Weird Forum access problem

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Jim Cohen
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Weird Forum access problem

Post by Jim Cohen »

I have a wifi extender in the house, to project the signal better to where my desktop computer is. I use Mozilla/Firefox as the browser. When I open a new tab, it has automatically-created shortcuts for many of the websites I routinely visit, including the Forum.

Today, for the first time, when I clicked on the Forum shortcut, I got this!

Image

Even if I don't use the shortcut, and type "bb.steelguitarforum.com" into the address bar of the browser, I still get that error message. Notice how the URL at the top has been changed from what I typed ("bb.steelguitarforum.com") to "mywifiext.net"!

On a few occasions, I have seen a popup box from mywifiext asking me to log in, which I won't do because I don't trust it.

Now none of this happens if I enter a URL of "www.steelguitarforum.com" (i.e., not using "bb."). Why should that matter?

Finally, if I connect directly to the (weaker) signal of the modem, instead of to the extender, it works fine even with the "bb."

So why should my extender have a specific problem with "bb."?? What's going on here?

Thanks in advance,

Jim
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Howard Parker
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Post by Howard Parker »

I'm guessing that the url you see with the extender is another network the extender is picking up and it requires some kind of authentication.

Go to your computer's wi-fi settings and see if you are actually trying connect to that network instead of your own.

h
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Jim Cohen
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Post by Jim Cohen »

Thanks, Howard. The strange thing is that it ONLY happens with this one URL. I can go to any other website (at least so far), so I think that would rule your hypothesis out, no?
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Howard Parker
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Post by Howard Parker »

Drat...

I thought I was on a roll!! ;-)

Actually, I just typed in that url and it comes up as a Netgear extender error.

How odd!

-edit- I don't run an extender. Is there a way to "whitelist" the forum?
Last edited by Howard Parker on 17 Nov 2015 7:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jim Cohen
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Post by Jim Cohen »

Whoa so it ain't just me!
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Joe Naylor
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oops

Post by Joe Naylor »

It appears to be an "out east" problem.

AZ is closer to the source. :)

Just kiddin hope you smiled

Joe Naylor
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Joe Naylor, Avondale, AZ (Phoenix) Announcer/Emcee owner www.steelseat.com *** OFFERING SEATS AND Effects cases with or without legs and other stuff ****** -Desert Rose Guitar S-10, Life Member of the Arizona Carport Pickers Assoc., Southwest Steel Guitar Assoc., Texas Steel Guitar Assoc., GA Steel Guitar Assoc., KS Steel Guitar Assoc. (Asleep at the Steel) tag line willed to me by a close late friend RIP
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Howard Parker
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Post by Howard Parker »

Jim,

This is a long shot. Try THIS LINK and let me know if it works.

h
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Jim Cohen
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Post by Jim Cohen »

Howard, yes, as I stated in my original post, that link works. It's only if I replace the "www" with "bb" that this happens.
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b0b
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Post by b0b »

I wouldn't trust that "shortcut". I'm not even sure what a "shortcut" is in Firefox. Looks like it's trying to guarantee that you use the wifi extender to connect to this site.

The bb.steelguitarforum.com address does work correctly. The default page it serves up, configured at the server, is http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/index.php.
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Howard Parker
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Post by Howard Parker »

Ah...My bad!

I don't know why the extender would reject a "bb." prefix.

h
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Jim Cohen
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Post by Jim Cohen »

b0b, the Firefox shortcuts look like this, and they have always worked perfectly well in the past. Normally they can be trusted. IE has similar shortcuts for sites frequently visited.
Image
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Wiz Feinberg
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Post by Wiz Feinberg »

Howard Parker wrote:Ah...My bad!

I don't know why the extender would reject a "bb." prefix.

h
The extender needs to be tweaked to recognize that the typed prefix "bb." is a web address. Right now it seems to think it is not web related.

As a temporary workaround, type http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/... as this tells the router that you are seeking a web address.
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
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Jim Cohen
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Post by Jim Cohen »

Well, as noted above, it works fine if I just put in www instead of bb. But it used to work fine with bb. So I don't know why it has suddenly unlearned that bb is also a website... www has fewer keystrokes than http:// and works just fine.
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Howard Parker
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Post by Howard Parker »

Jim,

Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious.

You can right click on the shortcut tab, scroll down to "properties" and manually edit with the long form "official" url. Do it once and you'll never have to worry about it again.

This apparently is a Netgear firmware issue.

h
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