[asdfmac]

Hey everyone, so I'm new here, and I already have a question =[

I have searched and searched, but nothing really seems to help me out. I have a Macbook running OSX version 10.4.11 and the software is up to date. However, no matter what browser I use, I get "cannot connect to server" on certain websites. Why is this? I used my mom's G5 iMac running the same software on the same internet connection and hers loads everything just fine!

Do any of you know what could possibly be the problem? that would be AWESOME if you could figure it out!

[ghporter]

Can you be more specific about what "certain websites" you're talking about? It really sounds like you are experiencing a problem with your ISP's DNS servers, but I'd need to know what your ISP is, and what sites you have problems with.

[mduell]

Or someone has been mucking with your /etc/hosts file.

[asdfmac]

sorry =[ No matter whos network I'm on, I always have the problem. Either using comcast at my house, my neighbor's house, my friend's house, my gf's house, or at school on the University of Washington network, I always get this problem where Safari (and I've tried firefox too) say "could not connect to server" where another computer on the same network running the same program and everything gets it.

Mainly its this website called passwordjdm.com which is a car website for like import parts and stuff, but I get it randomly on other websites as well. I'm not a computer guru, especially when it comes to my mac, so any help would be appreciated!

[ghporter]

That sure sounds like a /hosts file problem. The hosts file is sort of a local list of URLs and their associated IPs-In general your system will check this before it even considers your DNS server settings, and it will affect you on EVERY network you use. I just wish I could remember how to get there clearly enough to direct you to that file so you could see if the sites you're having problems with are there.

[mduell]

cat /etc/hosts in Terminal.app and let us know what it outputs. And while we're at it, how about ifconfig too.

[asdfmac]

Thanks guys for your help so far! Here's what I got: I have never done this before, so I'm kinda clueless as to what's going on. But I typed in cat/etc/hosts and is said "no such file or directory" as shown below, and then I typed in ifconfig and it came up with a whole bunch of stuff that I have no idea what it means lol.


d-128-208-39-57:~ briceparrish$ terminal/cat/etc/hosts
-bash: terminal/cat/etc/hosts: No such file or directory
d-128-208-39-57:~ briceparrish$ cat/etc/hosts
-bash: cat/etc/hosts: No such file or directory
d-128-208-39-57:~ briceparrish$ ifconfig
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULT ICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::21b:63ff:fe2e:9c62%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
inet 128.208.39.57 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 128.208.39.255
ether 00:1b:63:2e:9c:62
media: autoselect (10baseT/UTP <half-duplex>) status: active
supported media: autoselect 10baseT/UTP <half-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,flow-control> 100baseTX <half-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control> 1000baseT <full-duplex> 1000baseT <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control> none
en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULT ICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::21b:63ff:fec8:1055%en1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x5
inet 69.91.138.123 netmask 0xfffffe00 broadcast 69.91.139.255
ether 00:1b:63:c8:10:55
media: autoselect status: active
supported media: autoselect
wlt1: flags=41<UP,RUNNING> mtu 1500
fw0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULT ICAST> mtu 494
lladdr 00:1b:63:ff:fe:73:d5:28
media: autoselect <full-duplex> status: inactive
supported media: autoselect <full-duplex>
d-128-208-39-57:~ briceparrish$

[asdfmac]

Ok guys, I typed the cat /etc/hosts in wrong so here's what I got:

Last login: Fri Mar 7 13:16:17 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
d-128-208-39-57:~ briceparrish$ cat /etc/hosts
##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
d-128-208-39-57:~ briceparrish$