I need some computer help

Ok, so I've been on the phone for about 5 hrs over the last two days with Compaq trying to fix this thing.... they didn't know and told me to call my ISP....they didn't know and now want to send some dude out for $40

Here's the deal. My computer, which is brand new just bought it a month ago, just won't go to some websites. There's no rhyme or reason for which sites it won't go to either. With Compaq I freakin' went through almost every setting up until the point of doing a complete system reinstall (that f*ckin pissed me off).

Anybody have any idea of what it could be? SWMBO's laptop goes to all of these sites without a problem so it's got to be the comp....

Some of the sites are www.paccar.com www.barnesandnoble.com www.exxon.com those are just some of the ones off the top of my head.

I'm also running vista if that means anything....

Sorry, I'm just kinda pissed right now. I'm this guy when I wanna be this guy

Did you zone file get hijacked or something? Can you ping or traceroute to the affected websites?

Can you access this? It's Exxon.com's IP address.

http://158.35.238.9

Try flushing the resolver cache. Close all running programs, especially
Internet Explorer and any other program that utilizes an internet
connection. Click start and type CMD. Right click the entry in the start
menu and use 'run as administrator'. From the prompt, type "ipconfig
/flushdns" (without the quotes) and hit <enter>. You should get a message
about it successfully clearing the resolver cache. Close the command window
(click the 'x' or type "exit"). Now retry the sites.

I found this on a Vista website

I Googled this "vista wont connect to certain websites"

Many people are experiencing the same thing.

Tenchiro said:

Did you zone file get hijacked or something? Can you ping or traceroute to the affected websites?

Click to expand...

I don't know what the hijacking thing means but I tried to ping the sites with no luck. Strangely HBT didn't work either even though it does indeed work....

JustDave said:

Can you access this? It's Exxon.com's IP address.

http://158.35.238.9

Click to expand...

Nope...

buckeyebrewer said:

Try flushing the resolver cache. Close all running programs, especially
Internet Explorer and any other program that utilizes an internet
connection. Click start and type CMD. Right click the entry in the start
menu and use 'run as administrator'. From the prompt, type "ipconfig
/flushdns" (without the quotes) and hit <enter>. You should get a message
about it successfully clearing the resolver cache. Close the command window
(click the 'x' or type "exit"). Now retry the sites.

I found this on a Vista website

Click to expand...

The Compaq tech support had me do this during my 5hrs with them...again no luck


Thanks for the help guys....I figured the overall HBT consensus is probably better than tech support and I should have tried this first!!

buckeyebrewer said:

I Googled this "vista wont connect to certain websites"

Many people are experiencing the same thing.

Click to expand...

Sh*tty....I'll try googling that and seeing whats up. Thanks for the tip

Is it a firewall issue? Disable any you have running and try again.

I would rather search through google than sit on the phone for 5 hours.....Google is my fix for everything..that is if I can't get an answer from HBT

Tenchiro said:

Is it a firewall issue? Disable any you have running and try again.

Click to expand...

I don't believe so...I had the Norton that comes with the comp uninstalled and the windows firewall turned off with no luck....

also disable IPv6 in the network connection properties. I have heard of issues with it running and it could be interfering. Turning it off shouldn't cause an issue as virtually nobody uses it exclusively yet.

IPv6 is now disabled but still no luck....

I got it...
Step 1 - drink a cold beer
Step 2 - drink one more
Step 3 - Hit computer with 3lb sledgehammer
Step 4 - Buy a Mac
I know I'm buying a Mac next time........

buckeyebrewer said:

I got it...
Step 1 - drink a cold beer
Step 2 - drink one more
Step 3 - Hit computer with 3lb sledgehammer
Step 4 - Buy a Mac
I know I'm buying a Mac next time........

Click to expand...

Hehe but I like having 2 mouse buttons

Mac's are cute, but they have the same problems as any other PC. You will be less able to deal with them is all. I worked for Apple for a few years, and would never buy one as a result.

Back to the issue though, what browser are you using?

I've tried both IE and Firefox...currently on firefox

Try installing Spybot Search & Destroy ad well as adaware. Update both programs and scan your PC.

I don't know if it is a malware issue or not but running both on a semi-regular basis is a good idea, and it may solve the problem. Both are free and will not only detect most malware problems but also protect against them if you choose to enable it.

http://lavasoft.com/
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

Im not an expert on vista but I vaguely remember something like this a few years ago on my friends xp computer. I think the solution was something about fixing the tcpip stack, this is what I found for vista http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/06/18/repair-and-reset-windows-vista-tcpip-winsock-catalog-corruption/
I dont know if this will help, but as I remember on xp this problem was caused by spyware so if it does work get a program to scan your pc.

Honestly IMHO, I would just take it back and get another. If it is brand new, you do not deserve to have probs with it already...

OK I've downloaded both of those programs and I'm running them now thanks for your help!

Like I said I don't know if they will uncover anything, but having and running both is always a good idea. Other than what has been said here, I would also suggest making sure SP1 is installed. You can also get a Linux Live CD and boot from that to see if the issue persists. Although I doubt it will but it was just a thought.

Also run a traceroute to some of the affected websites and post the results here. it may help to nail down where the issue lies.

Cool, I'll do the traceroute thing tomorrow evening when I get home from work.

So far AdAware says "total infections detected: 69" so hopefully that'll help. Still, it's been doing this since day 1 so IDK......

Vista can suck my balls. What you could do is change your dns servers to use the opendns servers which are
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Not saying this is it but it can't hurt.

stever said:

Vista can suck my balls. What you could do is change your dns servers to use the opendns servers which are
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Not saying this is it but it can't hurt.

Click to expand...

If he can't get to those sites by IP then it isn't a DNS issue.

Alamo_Beer said:

Cool, I'll do the traceroute thing tomorrow evening when I get home from work.

So far AdAware says "total infections detected: 69" so hopefully that'll help. Still, it's been doing this since day 1 so IDK......

Click to expand...

The vast majority of the usual infections are just tracking cookies. And that number wouldn't be unheard of for them. But you never know it may do the trick.

dns servers changed.....still not workin'

nope, it was just random tracking thingys......

What do you get when you do a traceroute to the sites you cant get to? Can you cut and paste all three or 4 traces?

um....to be honest I'm not sure what a traceroute is........

go here http://easynews.com/trace/

enter the ip or hostname of the site you cannot get to and click TRACE. then cut and paste the results.

Anything different network-wise (from a hardware standpoint) between your computer and SWMBO's laptop? Like maybe she connects wirelessly to a WAP where you're wired in to a different router? Share the same cable modem or DSL line (or whatever) if so? Have you tried rebooting everything upstream of your computer (modem(s) & router(s))?

It really sounds like its just Vista being crappy, yet again.

There's problems with the way they redid the tcp/ip stack, it'll open up too many sockets to one website, and then you can't get other websites to work at the time.

however that usually presents as 'intermittent' problems accessing sites...yours sounds too consistent.

have you tried using FireFox instead of Internet Explorer to view these sites?
have you turned off the Phishing Filter which might be blocking sites?


Have you thought about upgrading to Windows XP Pro? Its a vast improvement over Vista.

Ok, I did the trace and here's what it said:

malkore said:

have you tried using FireFox instead of Internet Explorer to view these sites?

Click to expand...

Yup, tried both....currently on FireFox

malkore said:

have you turned off the Phishing Filter which might be blocking sites?

Click to expand...

The Phishing Filter is on right now (bc the system restore) but it was off before and didn't do anything...

malkore said:

Have you thought about upgrading to Windows XP Pro? Its a vast improvement over Vista.

Click to expand...

Yeah that would kinda suck but not as much as Vista does.... I'm sure I can get a copy off my stepbro....

Thanks for all your ideas/help guys!

Not a suggestion but I went from Vista Home Premium to Ubuntu. Aside from the learning curve of a new OS (which is lower on Ubuntu than other flavors of linux) and for the vast majority of the computing I do on the laptop it is more than adequate.

My gaming desktop runs Windows XP though.

Mine does this, but usually closing then re-opening all browser windows fixes the issue. Real freeken convenient.

Well, Alamo, that tracert was incredibly not helpful! It shows you connect all the way up to the end then it stops just before the last IP address. The traceroute was hopefully going to show where the break in the hops are in the network to your destination.

I, too, also suggest upgrading to Windows XP Pro. I'm stumped.

Are you by chance running it through a linksys router? I had this problem a while ago my vista machine would not connect to some sites and my XP ones would.. Updating the firmware on my router fixed it.

Also make sure you have patched Vista up to date

Update Vista with the new Service Pack 1. If that dont work, Install XP Pro!
VISTA Sucks!!!

I'll put in another vote for installing XP Pro. I used Vista for about 2 weeks then went back to XP.