Cannot Connect to the Internet

winston · Post by **winston** » 14 Mar 2003 3:25 pm

Hello again. The other day I was fooling around with some karaoke files in my computer when it made a glitch. Now I cannot connect to the internet. The computer connects and when IE loads it tries to go to my homepage I get "Page cannot be displayed" at the bottom of the page it says "Cannot find server or DNS Error." My other computer will go to the homepage when IE opens, even if working offline. When the glitch first happened it took out my modem. I got the modem back. I have deleted the network adaptor and reinstalled it, same results. I am sure there are damaged files but I have no idea which files do what. Anyone have any suggestions other than dynamite. thanks Winston May

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 14 Mar 2003 9:54 pm

Winston-- Probably a simple problem AND a simple solution. Your browser needs to know what to display when you initially log onto the internet so you must provide the URL (address) of the desired 'page'.

In MSIE that is done in TOOLS/INTERNET OPTIONS under the 'General' tab. The first part of that dialogue window provides a box into which you type the appropriate URL. Or you can first navigate to a site and then use the 'Current' option or you can specify using a BLANK page.

If you wish to use the same 'Home Page' as on the other computer, check what it has and type that same URL into the problem machine.

--Everett <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Everett Cox on 14 March 2003 at 09:55 PM.]</p></FONT>

winston · Post by **winston** » 15 Mar 2003 4:23 am

Everett, That was the first thing I checked. No matter what you do IE will not show any page, not just my homepage. I tried to go to other sites, same message. I forgot to mention I am running a 800 processor, pentium III, with 512 Omb ram. thanks Winston

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 15 Mar 2003 12:06 pm

Re-install I.E.

That will set everything back to default.
Then set-up the home-page as you had it.

I would off-load any URL's in the "Favorites" option and the e-maill address book before theh re-install tho. This will keep you from haveing to re-type all this back in to the system.

Hope this helps.

winston · Post by **winston** » 15 Mar 2003 9:07 pm

Bill, thanks for the reply. I have a IE cd coming from microsoft, I hope you are right. thanks Winston

erik · Post by **erik** » 16 Mar 2003 5:08 am

Did you try checking your DNS settings in your internet connection setup?

winston · Post by **winston** » 16 Mar 2003 5:34 am

Erik, Yes I went over them several times. Whatever makes IE work is where I think the problem is. Could it be my modem? It dials up fine and connects to my IP but the browser just will not load. thanks Winston

Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 16 Mar 2003 7:38 am

Winston,

Have you tried clearing your cache on the browser? In IE you can go to "Tools" and then scroll down to "Internet Options" and there will be a bunch of options for you to clear. Another thing to try is to release/renew your IP address. While you are dialed up to your ISP, I want you to go to a DOS prompt. In Win98, you can go to START, then RUN, then type "command". Obviously don't use the quotes. In Win2000 and XP, go to RUN and type "cmd".
At the DOS prompt I want you to type IPCONFIG /release
It will release your current IP information from your ISP. Then I want you to type IPCONFIG /renew

That should give you a renewed IP address from your isp.

Then try and browse to a website. Another thing to try from the DOS prompt is PING. You can type PING yahoo.com or PING darkmagneto.com or any website you want. This will tell you if you can make a connection to the site without the browser. You are really just sending a pulse to the site and it sends it back.

Let me know....

Mark

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Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) http://www.darkmagneto.com

winston · Post by **winston** » 16 Mar 2003 6:47 pm

Mark, thanks for the info. I will try this and let you know. BTW I am running WinME, dial up modem, browser is IE5.5. Winston

winston · Post by **winston** » 17 Mar 2003 1:31 pm

Mark, I followed your instructions, no luck. On the pinging thing all I got was "unknown host" I tried several sites. thanks Winston

Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 17 Mar 2003 2:14 pm

Winston,

Were you connected to your ISP when you tried the PING command? What happened with the IPCONFIG /RELEASE? Did that do anything? This is very strange...When you say a glitch happened when messing with Karoke files, what does glitch mean. Also, how did you restore your modem? Was the modem not functioning and then you reinstalled it?

Mark

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Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) http://www.darkmagneto.com

Wayne Carver · Post by **Wayne Carver** » 17 Mar 2003 4:06 pm

I had this problem and was going to remove internet exployer and reinstall it. When I went to add/remove programs in control panel and clicked on internet exployer to remove it, there was an option to "Repair Internet Exployer". I clicked on that option and it fixed the problem. I didn't even need a disk.
I think i messed mine up doing some messing around in a music downloading program called "Winmx" I was changing TCP/IP & proxy settings and stuff like that under the "configure it yourself" heading which I knew nothing about.

winston · Post by **winston** » 17 Mar 2003 5:19 pm

Mark, yes I was connected to my ISP when trying to ping. The IPCONFIG /RELEASE did a lot of stuff in dos, saying it released and restore restored the settings. When I said glitch I mean the screen flickered and that was it. I reinstalled the modem. It is dialing up the isp and connecting to something because the computer screens in the tray are there. The mail will not work either. IE is 5.5, Mail is 6.0 and has been for a long time. Can the modem be bad and not let any info into the computer? I can call my phone number and it rings. I have a separate line for the computer.
Wayne, I have tried that, so far no luck. Tomorrow I am going to get a new modem and see what happens. thansk for the help Mark. Winston

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 17 Mar 2003 9:02 pm

Winston-- The 'glitch' almost certainly would not have harmed the modem. It seems to be functioning so DON'T waste time/money on it.

Your previous descriptions indicated the browser (MSIE 5.5) opened OK but you could not bring up any web pages. Your last post confuses me. With ALL desktop windows CLOSED, does clicking the MSIE icon open a browser window???

Since you are running WIN ME, have you tried the Windows function that restores your system as it was on a date prior to the problem onset? (I don't mean reinstalling Windows.) Not currently having Win ME on any of my machines, I'll try to get to a friend's computer tomorrow and see if any more useful ideas pop up.

Did you attempt to find the MSIE setup files on your hard drive as suggested in my last email??? --Everett

winston · Post by **winston** » 18 Mar 2003 3:02 am

Everett, yes MSIE opened ok but would not bring up any web pages. Clicking the icon does open a browser window. I have tried the restore function but restore has not been working for a good while. The computer goes through the motions and then says "cannot restore your computer to this date, pick another and try again" It says that on every date I pick. But that was not working properly for a long while. Also Everett I found the MSIE files you told me about. Reinstalled, still have the same problem. I have reinstalled ME again with no luck. I really do not want to reformat my hard drive
as everything I now have will be lost. Thanks everyone for all your help. Winston

Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 18 Mar 2003 7:25 am

Winston,

I would call your ISP and trouble shoot with them. If the modem connects to the ISP, then you are fine on your end. Once you connect it is their issue.

Mark

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Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) http://www.darkmagneto.com

winston · Post by **winston** » 18 Mar 2003 11:40 am

Mark. My other computer connects just fine. Winston

Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 18 Mar 2003 6:28 pm

Winston,

Well, if your other computer dials up correctly and browses fine, then I would replace the modem. Any device is prone to ESD (Electro Static Discharge) and that is my educated guess right now. I have no idea why a Karoke file would do this, but I do know that manufacturers do make parts to break....otherwise how would they make money?

Try replacing it and let me know.

Thanks,
Mark

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Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) http://www.darkmagneto.com

Wayne Carver · Post by **Wayne Carver** » 19 Mar 2003 5:26 am

When my pc did this I first thought it was the modem but got to thinking how could it be the modem because it would connect to the internet it just wouldn't go to any web sites. You can also pick up a phone and listen to your pc connect to the internet although it just sounds like noise.

Bill Moore · Post by **Bill Moore** » 19 Mar 2003 5:38 am

If you are using something like Zone Alarm, uninstall it and try again. It seems like I had this problem when I tried to used Zone Alarm. Good luck.

winston · Post by **winston** » 19 Mar 2003 6:32 pm

Mark, I installed a new modem, no luck, same problem.
Bill, your idea sounds good. I will uninstall zone alarm and let you know. thanks for all the help. Winston

Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 20 Mar 2003 7:34 am

Winston,

I had to idea you were using Zone Alarm. I will bet that is the culprit! Maybe don't uninstall it, but bring down your security settings to low or make sure you are allowing IE to pass through it.

Mark

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Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) http://www.darkmagneto.com

winston · Post by **winston** » 20 Mar 2003 12:54 pm

Well I uninstalled zone alarm, still no help. I am running out of patience, I hate to but I am probably going to have to do a clean install of my ME operating system. Still trying Winston.

winston · Post by **winston** » 20 Mar 2003 1:13 pm

Mark and others, Could I use Netscape or some other browser to check this problem out. If so, does anyone know where I can download the complete browser? thanks everyone Winston May

Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 20 Mar 2003 4:26 pm

Winston,

If you could not PING a website while connected, then you will not be able to use a browser. The PING command is the most basic form of communication to other computers/websites.

I have no idea anymore as to the solution to your problem. I hate to say this, because it is not the real solution, but I would just reinstall the OS. There comes a point where you can't spend anymore time trying to solve an issue.

Mark

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Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) http://www.darkmagneto.com