I can ping by IP address, but not (usually!) by host name.

So name resolution sometimes works? Are the DNS server settings the same for all four machines?

Have you checked the ME system for  spyware/adware?

Jim

Thanks for the hint.  Yes, I think it entirely possible that some nasty spyware has crept in, though spyware which prevents all subsequent internet access seems a little counterintuitive!  I will endeavour to install some antidote and will return ...

Btw, my machine can, with a little help, resolve addresses like www.3gpp.org, www.bbc.co.uk, ... but I have first to ping them using the IP address.  Even this, though, doesn't work for obscure sites like ... www.microsoft.com.  And IE never resolves any address, previously pinged or otherwise.

Try this

ipconfig /flushdns

if it gives you any error message, Check with your isp for DNS server config.

 

windowsupdate.microsoft.com 207.46.134.92]

To try and get you back on the road to recovery you could try manual adding two DNS and IP addresses into your "hosts" file on your PC. Your PC shoudl first try looking at this file before using DNS.....so this trick should enable to web browse and access updates from Microsoft

Edit the "Hosts" file and just add these two text lines at the end.

windowsupdate.microsoft.com                207.46.134.92

www.microsoft.com                                  207.46.134.157

Message Edited by sentinel-master on 02-03-2004 01:20 PM

This is Windows Me.  The ipconfig /flushdns command is not supported.

  John M

No joy, I'm afraid.  Edited HOSTS.SAM (no file called HOSTS exists) as suggested, but same symptoms.  Keep the idea mill rolling!

J

Okay - lets put the same two lines of info into "lmhosts.sam" as well..........sorry I omitted the file extension last time - buts its a standard system file - and I defaulted to my shortened format.

Once you have edited and saved "lmhosts.sam" - check that the hosts.sam and lmhosts.sam have your new line of info in them - becasue its easy to do a "save as .txt" by mistake

 

The files need to be named "hosts" and "lmhosts" - no extensions!

Jim

Jim - Spyware found and removed, using Ad-Aware and Spybot - Search and Destroy.  No change: IE still comes up with "This page cannot be displayed" error.  For all pages.  But thanks for this tip, since I have rid myself of a lot of junk.  Which will be a Good Thing if I ever get the browser working again.

Grrrrr

By the way, the two "extra" DNS servers

193.253.160.3
193.252.101.166

are machines close to the edge of the Wanadoo network (my ISP).  I stuck them in in a vain hope yesterday.

J

Jim - I have copied HOST.SAM and LMHOSTS.SAM (containing the extra lines) to HOST and LMHOST (no extensions) in the c:\windows directory.  No change.  IE still fails to find any page.  Woe.

Keep racking that grey matter.

J

Lets check out your IP and DNS info - by issuing these two commands from DOS shell :

Start -> Run -> command 

ipconfig/all

netstat   -r

Cut and paste the info here - just to check that nothing unusual is present

Added the suggested lines to lmhosts.sam too, to no avail.    But Jimw is adamant that these files should have no extensions.  So where are they??  I have searched entire c:\ drive, and there are no such files.  Indeed, these extensionless files don't exist on the system I am typing this on at this very moment, an ancient Gateway2000 runing Windows98, and which - as you can see - has no internet access problems at all.  (It is one of the ones on the same home LAN.)  The plot thickens.  (Exciting, isn't it!)

So, ipconfig /all yields

Windows IP Configuration

 Host Name . . . . . . . . . : delljmm.mshome
 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.2
                               193.253.160.3
                               193.252.101.166
 Node Type . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
 NetBIOS Scope ID. . . . . . :
 IP Routing Enabled. . . . . : No
 WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . : No
 NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS : Yes

0 Ethernet adapter :

 Description . . . . . . . . : 3Com EtherLink PCI
 Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-B0-D0-E7-1F-2B
 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
 IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.12
 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.0.0.0
 Default Gateway . . . . . . : 10.0.0.2
 Primary WINS Server . . . . :
 Secondary WINS Server . . . :
 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . :
 Lease Expires . . . . . . . :

1 Ethernet adapter :

 Description . . . . . . . . : PPP Adapter.
 Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-00-01
 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
 IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
 Default Gateway . . . . . . :
 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
 Primary WINS Server . . . . :
 Secondary WINS Server . . . :
 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . :
 Lease Expires . . . . . . . :

2 Ethernet adapter :

 Description . . . . . . . . : PPP Adapter.
 Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-00-00
 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
 IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
 Default Gateway . . . . . . :
 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
 Primary WINS Server . . . . :
 Secondary WINS Server . . . :
 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . :
 Lease Expires . . . . . . . :

3 Ethernet adapter :

 Description . . . . . . . . : AOL Dial-Up Adapter
 Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-61-70
 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
 IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
 Default Gateway . . . . . . :
 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
 Primary WINS Server . . . . :
 Secondary WINS Server . . . :
 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . :
 Lease Expires . . . . . . . :

4 Ethernet adapter :

 Description . . . . . . . . : AOL Adapter
 Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-61-6F
 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
 IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
 Default Gateway . . . . . . :
 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
 Primary WINS Server . . . . :
 Secondary WINS Server . . . :
 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . :
 Lease Expires . . . . . . . :

and note that it is the first of these blocks that is the port connected to the LAN.  By the way, 10.0.0.2 is the Zoom ADSL modem.

Netstat yeilds:

C:\WINDOWS>netstat -r

Route Table
===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...44 45 53 54 61 6f ...... AOL Adapter
0x3 ...44 45 53 54 61 70 ...... AOL Dial-Up Adapter
0x4 ...44 45 53 54 00 00 ...... PPP Adapter.
0x5 ...44 45 53 54 00 01 ...... PPP Adapter.
0x1000006 ...00 b0 d0 e7 1f 2b ...... 3Com EtherLink PCI
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0         10.0.0.2       10.0.0.12       1
         10.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        10.0.0.12       10.0.0.12       1
        10.0.0.12  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       1
   10.255.255.255  255.255.255.255        10.0.0.12       10.0.0.12       1
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       1
        224.0.0.0        224.0.0.0        10.0.0.12       10.0.0.12       1
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255        10.0.0.12               2       1
Default Gateway:          10.0.0.2
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  None

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State

 

What do the tea leaves show ... ?

J