[noelieg]

Now before you throw me out, this isn't about software because I have the same problem on 3 different browsers, so I believe it must be something in OS X.

I am running OS 10.4.5 on a G5 iMac.
After several months of use with no problems, this week I discovered that I am unable to connect to several websites I am accustomed to visiting frequently. These are not 404 errors. Safari and Firefox both give me the message that they "can't connect to the server," and Netscape says the "connection was not accepted." Examples of problem websites are: nytimes.com, daypop.com, democracynow.org, and as I go through my bookmarks I come up with a new problem website for every 25 or so bookmarks.

I had monkeyed with some of my system settings including activating the firewall which I deactivated with no better results. I cannot remember if there
was anything else I did which could affect the web connections with the firewall off. I repaired permissions just in case--no change. It was suggested that I make one of the problem sites my home page on Safari--that did no good.

I sent a message to the NY Times via webmast@nytimes. com asking if there was some reason I should suddenly have a problem connecting--it didn't get spit back at me, but it has yet to be answered.

Out of ideas as to what else to try. Any help out there? If not, any ideas what site I might visit which might be of help?

Thanks.

noelieg

[f1000]

You may want to switch to a different DNS server(s). Post your ISP and geographic location and maybe someone can recommend you some.

By the way, I believe this goes under Networking.

[noelieg]

>You may want to switch to a different DNS server(s). Post your ISP and geographic location >and maybe someone can recommend you some.

Oh, dear. Now we're getting into territory which I've always found a bit murky, but I'm willing to try. Any idea WHY things would suddenly go bonkers on me after so many months?

My ISP is bellsouth.net, and my geographic location is Florida, US.

It was also suggested on another forum that I try the traceroute utility or, if ignorant as to how to use it (that's me), the Network Utility, so I tried the latter, but, of course, I'm not sure what to make of the results. Here's one which seems to indicate more failure:

>traceroute to www.nytimes.com (199.239.136.200), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
>traceroute: sendto: No route to host

This result came under the LOOKUP tab:

>; <<>> DiG 9.2.2 <<>> www.nytimes.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 11332
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 4, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.nytimes.com. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.nytimes.com. 260 IN A 199.239.137.245
www.nytimes.com. 260 IN A 199.239.136.200
www.nytimes.com. 260 IN A 199.239.136.245
www.nytimes.com. 260 IN A 199.239.137.200

;; Query time: 23 msec
;; SERVER: 205.152.144.23#53(205.152.144.23)
;; WHEN: Sat Mar 4 11:34:22 2006
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 97



>By the way, I believe this goes under Networking.

Sorry. Since i'm on a single computer at home I always think the Networking category has nothing to do with me. Should I repost thereor leave well enough alone?

noelieg

[f1000]

Check out this FAQ: http://www.dslreports.com/faq/11703

ghporter usually stalks the Networking forum, so reposting your thread over there could be fruitful.

[analogika]

I'm seeing a similar problem on one of my clients' machine.

The DNS is working fine, though, since I can ping the offending URLs via Terminal, and it will resolve to IPs.

However, connecting via any internet browser - Safari, IE, Mozilla, and Firefox have been tested, invariably results in a time-out.

www.bahn.de and www.flydba.com are two offending sites. There is no URL filter set in the router, and all firewalls are off.

?

[steve626]

Several things come to mind --

* Original poster said he "monkeyed with some settings." That makes it hard to tell what was done. Assuming those were one user's settings, do all other users on the affected computer have the same problem with the same sites?

* Can you bring in a laptop or someone else's computer and see it when it is connected to your internet wire, it works ok? That's to see if maybe the problem is with the ISP.

* Which brings me to the third possibility ... a few months ago we had very similar symptoms as you described. For instance, google worked fine, the apple site would not connect, some other sites worked, while others did not. A phone call to our Earthlink 1-800 help line produced a recorded message indicating that a problem was being worked where "some web sites will not connect." Our problem was fixed within hours, it was widely experienced and had a cause within the ISP -- unfortunately, your problem seems to be lasting ~ days or a week, which makes me believe it is not your ISP. ISP's usually resolve these things in minutes or hours, because the impact is huge and the symptoms are clear, which means the cause can be tracked down quickly.

* I use some external firewire drives to make "clones" of my computer. Do you have such a backup dating back to before your problem arose? If so, boot into it and see what happens. If you have a spare firewire drive, erase it and install a brand new OS and user and see if the internet issues are gone. Then I'd suspect whatever you "monkeyed" with.

You want to invent tests that determine if the problem is caused by something in your house or something outside your house (ISP).

Another possibility -- with our Earthlink connection via cable modem, we can also dial in through an old fashioned telephone line for some limited # hrs each month. Once a while ago, when our cable connection was out for a few minutes after crew putting in a new water main a few blocks away accidentally broke the underground cable line, I let my daughter dial in to Earthlink (her iMac G5 has a built in modem). If you can do this, try it to see if something improves. You have a different IP address typically when you do this and you might even be getting a different DNS.

[Gavin]

try creating a new user account on your machine.
log in as that user and try surfing, see if it makes a difference.

When you say you "monkeyed with some of my system settings" do you mean just fiddling with the system preferences control panel, or did you do something in the terminal?