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Michael MurphyFlag for Ireland

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Why cannot I access internet sites when my ' Internet status' is 'Connected'.

Dell dimension 2350 OS Windows XP home edition, Service pack two
Trying to connect successfully to Internet


I am connected to the internet with LAN - wired connection. When I look at it in the window 'Local Area Connections', I see: "Connected, Firewalled, Broadcom 440 X 10/100 etc." So it is connected.
However when I  open my browser it attempts to open WWW. Google.ie but  cuts out after a few seconds and I get the following: @Internet Explorer Cannot Open Site and is ......  aborted".  When I type the address of a familiar site in the address bar the Page begins to open  but shortly after  it cuts out and I get the same message.  The process is aborted.
I disabled the Firewall, but the same thing happened. What could be causing this?

( Because I also have wireless broadband here, I have attached a Wireless adaptor to the system through a USB port (TP-Link Wireless Adaptor) and installed the driver. The Wireless broadband shows up on Network connections as connected, but when I run my browser the same thing as above happens. It cuts out...  and the page I want to open does not appear.)
Why cannot I access internet sites when my status is "connected"?
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Surone1
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could have a lot of causes really. first off your url has to be translated into an ip. then the server at that IP has to be reachable and up.

you can check both by typing :
ping www.google.ie

if it says it cannot find the host. then you have  a DNS problem.
if you get timeouts it hints toward a problem in communication between your machine and the server.
when you tried the wireless, did you disable/disconnect the lan connection? if not try that and see if wireless works.
Try two things:

1. Reset TCP/IP
      
Open cmd.exe with Run as Administrator
Then  netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt
Also, ipconfig /flushdns followed by net stop dnscache followed by net start dnscache
Then restart the computer

2. Upgrade to SP3.
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CompProbSolv
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Answer to Surone1 above.
Ran Ping WWW google.ie
It came up with  74-125-24-94
But no sooner did this appear than the screen disappeared (cut out) so I had to run it several times to see what was on it. Is this what you call a 'time out'. What to do?
it mooks like malware
do an AV scan on your PC, then run these
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php                         MBAM
http://majorgeeks.com/RogueKiller_d6983.html                  Roguekiller
John Hurst's first suggestion.
Ran it through successfully. But it made no difference.

ComProbSolve's  Request. Here are the SCREENSHOTS  you want to see.

Surone1's comment: I disabled wireless. But it made no difference. I disabled Lan but made no difference.
Screenshot-1.bmp
Screenshot-2.bmp
At this point:

1. Check for viruses as suggested above.
2. Do you have the XP install CD?  You can run a repair without reinstalling.
3. You might try re-running SP2 (download it). You can reinstall SP2 in XP and that sometimes can fix things.
Have run both RogueKiller and the Anti-Malware program. Nothing found. Of course I was not able to update the virus date base  because no internet. I downloaded setup file from other computer and installed it in this PC.
I have done the REPAIR without reinstalling. Also I have installed SP 2 from a CD. I will try downloading it on the working PC and running it on the faulty one.
Go to Control Panel then Internet Options, click on Connections tab.  Select "LAN settings" make sure "Us a proxy server for your LAN..." is NOT selected and does NOT have an address in there.

If it does, uncheck it, select "Automatically detect settings" and run Malwarebytes on your computer since you have malware.
>>  Of course I was not able to update the virus date base  because no internet  <<  then it's not sure it is not malware

>>  Also I have installed SP 2  <<  you mean it is not even on SP3 ??  first install that
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/microsoft_windows_xp_service_pack_3.html
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Ping can work where there is a bad gateway but browsing will not work. I had that issue some years back.
o.k. so your DNS seems to work at the least.
next time you want to open a command window to use commands like ping and others suggested here. that way it will not immediately close after executing the command.
you can do that by selecting start>run... from the menu, or by pressing the windows and "R" key. then type "cmd" or "command" to open a command shell.

have you tried a different browser?
How can I install a different browser? I downloaded the setup file for google chrome on a different PC and then tried to install it on the problem PC. However it only went so far and stalled, presumably because it needs Internet?
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Good News. The problem is solved. I successfully installed Firefox from a setup file downloaded on a working PC.  It worked. In fact I am using the PC (formerly with the problem) to access Experts Exchange and post this.
Thanks for all who helped and advised. I saw some of my old friends and welcome the new ones who contributed.
Good news and I was happy to help.
Thanks for help on this. I am not very good at allocating points, but this seems to be the best I could do.