Hi

Can anyone give me any idea of how I can fix this myself. Ever since last night, I've been unable to connect to internet, keeps saying 'page cannot be displayed'.
Phoned tech support this morning(with Telewest by the way) and they did various checks and eventually told me that my pc is at fault and it has a problem with the dns server. It dosent recognise website adresses when I type them in but it does recognise the number information associated with the adresses(something like that anyway).
Only had pc couple of months and is covered by Dell but can anyone give me any suggestions of anything I can try myself first before calling them?
Also why would the pc just stop working like that all of a sudden?

Ta

Originally posted by susa41981
Hi

Can anyone give me any idea of how I can fix this myself. Ever since last night, I've been unable to connect to internet, keeps saying 'page cannot be displayed'.
Phoned tech support this morning(with Telewest by the way) and they did various checks and eventually told me that my pc is at fault and it has a problem with the dns server. It dosent recognise website adresses when I type them in but it does recognise the number information associated with the adresses(something like that anyway).
Only had pc couple of months and is covered by Dell but can anyone give me any suggestions of anything I can try myself first before calling them?
Also why would the pc just stop working like that all of a sudden?

Ta

Can you tell me how you actually connect to the internet?

Do you use a dial up modem, a broadband router or modem. Are you using a wireless network.

If you can get me these answeers I may be able to think of a solution for you.

Also can you click the "start button"

Then click Run.

In the Run box type cmd and press enter.

In the box which you get now type the following:

ipconfig /all

press enter:

Can you let me know the exact reading this gives you?

Hi
I'm using a broadband connection. When I called tech support, they took me to the run screen and I typed various things including 'ping'.
I will try this when I get home as obviously on a different pc at moment. Will update on whet happens, will be back on here about 4pm.

Thanks

Originally posted by susa41981
Hi
I'm using a broadband connection. When I called tech support, they took me to the run screen and I typed various things including 'ping'.
I will try this when I get home as obviously on a different pc at moment. Will update on whet happens, will be back on here about 4pm.

Thanks

Cool, I see what I can do for you when you get the info for me.

have you switched the computer off, then unplugged the modem for a few mins, then plug the modem back in then switch the computer back on.

works for me 8 out of 10 times.

:)

ITS WORKING!

Turned my firewall off to see if that had any effect and hey presto, up and running. I'm currently using norton antivirus package on pc, free 90 day trial from Dell. Can anyone tell me why this is happening all of a sudden? I did get a message on pc earlier saying this trial expires in 30 days time but it was last night when it stopped working.
Can anyone tell me if theres anything I can do to turn firewall back on but still have access to internet?

Thanks everyone

Originally posted by susa41981
ITS WORKING!

Can anyone tell me if theres anything I can do to turn firewall back on but still have access to internet?

Thanks everyone


remove Norton firewall.

Download and Install Sygate (http://www.simtel.com/product.download.mirrors.php?id=53687) as your firewall.

If you want to remove Norton AV also, you'll need a replacement. On of the most highly recommended is AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1).


All are FREE, and work together with no problems.

I want to carry on using norton firewall until trial is up. There must be someway of enabling this back on as the two have been compatible for the past 2 months.

just out of curiosity at any time before u opened ur internet connection ..... did u open a browser IE: without being connected to the net ?
if so that will put a tick at side of "work offline" then once connected u will not be ale to browseuntil u untick it
on ur browser , top left , click file then look down to see if work offline is ticked & untick it if it happens again ... its something simple that can fool ppl quite easily

Originally posted by sccsux
remove Norton firewall.

Download and Install Sygate (http://www.simtel.com/product.download.mirrors.php?id=53687) as your firewall.

If you want to remove Norton AV also, you'll need a replacement. On of the most highly recommended is AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1).


All are FREE, and work together with no problems.

Thats the best idea. At the end of the day your norton is going to run out and 30 days and you will have to think about replacing it or upgrading it to the full version. So you may as well go for the option of SYGATE and AGV

At work at mo so cant see whether it says offline but I dont think it did. Will check when I get in.
Also I know I'll need to u/g software but its just annoying not knowing why its done this all of a sudden.

Originally posted by susa41981
....but its just annoying not knowing why its done this all of a sudden.

NortonSecurity is notorious for causing untold problems (especially with Windows XP).

Sounds like firewall starting blocking dns for some reason - did Norton update recently by any chance? As others have stated it's probably best to go for a firewall and stick with it. Norton isn't much cop anyway - free or not. Personally use Sygate personal edition as it's free and half decent.

Originally posted by fnkysknky
Sounds like firewall starting blocking dns for some reason - did Norton update recently by any chance? As others have stated it's probably best to go for a firewall and stick with it. Norton isn't much cop anyway - free or not. Personally use Sygate personal edition as it's free and half decent. IMO Sygate is better than Norton and ZA.

However, I have an all-in jobby from McAfee (which I paid out for).

:)

Is pcguard any good that blueyonder have just introduced because can get that free as well?

I'd go for Kerio Personal Firewall and Avast 4 Home. Both free and after some extensive testing on my own machine I've just changed all the PC's on the network from Panda Platinum to the above combination.

Originally posted by Lurch
I'd go for Kerio Personal Firewall and Avast 4 Home. Both free and after some extensive testing on my own machine I've just changed all the PC's on the network from Panda Platinum to the above combination.



Kerio is a great firewall. I have a dns server that i run the enterprise version on and it has run like a dream for the last year. So the personal one would do a great job on your home pc.

Originally posted by susa41981
Is pcguard any good that blueyonder have just introduced because can get that free as well?

No - that is merely a basic piece of software aimed at those who think that viewing their e-mail through Outlook Express and using Tiscali are a good combination.

:D

Go for the Kerio one if you can:

http://www.kerio.co.uk/kpf_home.html

The cost, i think is £35 and you can just download it.

Originally posted by nickrb
The cost, i think is £35 and you can just download it.

The cosy is £0 exactly, i.e. free. :wink: And yes, it is downloadable.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Got it all sorted now.

Originally installed sygate but again came up against the same problem where it wasent allowing me to gain access to internet so have just installed kerio personal firewall and here I am. 30 days free on full service and after that I get to keep a limited service foc. Has anyone got the limited service and can you tell me whether I will be ok with that after the initial 30 days runs out?

If you are using as part of a secure working environment, i.e. Firefox, Anti Virus and a hardware router, then it is about as secure as you can get. The stuff that Kerio doesn't do after 30 days the above do anyway.

If not, then it's still not really a problem, after 30 days the firewall carries on working at full strength, it's just a couple of additional features that stop working that aren't all that major.

There's a comparison list on the Kerio site so you can see exactly what you don't get after 30 days.

err....excuse my ignorance, whats firefox and whats hardware router?

Ah, sorry. Firefox is Firefox (http://www.getfirefox.com/). :wink: A lot safer than IE, better user interface (my personal opinion), completely customisable and best of all, absolutely free.

A hardware router\firewall affair would be one of these (http://www.netgear.co.uk/wired_broadband_router_dg834.php) as opposed to one of those dodgy USB modems which offer no protection whatsoever.