other well known DNS resolvers address in the TCP/IP settings of your current adapter. Google's public DNS has the addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
(If you do this on your laptop, remember that you may need to revert back to Automatic settings when you next time need to use it in a corporate environment or at a public hot spot.)

Good luck!

by tobif

I realize you're playing with domains, and in that case the best thing I can do is to take my towel and go to the gym instead, celebrating that it's Friday and therefore weekend in my part of the world. Good luck!

by who am i really

MS Peer [b]Work Group[/b] network

that's all I have

I can't afford a DC server
nor do I want to be bothered with learning
how to operate a DC

learning win2K and XP has taken me years and I still don't have 1/2 of it figured out

but I learned win3.10 & DOS6.20 to over 80% of the capability of both within a few months

by who am i really

Thanks for the reply:

I never touched the stock settings when I installed the NIC which was 2 years after getting the system with no NIC installed

http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz249/WhatNameShoudIUse/NoAddress.png

as I mentioned before I never bothered to do any in depth study on networking,
so I couldn't tell you what 1/20 of the settings are for or what they do
all I care about is being able to access my files on all my systems and that the crap generally works with the security measures I have setup
and that being:
- no remote desktop (disabled)
- no UPnP (disabled)
- no P2P (disabled)
- no IM (disabled)
- NAT, IPS, DHCP, Firewall routers on the perimeter with dual subnets:
- -> Modem > Router(a) > Router(b) > LAN
- - Router(b) takes the place of a full server at a fraction of the cost

also there's no vista or 7 here as it has been banned from my systems
so run as administrator isn't needed because I am the administrator and must run with an admin. account as most of my applications don't / won't run correctly in LUA
with the exception of Firefox and IE, which in XP can be started as Guest from an admin account,
provided the Guest account has been pre-configured with a password so it will retain settings

hosts file is:
402 KB (411,902 bytes)

I dare not list the contents
as it could create a load of click-able badsite addresses

here's the beginning:

127.0.0.1 localhost
# Start of entries inserted by Spybot - Search & Destroy

followed by over 14,259 lines of "BadSites.???"

edited: updated xx,xxx count, spelling

by tobif

From your screenshot I can see that your ip settings in the computer are all automatic.

(And I also saw my own face there :) )

Now, since you have automatic settings, next step is to check from where you actually get dns resolution.
Open CMD and run the command "ipconfig /all"
It will give you 2 screens of ip settings for all your real and virtual network interfaces. But the interesting part is just the current dns server setting for the ethernet interface, which you should have received from your router.

Now, force a reverse lookup of the dns addresses you got:
"ping -a /dnsaddress/"
You should first get a line with a server name for the dns address, then, possibly, you may get ping replies from the server.
The hostname you get gives some indication about who is serving you dns resolution. If you get a strange name here, that could indicate that someone has managed to inject funny settings in your router or in the DHCP equipment of your ISP.

You can also try to ping a server name, which is not present in your host list or dns cache.
"ping www.aftonbladet.se".
If your computer doesn't know to which ip this should be sent, then dns doesn't work.
If it resolves to an address very different from 192.71.. then your dns is cheating on you. (Don't bother about replies, this server discards ping requests...)

Let's see what you find.

by tobif

By the way, is it possible for the original poster to EDIT the topic of the question. Might prove useful, as you indicate.

As you've seen below, I give a couple of more things to look at, although I'm no professional. But after trying to use internet in a lot of strange places, I've got a bit hardened on these things...

by who am i really

I never have any "Real" Master Browser conflicts, that cause problems
as usually the first system started gets the title

it used to happen when I would start a system and then wake up the old dead laptop from it's sleep,
this would cause an election because both claimed to be the master browser
but that's about it

the only other time I get an event,
but is also of no consequence
is when I shut down the master browser system before shutting down the others it shows in the event viewer of the other system(s)

"... an election has been called because ... couldn't contact the master browser ..."

but so far, I've mainly seen that on the win2K boxes

I did try a 1.25GB file transfer but the router didn't seem to see it as a connection in that window

next time I will try netstat -a to see if I can see the file transfer connections

"the network places sloth"
only thing I've seen when it happens,
is that explorer.exe is not happy about being told "to browse the network"
if I try and exit the explorer window it says: "not responding"
if I put that explorer window into the background by giving focus to anything else even an empty notepad window it finishes a tad bit faster

I expect a slightly tardy response on the two systems with 10/100 cards
but the gigabit systems should be instant
and 4 of them are 2x win2K & 2x XP;
but those are fresh builds where I haven't installed a lot of stuff

I do have a huge hosts file and the DNS Client turned off
but even when I restored the hosts file to the original windows default & re-started the DNS client there was no change to the
speed or functionality,
ie, I still get "look-up errors" and "server not found" when attempting to access MS pages

I used the old "same:same" trick
all my systems have the same user accounts with the same passwords
I did this because I got tired of being denied access to my own files
- NT sucks for home office use
- it's still easier to share files & printers in DOS & win3.1x

the mystery continues

I just might get mad one day and blast the thing and start from scratch
I already have 4 other systems that I need to do that with now, 5 if I count this system
but I need another fully functional production system that I can fall back on while I do this one from scratch
so far I've got one part way ready but it needs more RAM and I need to go through the hassle of installing a vid card. as the integrated seems hosed.

by ansugisalas

To see if some firmware or other system component has been changed since the last successful update?
That's the only avenue of examination I can think of, but then, I don't know much.

by who am i really

thanks for the reply

is there such a thing as update logs for Firefox & add-ons?

the whole problem and the reason I posted was about, Firefox not being able to connect to mozilla to update the add-ons last week
and the on going problem with "Lookup Error" & "Server Not Found"

and then we moved into the slow network places part of the discussion,
which has been a problem since day one with this particular system, when I installed the NIC and the drivers

- Firefox is updating add-ons now

- but still having the tardy network places problem (which may not be resolved until I blast the system and start over)
and the:
- "Lookup Error" & "Server Not Found" problem
when attempting to access MS sites
- this happens on all systems here in both Firefox & IE

by tobif

If MS and a couple of other very prominent sites don't work (typically those, who have fully rolled out IPv6...) then it seems that we in the network branch of this discussion now are on the right way.

by ansugisalas

Routers, Server, other components. OS upgrades, MS Patch Thursday f.ex. that kind of things.

by who am i really

*LAN address Obfuscated to protect the guilty ...

Windows IP Configuration
- Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : doomp
- Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
- Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
- IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
- WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
- DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : abcgy.phub.net.cable.rogers.com

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
- Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : abcgy.phub.net.cable.rogers.com
- Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) 82566DC Gigabit Network Connection

- Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
- Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
- Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
- IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
- Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
- IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 80c1:300:e8e2:300:90fe:ea5c:985a:2f1a
- IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 80c1:300:e8e2:300:219:d1ff:fe3c:52a0
- IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::219:d1ff:fe3c:52a0%4
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xxx.xxx.x (Router Address)
- fe80::21c:10ff:fef6:21ce%4
- DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xxx.xxx.x (Router Address)
- DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.71.255.198
- fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
- fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
- fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
- Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, August 13, 2010 11:48:57
- Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, August 14, 2010 04:28:57

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:
- Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
- Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
- Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
- Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
- IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::ffff:ffff:fffd%5
- Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
- NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:
- Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : abcgy.phub.net.cable.rogers.com
- Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
- Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : C0-A8-96-64
- Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
- IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5efe:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx%2
- Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
- DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
- fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
- fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
- NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

end IPConfig /all
_____________________________________________

I have no DNS Cache:
the DNSClient service is disabled on this and other systems
_

_____________________________________________

c:\>ping -a 64.71.255.198

Pinging dns.rnc.net.cable.rogers.com [64.71.255.198] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 64.71.255.198: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=122
Reply from 64.71.255.198: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=122
Reply from 64.71.255.198: bytes=32 time=41ms TTL=122
Reply from 64.71.255.198: bytes=32 time=41ms TTL=122

Ping statistics for 64.71.255.198:
- Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
- Minimum = 37ms, Maximum = 41ms, Average = 39ms
_

Pinging aftonbladet.se [192.71.xxx.xx] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 192.71.xxx.xx:
- Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
_____________________________________________

by tobif

Looks ok.
From your router, you have automatically received the DNS setting that the router automatically got from rogers.
However, I tend to fell a bit nervous when I've got only one single address for DNS resolution. But I'd guess that Roger is a smart guy and has hidden a whole bunch of fail-overs behind that one single address.
(For backup reasons, you might, though, add one or two google dns servers as number 2 and number 3. That's better done in the settings for the dhcp server in your router. Hard code the Rogers addrss as number 1 and then fill in with one or two google numbers after that.

But, it's interesting that you have ip-v6.
IP v6 is good, it's the future.
But it's also dangerous, because a lot of people and boxes on the internet don't know enough about it (And I'm on of them :( )
The adsress(es) to ipv6 dns look a bit too simple to me.

So, it could be that things go wrong when ip-v6 gets into the picture.

Unless you really need ip-v6 all the time, I'd propose, as an experiment, that we turn it off.

So, bring up the properties of your ethernet link and try to disable TCPIP v6. (In Vista you'd uncheck a box next to the protocol, but I can see from your screen shot that these dialogs have changed. Try the tab for advanced TCP/IP settings.)

Eagerly waiting for your results :)

by seanferd

Disable or overwrite with a dot (.) any DNS suffix configurations (put there by DHCP from the ISP). These are mostly just an annoyance and tend to break stuff. Get it out of the router if you see a way as well.

Disable all IPV6 networking on the workstations and router if you do not use IPv6 and have it fully configured.

Wait, no, three things. Our three main weapons are... Disable IPv6 if unused, disable DNS search suffixes & suffix lists, and your workstations should be pointing to the LAN address of the router for DNS server - only the router should be pointing to any internet DNS servers. This breaks local name resolution horribly!.

Oh, and replace the Rogers DNS server with Google, Level3, or OpenDNS public DNS server addresses. Your internet experience may improve noticeably.

That's four. Our four main weapons are... Wait, let me come in again...

by oldbaritone

That's the response I get when our server administrators block a page on the proxy server.

Are you using a proxy? (Do you INTEND to be using a proxy?) Is it properly configured, and has anyone blocked access to mozilla.org?

Good luck.

by who am i really

thanks for replying:

- using "proxy" along with a host of other crap, is disabled in the router config.
( http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz249/WhatNameShoudIUse/NoProxy.png )

- there's no one else with access to these systems to try and use a proxy

- there's no IT dept. here, as this is my work group in my home / office

- as it stands Mozilla access is working again

just the other two remain:
- tardy network places
- "Server not found" & "Lookup Error" on MS pages (which don't happen every time but enough to be annoying)

by seanferd

I'm just a stumped as you are on this issue - I've seen it come and go, but never discovered any method to identify the actual problem and rectify it.

So, unless one of our hyper-intelligent, pan-dimensional IT experts knows what the issue is, the only way i can ever find out is to have the problem crop up again and do some heavy diagnostic logging.

As to the router, yeah, it looks to me like Conntrack should be showing more information about active ports/protocols when you are transferring files on the LAN.

by who am i really

stuff all started around May 2010,
around the same time when they rolled out ?more of? the updates for DNSSEC

coincidence or not I don't know

but I'm thinking that because my ISP is a bunch of greedy feces
that they are in no hurry to upgrade their equipment

my outer router is a bit older I may try and replace that sometime in the future
but by then I'll have grown fed up with my current ISP and may give them the boot also

just don't have the cash flow right now as I just placed an order for around $500.00 of parts etc.

by seanferd

and your router is unable to fall back to TCP. I have no idea if this is the case or not, but it is already causing problems.

by tobif

You can still use the internet access facilities Mr Roger (Moore?) offers you, but you don't need to ask him where to find www.aftonbladet.se or www.tra.gov.ae.

Things seem to brek in those cases you get long ipv6-enabled dns responses from Moore(?).

So, routers ip-settings for the WAN, leave automatic settings for ip-address, subnet mask and gateway, but hardcode a couple of ipv4 addresses to the public DNS service of your choice.

I found this list of addresses, just pick and choose...
http://www.tech-faq.com/public-dns-servers.html

But if your public ip-address is dynamic, then be careful with opendns. It may, occassionally, give filtered dns-service, if your current ip address just has been used by someone with active family filter etc.

And, as Seanferd wrote: if you use logical names for internal addressing inside your own network (and your router has a built-in dns resolver, then instruct the router to give its own ip-address as the only dns-server to the dhcp-clients.)

by tobif

The router's log may be more centered around what's being handled by the firewall&NAT. Connections between computers inside your network are routed on a much lower level, where the switch functionality handles this "on pure instincts"...

by the 'g-man.'

1. Type about:config in location bar
2. Find(scroll down to) network.dns.disableIPv6
3. Right click on above item
4. Choose toggle

by tobif

In which program do you need to do this?

I can replicate these instructions only in Mozilla Firefox, and that would instruct Firefox to not bother about IPv6.

But, if the system as a whole still tries to use IPv6 for other applications, then this approach would mean that we only fix the symptom, leaving the cause intact.

by seanferd

That would be for a Mozilla browser.

TCP/IP config for the OS as a whole. Routers? Wherever your router vendor decided to hide this.

Probably good to kill support in the browser (as well as all the prefetching settings).

by who am i really

... it's just been really busy around here.

and with all the info in the multiple replies it has started to get a bit confusing
_

also I just added another system to the network,
a 2005 XP HP laptop
and it doesn't have the tardy network places issue,
browsing the network on it is instant access
_

only the first 2 systems I setup have this problem of tardy network places

and the only thing I can attribute it to is:
- both had the NIC disabled from the beginning of the XP install,
- - (I don't buy OS pre-installed systems)
- both were SP3 added after
- one started at SP1, then to SP2
- the second one started at SP2
- the networking stack wasn't installed on either until much later
- one ran almost 2 years as standalone
- the second one for several months

- and as these first systems were my "teacher boxes":
- I learned everything I know about XP on these boxes and obviously made some errors in the beginning:
- like while learning what the each of the "Services" do and not finding any decent detailed resources, and then stopping the RPC Service (oops nothing works if you do that)
_

then I decided that I would build a network
after I got tired of the USB stick swapping to move files,
as after a day long recording session, it would take several stick swaps to transfer all the files to the editing system
_

I don't know of any system on the LAN using any IPV6 addressing
all systems get a standard IPV4 address
192.168.xxx.xxx

or if it is enabled, how it got that way etc.

I do know that the router is operating in some sort of mixed mode

and that IPV6 address only show up in the
IPConfig /all

_

my next project is to get the laptop configured and ready to be a fully functional part of the team

after that I'll probably breakdown and do a fresh install on the Number 2 system:
- as I need it to be in better working condition than it is currently.
- and slimmed down just a bit, there's too much junk installed on it.
- and I can take all my learning and do a better job this time (hopefully MS doesn't make me call them to get the XP activation).
_
_

Thanks all for the answers!

things are sort of working with the direct link network shortcuts work around for now,
that I can live with it for a while,
and as I have a lot of work on the go, making any drastic changes would put me further behind than I already am and that wouldn't be good

and since it's only MS sites I get the:
"Server Not Found" & "Lookup Error"

I'm not that concerned,
as it's only the MS sites,
and I don't see the problem going away any time soon and probably won't until I replace the outer 8 year old 10/100 router with a newer model.

by seanferd

https://www.techrepublic.com.com/5208-7343-0.html?forumID=101&threadID=334403&messageID=3342641

That post is pretty much what I'd suggest for the network, given what we currently know. If the workstations are pointing at external servers for DNS (check the new XP system with no browse issues), this breaks local resolution. I bet the new box is pointing at the router's LAN address, which would be correct.

If you see IPv6 stuff in ipconfig /all, it is not off, and will cause problems which I see fairly frequently.

All the computer settings you can find in the TCP/IP config, sometimes you have to dig a bit (well, click the Advanced button anyway).

by tobif

If you have had the systems around for quite a long time, out of which they have worked a lot standalone, you have played a lot with the systems, and nobody knows, what ugly things may have entered the systems occasionally via USB sticks...
I'd suggest a clean cut:
1. Backup any data you want to keep.
2. Format the hard drive
3. Reinstall windows
3b. Apply all updates (While doing this, you must be protected from internet by a NAT and don't visit any other sites.)
4. Put back your data.
5. Make a backup system image (So you may reinstall the computer with less hazzle next time)

EditAdd: Probably best to swap point 4 and 5, the data will change until next time, and you'll get a smaller image. EndEditAdd

This would hopefully solve your problems.
But: The screen shots in the beginning of this discussion didn't look like xp, to me.
In XP, you disable tpv6 by going to the properties for your internet connections, and in the list of protocols, you take away the tick mark next to "TCP/IP v6".
(If you don't use file&printer sharing, then you can also disable it, along with "windows client", which is the corresponding service on the client side.)

by who am i really

thumbs all around for the replies:

- here's the final verdict:

?I will at some point in time do the dump & re-install of both previously stand alone systems:
- while I would use DBAN or HDDErase on an unknown HDD or virus damaged system
- there's probably no need for DBan as most likely, I will be changing the HDD when I redo the system(s)

- my main irritation / problem with doing this is that what I need to "backup" can't be backed up as a regular backup, because it's all OS configuration info, such as a dump truck load of group policy changes and manual registry hacks etc.
- I never store any user data on C:\ (other than what I'm forced to specifically what's in documents & settings)
- I do have a base image, but it's well past the tombstone age,
- also, it would take me back to where I would be in about 5 hours from a fresh install but still with the stand alone no NIC config.
- I do use file / print sharing that's what all my win2K boxes are for, holding massive HDDs and the files on them
- when I install a system I get (almost, no IE7 or 8 no WiMP11 only 10) all of the updates while in a mostly default config. including the XP firewall etc.
- the only thing I disable immediately is the stupid auto(virus-infection)run / auto(malware-installer)play in Group Policy, as well as switch to classic mode
and then drop the WinNT4-SP6 File Manager onto the C:\

- I'm always behind a dual cascaded, Security NAT IPS etc. router config.
which is as follows:
-> Modem
- -> Router(A) first subnet
- - -> Router(B) second subnet
- - - -> switches & PCs

- the screen shots; it is XP if it's got green in it, I transfer that theme to every XP box I setup
- also I use Classic everything:
- - Classic Start Menu
- - Classic Control Panel
- - Classic Square Windows
etc.

- right now I don't have the 60 plus hours needed to flatten and re-install my main production system, and as the only current irritation is the tardy network places
I have sort of squashed that by creating full path direct shortcuts
as well as, when I have the need I can always use:
Pushd \\networkpath...

and get a drive letter out of it.

cheers

by seanferd

when you get around to it.

I really hate doing re-installs for myself any more. I used to do it on a regular basis, esp. for 95/98, but I must have grown lazy.

When you get to it, have fun storming the castle! :)

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