I have an NTL cable modem which is connected directly to a wireless/cable DSL router. My PC communicates with the router via a LAN cable; SWMBO's laptop communicates via a wifi adaptor. Everything was fine up until yesterday but today, whilst I can use my NTL email account normally, my PC will not connect to Messenger (it reports problems with service or Internet connection) and times out connecting to the Internet. The laptop connects to mail and internet OK. PC and laptop are running XP, SP2 and NIS2005/2004 respectively.

Where do I start looking for the reason why I can't access the internet/Messenger with the PC?

Denis,

My setup occasionally throws a similar wobbler, but it's usually the laptop that won't play ball..

Have you tried a hard reset on the router & CM?

Power off...wait....Power on sort of thing?

It sorts the problem 9 times out of 10 for me.

Yeah, try unplugging/reconnecting the router and/or modem. Mine occassionally throws similar wobblies every so often, though it's got better going from a Belkin to a Netgear...

Rob.

Tried switching everything off for a few minutes. Still the same, ie laptop access OK but the PC will only access mail. Any more suggestions?

Has NIS/XP's firewall thing by any chance blocked some ports? Web will be port 80, IIRC Messenger also uses the same port...

Rob.

Didn't know messenger used port 80...

Denis, are the PC and Laptop set to use different NTL Proxy servers?....

Sounds like the usual poxy problems to me...

If you can access messenger using SWMBO's laptop then the fault probably lies with your PC like Rob has suggested. I'd look at any firewall software (XP/NIS) and see if anything is turned off.

You could always try disabling the firewall and then check to see if messenger plays ball on your PC, but it's not a good idea to leave the firewall off for any great length of time.

Good luck!

Progress............ but with a little sting in the tail. Turning off the firewall didn't help. However the laptop was set to automatically detect LAN settings whilst the PC was set for a specific proxy server - but is now set as for the laptop.

The sting in the tail is that I can now connect to Messenger and any site EXCEPT Briskoda! I have cleared cookies and cache but all I get is a blank page for Briskoda.

Denis,

inktomi1-ren.server.ntl.com

port 8080.

Working fine for me

You haven't still got an old Briskoda IP address in your hosts file have you? :rubchin:

Rob.

No luck with that proxy, Geoff. I think you might be right about the IP address, Rob, since I had problems getting back onto Briskoda after the last server change. Where do I find the Hosts file and will I be able to identify the Briskoda address there?

I'm on a Win98 machine at the moment, so I can't check where XP stores it. :(

Try doing a file search for HOSTS. In 98, it's in C:\WINDOWS, but I'm sure it's moved in XP.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, but someone more knowledgeable is bound to be along in a minute!

Should be in your windows directory, the file is called "hosts" and you can open it in notepad. The briskoda IP address in there should have briskoda.net to it, just remove the line...

Although before you do this, you could try going to the command line and doing "ping briskoda.net", and if the IP address isn't 67.19.82.118 then you know to dig into the hosts file. If the IP address *is* correct, the plot thickens...

Rob.

Seems theres one here:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

Seems theres one here:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

That's the one...

Rob.

Many thanks to one and all. Hosts had the IP address as 213.253.1.4. Now up and running on the PC again.

10/10 yet again to Briskoda's friendly PC helpline.

Good news that it's all sorted!

Indeed, always nice to have a fully-functional Denis