Active connection but no Internet/Mail

pauljheywood · 06-04-2004, 12:38

Hi, assistance with the following would be gratefully appreciated.

I have NTL Broadband through cable set top box. Up until Saturday all was fine but now I have no internet or mail connection. Navigating to any Internet page shows "Page cannot be displayed" error. There is definite active connection, I can ping Google by IP or NTLWorld by DNS and NTL Helpdesk can see my connection without problems. The network status shows packets being but because NTL can see me as live and all tests for connection shows no problems, they say that they cannot help further. I run Win XP and have restored the last good configuration as far back as last Thursday, when all was fine, but this still has not rectified the issue. It's as if something is blocking the port to get out but I have de-activated firewall & AV software and ran Ad-aware, which shows nothing. TCP/IP settings are correct, as per NT Helpdesk and the modem is an AEI USB.

Please help a very frustrated user.....

rdhw · 06-04-2004, 12:51

The last time I saw an effect like this it was because of the BetterInternet spyware component (or something similar), which had wrecked Windows's winsock interface, so that no connection-oriented connections could be made. Pings were fine.

Unfortunately, while your PC is in this state, it is not possible for you to run the AdAware self-updater, whcih you really need to do. You might have an old definitions file.

Could you say what Windows version you run. Also, please check your Internet Options to remove any explicitly configured web proxies.

To eliminate some possibilities, please open a command prompt window, and type the command

ftp upload.ntlworld.com

and then paste back into this thread what messages this gives: this should check whether it is possible to make simple TCP connections or not.

Chris W · 06-04-2004, 12:57

to the site pauljheywood! Hope you like it here

To test whether something is blocking http traffic, you can try telneting a web page, to do this, from a command prompt, type "telnet www.bbc.co.uk 80" (without quotes). If it connects you will be given just a blinking cursor, then type in "get/" (again without quotes). When you type it will not appear, but just type it and then press enter. If it can connect you will see html stream past and then the connection will drop. If this doesn't happen, and you get an error message, post it here.

Neil · 06-04-2004, 12:59

I think Robin's right-it sounds like it may be 'New.net' related or similar.

http://www.spyany.com/program/articl...NewDotNet.html

pauljheywood · 06-04-2004, 13:33

Thanks for those that have replied so far, I will paste the results asap. One thing I forgot to add was that I managed to add a Dial Up connection through analogue and connected to the Internet without any problems. Just seems to be the Broadband. Don't know if this makes it clearer. Will be back shortly with the pastes.

pauljheywood · 06-04-2004, 15:50

Hi, the FTP did not produce anything really:-

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ftp upload.ntlworld.com

> ftp: connect :Unknown error number

ftp>

pauljheywood · 06-04-2004, 15:51

Here is the paste from the telnet command:-
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>telnet www.bbc.co.uk 80

Connecting To www.bbc.co.uk...Could not open connection to the host, on port 80:

Connect failed

poolking · 06-04-2004, 16:49

Port 80 blocked?

Chris W · 06-04-2004, 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by poolking

Port 80 blocked?

not if he can't get mail either... because pop uses port 110 and smtp uses 25

EDIT: and if was, he would still be able to ftp, because that is port 21

BarFly · 06-04-2004, 20:36

I know RDHW has told you to unspecify any proxies which are in IE but sometimes specifing a non local proxy can resolve browsing issues........though not always, especailly if a winsocks issue

( im sure someone can find a list of proxies for you, as i cant find them at mo.)

With regards to the mail problem try changing the servers to the ip's

ie

pop.ntlworld.com >>> 62.253.162.50
smtp.ntlworld.com>>> 62.253.162.40

rdhw · 06-04-2004, 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by pauljheywood

Hi, the FTP did not produce anything really:-

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ftp upload.ntlworld.com

> ftp: connect :Unknown error number

This confirms my suspicions that the winsock API has been broken on your PC, possibly by some spyware. Basically, nothing will work, whatever you do. What version of Windows are you running? Also, what IP address are you getting from NTL?

Chris W · 06-04-2004, 20:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdhw

This confirms my suspicions that the winsock API has been broken on your PC, possibly by some spyware. Basically, nothing will work, whatever you do. What version of Windows are you running? Also, what IP address are you getting from NTL?

according to his first post, it is winXP

try downloading this utility on another pc, or on your du connection, it is only about 1mb so shouldn't take too long!!

follow the instructions on the site, and that should get it sorted for you.