asked on

IE 8 and Firefox can't access certain sites

One of the computers at work (President's) can't access certain sites. For example vettech.org. I can access it from other computers with no problem. I doubt that she has made changes to any settings, however, I obviously don't know that for sure. My question is where do I begin looking to find the problem. FYI she is not using any proxy server. Points are at max because this is important. I also turned off her anti-virus and that didn't help.

David Kroll

You could check the hosts file.

J.R. Sitman

ASKER

No clue what that means. Details please.

MaxterJF

Well... one thing... what error does she get when trying to access the website? Is it an error 404 or something else?

Kendor

you find it seomwhere like: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

theres usually some explanation in there

J.R. Sitman

ASKER

page displays, IE cannot disply the web page.

J.R. Sitman

ASKER

here is the host file

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

Kendor

all good there...

amgat

Just a though... IE sometimes have problems coping with cache. Perhaps clearing the cache could solve the problem?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Kendor

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J.R. Sitman

ASKER

ok, I'll clear the cache and post later.

phototropic

Try resetting the browser:

IE - Tools - Options - Advanced - Reset

Clear temp files using a good tmp.file cleaner:

http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?Itemid=223&id=29&option=com_content&task=view
http://www.atribune.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=25
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard

What os is it? If you're using XP, try the winsockxp fix:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winsockxpfix.html

If still a problem, suspect malware. I would try scanning with HitMan Pro 64-bit:

http://www.surfright.nl/en/downloads/

Or Mbam:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

You can reset your hosts file using Mvps:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Please post any scan logs here for review.

Steven Vona

Some troubleshooting steps:

(this needs to be done on the command line > Start > Run > CMD)
can you ping by FQDN?
ping vettech.org

Can you lookup the address with nslookup?
nslookup vettech.org

if nslookup gives you an IP address can you ping the IP?
ping <IP returned from nslookup>

J.R. Sitman

ASKER

It turns out the ptoblem was our DHCP server needed re-booting. Kendor's post about pinging the website gave me a clue. Anyone have a problem with me awarding the points to that post?

phototropic

No problem whatsoever.

David Kroll

Strange that the DHCP server affected only that one machine. Give the points however you see fit.

J.R. Sitman

ASKER

Turns out it was several machines but only one person mentioined it. When I started testing I found out it wasn't just one.

David Kroll

Ah, that makes more sense.

J.R. Sitman

ASKER

For anyone reading this post, please note the comment in ID 34114289.

Thanks to everyone for their help.