How-To Geek

A website I visit on a regular basis (www.three.co.uk) has suddenly become unavailable ...

Network Error (tcp_error)
A communication error occurred: "Operation timed out"
The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.

For assistance, contact your network support team.

I'm trying to access the site using IE8 Beta 2, Safari and Google Chrome and they all come up with the same error message

All other site access is OK

The site is available, as I can access it through another computer.

My access is through a USB Mobile Broadband (Three) and I'm at Vista SP1

My Firewall is PCTools FireWall Plus and my AntiVirus is Avast4!, both are up to date ....

I've run Malwarebytes and SuperAnti Spyware and both report there are no problems and I've used CCleaner and Eusing to clean the registry,

From what I've read on the internet, I'm thinking I have a registry problem of some sort, but don't know where to look ...

I'm hoping someone has some ideas ...

Hi ScottW long time no speak ...

The other computer I used was at the local library so would have been a permanent connection through one of their servers.

The man in India suggested running AntiVir (which I'd already done) and check my Internet settings (which I'd already done).

Checked with Three to see if they were blocking me for some reason (they weren't).

Final suggestion was to go to a Restore Point, but as I'm not sure where this problem occurred seemed little point in taking that option.
Its really strange in that I've only just rebuilt my laptop having had a corrupted disk and totally reinstalling Vista and all my software.

So really strange !!

Steve, hello again. Let's try some network testing. Use a command prompt to ask the DNS server for the IP address:

C:\>nslookup www.three.co.uk
Server: dnsr1.sbcglobal.net
Address: 68.94.156.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.three.co.uk
Address: 92.41.252.3

Then put that IP address directly into your browser and see if you get the same error or a different one.

I had no trouble accessing the said website with Vista SP1 - and from Florida.

Works fine from France too :)

ScottW this is the output from IPConfig (glad you know what you're looking for !) ...

Just a reminder that my laptop is standalone and not connected to any network, internet access is through a USB Dial Up (Broadband) connection

As I'm no Geek, as far as I know this would be how it was setup when it used to access the site with no problems ...

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Steve-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

PPP adapter 3 USB Modem:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3 USB Modem
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.120.45.62(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.31.76.69
172.31.140.69
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 10.11.12.13
Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 10.11.12.14
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1E-4C-DD-01-BF
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1505 Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-Card
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1E-4C-4F-4E-3C
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1C-23-AF-30-CE
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{94FEE600-CB18-4B4C-9486-CE2F18297CAE}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 40:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{FBB5656D-596D-4DF2-8862-03048D97B2D2}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 50:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Windows\system32>

ScottW thanks for your help ...

Will contact Three again to see if I can get any further with this and let you know the results....

However in the meantime, one of the blogs I was reading suggested that sending an email to the following 'www@web2mail.com. with the name of the Website as the subject would elicit some help (try anything at this point !!)...

Lo and behold, I received an Email back with an inline attachment which was the site I wanted to get too (a subsite of the main Three site) and a list of other links.

Surprise surprise ......

IT WORKED !!!

Tagged it as a Favourite and it works fine .....

The other links generated an email for me to send, with the particular site in the subject line ...

I'll keep you posted on the results ...

Regards SP :-)

Steve, any diagnosis that works is a good one in my book. Do you happen to know what those registry entries were? I am curious to know what registry entries prevent access to one site only. Could you see the full URL, www.three.co.uk, in the registry?

ScottW In answer to your question, yeah the full URL was in the registry not sure where though.
Simply did a scan, found there were only 3, and thought what the heck !!

LH, when you get as p***** off as I was you'll try anything;
There's loads of post on the internet, over time, all with the same symptoms but different websites and no specific reason for it or solution

I'm sure one of the posts I read intimated a virus was responsible, but every scan I did came up clean ...

Anyway its sorted now, and as much as I would really like to know what caused it in the first place I guess I can live in ignorance ...

I'm out and about for the next day or so, but when I get back to home base I'll sort out the info you require.