NTL Freedom problem

Digitus · 12-05-2005, 19:57

Hi all, got a weird problem I'm hoping someone here can help me with (or at least explain

). I normally use Telewest cable for my internet access, but this week I am away from home and using my old NTL Freedom dialup. Most pages etc are working fine but I do have 1 major problem...

I play an online RPG called Thang. Although I suspect it will be unplayable in any practical manner over 56k, I wished to log in and do some trading etc and keep in touch with friends. Unfortunately, when I try to look at the game's website (thang.ongameport.com) it fails. The game itself also fails, unable to contact the servers.

Originally I assumed the servers were down, but after talking to several online friends that also play, I discovered the servers are in fact fine. After much messing about, I discovered that ping and tracert get no response whatsoever, timing out even if the delay is set to a crazy 10 seconds.

I thought I was making progress when I specified a manual proxy (194.247.47.81) and gained website access, but obviously this only changes IE or Firefox's settings - the game itself still cannot reach the servers.

From my own ping/tracert attempts and by getting online friends to replicate them, I know that the dns server is correctly resolving the address to the IP 222.122.25.35 for the website. the game itself trys to access 222.122.25.35 on port 7777. I have tried with and without firewall and the game ran perfectly on my cable connection so I am 99.9% sure the problem is not on my machine (never rule out the truly weird when dealing with computers

).

So...can anyone help me figure out what is causing this problem and how to fix it? I freely admit I am addicted to this game and could use a fix, but right now I'm more interested in diagnosing the root cause of the problem (I hate an unsolved mystery!)

Any advice appreciated,

Digitus

bmxbandit · 12-05-2005, 20:25

to the site

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digitus

I thought I was making progress when I specified a manual proxy (194.247.47.81) and gained website access, but obviously this only changes IE or Firefox's settings - the game itself still cannot reach the servers.

can you not specify proxies through the game itself?

Chris W · 12-05-2005, 20:28

Dial up proxies are not specified through internet options in a browser, but in the properties of the actual connection, iirc this affects everything that uses the connection, so should affect the game as well.

Any idea what port the game connects though? It may be that it is unaffected by the caching which is on ports 80 and 8080 only...

Digitus · 12-05-2005, 23:49

Can't specify proxies in the game because no options are available until you've logged on to a server...which i can't see

As for the proxies affecting everything, if that's the case how come I can access the website with IE if I set a proxy but can't get a ping or tracert and firefox doesnt use the proxy either? I'm not arguing btw, just trying to understand!

The game uses port 7777 as far as I can tell, no idea what protocol though. My understanding of proxies is pretty limited, would a web proxy still work for the quantity of packets involved in playing a MMORPG?

**Paul** · 12-05-2005, 23:58

How far does a tracert to 222.122.25.35 get ?

Digitus · 13-05-2005, 00:00

It doesn't - nothing, nunk, nuh-uh, nada

**Paul** · 13-05-2005, 00:09

So not a single hop ? - in that case your problem sounds local to your machine.

Digitus · 13-05-2005, 00:11

Well, as i said in my original post I rule nothing out when it comes to computers, but I find that unlikely considering this machine has played the game fine on another connection and the website will only work with an external proxy. I'm always open to suggestions though

Chrysalis · 13-05-2005, 04:10

The problem defenitly isnt proxes since NTL only proxy website ports, and 7777 isnt one of them. If your traceroute is getting nowhere at all then I would check for a firewall of some sort.

I can traceroute fine here from NTL broadband.

**Paul** · 13-05-2005, 04:16

What OS are you using ?

Digitus · 13-05-2005, 07:24

I'm using XP Pro.

Again, if the problem was local to my machine it almost certainly wouldn't have worked at home. Also, tracert's to other sites complete successfully. BUT...interesting development when I was checking the tracert - the first hop on any tracert always times out. After the first it works fine (example below to good old bbc.co.uk). Tried half a dozen different traces and all the sam - 1st fails but afterwards works normally. I'm sure this is highly significnt but I have nfi what it means lol

------------------TRACERT---------------------

C:\Documents and Settings\George>tracert bbc.co.uk

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.228.154]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 215 ms 151 ms 149 ms gb-bir-c-r2-ge60.inet.ntl.com [80.1.208.194]
3 159 ms 149 ms 160 ms gb-lth-c-r1-pos150.inet.ntl.com [80.1.209.109]
4 157 ms 149 ms 155 ms gb-lth-c-r2-pos00.inet.ntl.com [80.1.209.222]
5 158 ms 149 ms 160 ms gb-ldk-c-r1-pos150.inet.ntl.com [80.1.209.121]
6 158 ms 149 ms 155 ms pop-ic-1-ge-030-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.184.253]

7 166 ms 149 ms 155 ms pop-bb-a-ge-700-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.184.242]

8 166 ms 166 ms 154 ms tele-ic-2-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.86]

9 162 ms 166 ms 155 ms ntl-ge2-8.prt0.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.217]
10 171 ms 155 ms 155 ms 212.58.238.129
11 166 ms 155 ms 155 ms 212.58.238.33
12 166 ms 155 ms 155 ms pos6-0.rt1.mh.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.254]
13 161 ms 155 ms 158 ms bogons.mh.bbc.co.uk [212.58.228.154]

Trace complete.

------------------------------------------------------------------
__________________

OK, given this a bit more thought and messed around a little more, now havint the following thoughts I could do with comments on:

1 - Based on the facts that this site and game seem to be the only problem ones, plus it all works fine on my home connection...I think I can eliminate my own machine as the problem?

2 - The fact that tracert doesnt manage even a single hop suggests it is also unlikely that the destination site is at fault (eg if my IP range was blocked) - wouldn't tracert still work until it got to the faulty/blocking point?

3 - Gathering all this together, my personal suspicion at present is that the problem is caused by some sort of routing problem. The DNS is returning the correct IP for the site but it appears the routing to that IP is..well...broken

. I've exhausted my limited knowledge of how all this works however - I don't know where this routing information comes from or how (or even if) I can force my computer to go elsewhere to find the correct info...

HELP

Digitus · 13-05-2005, 20:10

Hmm all gone quiet...is everyone else as baffled as I am by this 1?

Digitus · 13-05-2005, 20:15

Hi, trying to nail down a weird problem I'm having with a website and game. I'm using NTL Freedom dialup (More details in my main thread on http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...d.php?t=28537). Wondering if someone else on the same connection could try this website etc, see if it's specific to me or the Freedom configuration etc.

Any assitance welcomed

Digi

paulyoung666 · 13-05-2005, 20:23

if i may offer a word of advice , double posting about the same problem is not really on , you would be better off *bumping* your original thread after a day or so to 'advertise' it again , as for your problem , sorry , i dont have an answer

**Paul** · 13-05-2005, 20:46

I have merged them, and put it in the dial up forum - it's certainly not a proxy problem.
__________________

Can you do a tracert to 212.58.228.154 and another to 222.122.25.35 - use the ip addresses, not the website names.