CVPUG problems anyone?

[dbjorck]

Hi!

Suddenly I cannot access www.cvpug.com on my Vista PC. Anyone here using Vista and not having problems? I can access any other site just fine, but not cvpug. I can access it only on my XP laptop.

Trying to find out if it's a site problem or PC problem.

Brgds

Danny

[tomz17]

Hi!

Suddenly I cannot access www.cvpug.com on my Vista PC. Anyone here using Vista and not having problems? I can access any other site just fine, but not cvpug. I can access it only on my XP laptop.

Trying to find out if it's a site problem or PC problem.

Brgds

Danny

I've stayed away from Vista on all of my PC's, so I can't replicate your problem. Are you getting an error message?

[JoeM]

Hi Danny,

I just purchased a new computer with Vista. I had no problems accessing the cvpug site.

[Philip926]

Running Vista. No problems accessing the CVPUG website.

[dbjorck]

Hi!

Then it must be something with my particular PC. It's weird because I have had no problems before and I've been using Vista for a year (I was a Beta tester) and it worked fine, and nothing has changed on the PC.

Therefore I was thinking that maybe something had changed on the server side. Does the webmaster have any ideas whatsoever? As I say I have no problems with any other sites. In the status bar it says the usual "Waiting for www.cvpug.com", and after a while I get the 404 screen saying that you're not connected to the internet or the site is experiencing problems.

Brgds

Danny

[Midi Magic]

Hi

I am of the mind that "if it aint broke, then don't fix it" This also goes for PCs and the OS. I have, over the years, learnt to keep at least 1 PC with the previous OS on it.

Having bought a new PC with XP I found certain software would not work so I had to keep the old one. Then when I bought a new laptop eek no serial port, no floppy drive!

So now I have 1 desktop with Win98 which is in constant use. An old laptop with Win98 AND a "serial" port with a floppy drive.

I think I'll by a MAC next time around.

The hardest part, is convincing the other half that I still need all these OLD PCs. "If that NEW PC is SO GOOD and you MUST have it, then why do you need to keep all these old ones" :confused: :confused: :confused:

[dbjorck]

Hi!

I don't understand what that reply was in aid of. But I felt the vibe of the reply was negative, so I'm bringing out the big guns. (I realise I may have misunderstood your intention, but nonetheless it got me boiling so I'm not holding back. I have taken an hour to relax and think it over before posting and still feel it was an ill-advised posting).

If you wish to bash Vista, please go to one of the millions of discussions on the net where you can quench your bloodthirst and tout how great Mac and Linux is.

Don't even try to pretend that XP has no problems and therefore the solution to my problem is to go back to XP. I have used Vista for a year and have had much, much, MUCH less problems than I ever had with XP. And you're recommending Win98? Eek! And as you can see on the other replies, others who are using Vista are NOT having a problem accessing the site. So please do not make it into a Vista issue.

And the whole argument of having separate PC's in order to run different softwares is totally non-sequitur. This isn't even a separate piece of software - it's just a separate web site. Are you recommending that we should all have separate PC's for every web site that we frequent?

I use the argument to stay behind in the development until the new versions are stable daily in my profession. But there is a prudent place for using that argument, and this is NOT it.

This is clearly a configuration issue, and I just wanted input and help on that. Not criticism for using Vista. If I go to a gas station and the nozzle turns out to be too big for my tank, and go in to complain; they do not ask what color of car I have, and if it is red, claim that that is my problem.

Phew. Vented. I probably have misinterpreted your intention and shouted unfairly but I'm sick of people claiming that everything that goes wrong is Vista's fault without even looking into it. I apologise in advance.

You start your message with "if it aint broke, then don't fix it". It IS broke - help me fix it!

Who is webmaster anyway??

Brgds

Danny

[Midi Magic]

Hi Danny

Calm down. I was NOT having a go at you OR vista but only stating that it is not always best to upgrade.

I realy do apologise as I seem to have upset you, which is the last thing on my mind.

I was NOT recommending Win98 or bashing vista but just stating that I still have to use it because of certain software I use for my hobby. Most of the programs have not been updated for XP let along vista. A lot of the software I use has been writen by hobbyists and they can not always afford to keep upgrading to the latest OS, so it is Win98 or nothing.

Sorry to have sounded negative and spoilt your afternoon.

I wish I could help you and I appreciate my comments where of little help.

There could be any number of reasons why it will not connect to the group.

Firewall settings being changed and blocking the site.
Auto uptades of anti-virus software thinking the site is unsafe.
IE settings being changed without your knowledge.
Cookie settings being changed.

I have had problems with Zone Alarm telling me that sites are bad.

Sorry for the missunderstanding I may have caused.

[Bill Fischer]

Let's not fight, OK?? There is little doubt that it's some sort of configuration issue. HOWEVER, with each new release of MS Windows, the OS becomes a bit more "big brother-ish" in an attempt to save us all from ourselves. Most likely, there-in lies the problem.....

I usually read the boards for weeks, learning how to bypass/disable all the save-me-from-a-fate-worse-than-death features that M$ has thrown into a new OS version, PRIOR to installing for the first time.

All that being said, Vista does have one HUGE problem from what I can gather. That is that drivers for VERY common devices are no longer bundled in with the OS. Even the most generic USB device demands a custom driver which MS does not supply, but instead recommends you contact the manufacturer of the device. Problem is the manufacturer says they aren't going to supply a Vista-specific driver. The old "mexican standoff".... who will BLINK first.

Regards

B F

P.S. "OS flame wars" (MAC vs PC) are SOOOOO juvenile, don't you think??

[spcover]

Guys - let's stop with the pro-Windows/anti-Windows/pro-Vista/anti-Vista stuff right now. It doesn't further the discussion and you're talking to the wrong person, because I hate anything with the word APPLE on it and passionately too I might add, so I have my own hangups. But none of these should be discussed here.

Let's keep this to the issue of Danny (dbjorck) not being able to access the site.


Danny - I don't have a VISTA machine, so I can't test it but others with VISTA installed have stated in this thread, the site works fine for them.

This indicates a couple of possibilities:

- browser incompatibility. What browser are you using? I assume it is Internet Explorer. I like IE and most of my clients use IE, so I have to develop all my client sites to work on IE. Have your changed browsers or upgraded recently? In such cases, for testing purposes, I recommend downloading Firefox 2.0, the leading free competitor browser to IE, available at mozilla.com. It's a great browser and I highly recommend it. If my clients didn't use IE so much, I might use it myself as my primary browser. I know the rest of my family does. Anyway, try accessing the site using FF and see if it works using FF. If it does, it is in IE issue.

- browser settings. Have you changed IE security settings to a higher level? Also check advanced settings for IE. Are you now blocking javascripts or anything else? The site used javascript dropdown menus. In higher security settings, these may be blocked and lead to a problem such as you are having.

- firewall and anti-virus settings. Nothing gives me more problems these days than firewall or anti-virus software installations on client's computer. Each client has different software installed and each one is set differently. Adn each blocks different things. It is possible your anti-virus or firewall settings is preventing something benign from the cvpug.com webpages (cookies, javascripts, etc.) from downloading and preventnig you from viewing the site.

Start with trying to access the site using FF. If you can access it using FF, you know the problem lies with IE and security/advanced settings in IE.

If you can't access the site using IE or FF, it is most likely a firewall or anti-virus software issue and it may be more difficult for us to debug.

Let me know how it goes.

[dbjorck]

Hi!

I use IE, and it has not changed recently as far as I'm aware. On the other hand Windows Update may have done that. I remember it booted during the night a while ago, don't remember if it was after that that the problem started. I'll see if I can see anywhere what it was updating when it booted.

I haven't changed any security settings. And other Java sites work just fine, so it can't be Javascript blocking. Similarly the firewall and malware protection should not have been changed - but I'll double check. Do you have a list of which CVPUG cookies I should have, then I can see if they are being blocked from being created?

If I can't find anything this way I'll test FF 2 and revert back. Thank you!

Brgds

Danny

[Jane]

Danny,

I'm writing this reply on a Vista machine (which obviously doesn't have the problem).

First question, can you PING the site by name?

If not, can you PING it by IP address (63.247.138.25) ?

Jane

[dbjorck]

Hi!

That was a SPLENDID idea!!! And indeed, I can't even ping it, not even through the IP address! It times out. But not on my XP PC, which is connected to the same router. So the question then becomes why I can't ping it. The first thing that comes to mind is the firewall, but even if I turn it off completely I still can't ping.

Brgds

Danny

[Jane]

OK... when you try to PING by name, does it correctly resolve to the IP address (i.e., DNS is doing its thing)?

Why not try tracert and/or pathping to find out where it's hanging up...

[Midi Magic]

Hi Danny

I know this may seem strange but have you powered down your router?

I often have a problem where I can surf the net freely on the PC but can not get into my work's VPN on my laptop until I have re-powered the router.

Because I have up to 8 PCs connected to my router and switch I always use Static IP addresses, which means, I have to specify the DNS settings. Are these the same on both your XP and Vista?

[spcover]

That was a SPLENDID idea!!! And indeed, I can't even ping it, not even through the IP address! It times out. But not on my XP PC, which is connected to the same router. So the question then becomes why I can't ping it.

The web server on which CVPUG sits is very secure and has a very tight firewall, plus many other software applications to prevent hacking. Funny how I mentioned your firewall might be blocking you from accessnig the site and it didn't occur to me our firewall might be blocking you from accessing the site.

Danny, can you tell me what is your IP Address from the Vista PC you're having problems with.

A simple way to get you IP address is to go to

http://www.dnsstuff.com

and you will it displayed in the upper left-hand corner.

Give me your IP address and I can check the firewall logfiles and see if that IP address is blocked for some reason.

[Jane]

Sean,

In one post in this thread he says he has an XP machine using the same router that doesn't have this problem.

In that home Internet routers are really NATs rather than routers, I'd assume he has the same public IP address regardless of which internal machine is accessing the Net.

So I doubt your log will be able to differentiate.

Jane

[dbjorck]

Hi!

DNS does its job, the address is correctly resolved.

I did not know about tracert and pathping. I've never worked much with the network side, I've always let that be up to our netadms. I once tried to have them explain the difference between a switch, a router, and a hub to me, but it went in one ear and out the other; so I realised netting was not for me :)

It consistently stopped with a timeout after reaching hostingmatters.com, which is the last before cvpug. What does that mean?

I know this may seem strange but have you powered down your router?
Not strange at all, in fact this morning when I woke up I realised I hadn't restarted the equipment. This of course is the first thing to try always. So I did that, but it didn't help.

The second thing I thought of this morning, was to switch (physical) ports. It may be that it comes through on one port but not the other. So I connected the cable that used to go to the PC where it didn't work to the laptop. But it still worked on the laptop so that didn't seem to be it.

Just to be sure, I connected the cable that used to go to the laptop to the PC, and lo and behold, now it suddenly worked! I then switched it around to the original configuration, and now, suddenly, both my laptop and PC can reach cvpug.com... Strange to me. Can anyone explain what was the problem?

But happy cvpug:er here!

Windows rocks! Don't rock the boat - we'll all fall in...
Reduce your CO2 emissions - stop breathing.

Brgds

Danny

[dbjorck]

Hi!

The web server on which CVPUG sits is very secure and has a very tight firewall, plus many other software applications to prevent hacking. Funny how I mentioned your firewall might be blocking you from accessnig the site and it didn't occur to me our firewall might be blocking you from accessing the site.

I think that explains it. I don't have a static IP, but dynamic. The switching around of cables changes both the MAC and requires resetting stuff in the cable modem, so it probably changed the IP.

Brgds

Danny

[Jane]

Maybe, but I doubt it.
The cable modem has its own MAC address on the side toward the cable company (which is how the cable company identifies you as a paying customer, what level of service you subscribe to, etc.) I wouldn't expect it to change its WAN address when you swap devices on the local network side.

Of course, I've been wrong before. (Once in 1973, as I recall... and another time in.... :cool: :rolleyes: :p )

Jane

[dbjorck]

Hi!

I would have expected it to be based on the cable modems MAC as well, yes.

However, I am limited to two devices - and whenever I connect a new device, it pop ups a window listing the two devices I've had connected before, with their respective MAC's, and asks me to delete one of them before adding the new device. After this, the modem is reset and reconfigured for two minutes. Even if I simply switch the same PC between LAN and USB ports, it repeats this process - and quotes different MAC addresses. So apparently it does care a lot about what I hook up locally. Personally I feel it shouldn't matter, it's the connection I pay for, not the number of kit hooked up to it. But with this supplier it does matter. In fact, that's even how water supply works in this country. The more taps/faucets/showers/baths you have, the more you have to pay. Even if you use the same amount of water, you actually have to pay more for having more outlets. I thought that very weird when I first moved here, but Internet works along the same principle here.

Brgds

Danny

[Jane]

OK, wrong once in 1973..... 27,425 times in 2007 (YTD) :p

Interesting.

So... is your cable modem also your router/hub? I had visualized a setup similar to mine, where the cable modem has an ethernet or USB port and I've interposed my own Netgear router between it and the PCs... so it doesn't see details of what's connected to it.

Well, the cable company here used to try to charge more depending on how many televisions a home had connected to the spigot.
Now the ba$tard$ are saturating the telly with advertising for their forthcoming telephone service. As if I'd trust someone who can't keep an Internet connection working consistently for two months with my 911 service :rolleyes:

[dbjorck]

Hi!

My "best" error was probably 25 years ago, when I adamantly convinced my grandfather that George and Ira Gershwin were husband and wife (not brothers as he thought). Ira is not a usual name over here. What surprised me then and still surprises today is that after a long discussion he actually accepted it, which was unheard of because he was known for being terribly stubborn and always knowing best.

I slipped when I said router in the first post. Because I usually do have a router, but it broke down a couple of months ago so currently I'm instead connected directly to the cable modem. It has an Ethernet and a USB port. I've connected the Ethernet to my PC and the USB to my laptop.

However, even with the router between, I still got the same MAC changing behaviour described.

Brgds

Danny

[spcover]

Danny,

Glad your problem is solved, even if we're not sure why!

[Midi Magic]

Hi Danny

Would you belive it I had the same thing happen to me today, I could not get into the cvpug on one PC but could on another.

Both using XP same router everything the same.
I have been given a PC from a friend and I could only get into about 50% of the sites I went to.
It turned out to be 2 things:
1. the MTU Max Transfer Unit was set to 1500 on the PC
2. the DNS setting were set for another ISP.