Browsing issue

[klorius]

Ran into an odd problem with a new desktop with Windows 7 installed, where I seem to be able to connect to some sites but not others e.g. I can search with Bing and Yahoo!, but not with Google; I can connect to the Guardian for news, but not BBC News.

I am able to ping all those sites from the command prompt. I have tried using the IP from the ping to connect using the IP address directly, but the result has been the same.

This seems to be only a problem with the desktop; other computers connected to the network can browse fine (I am typing this from a laptop).

What I've tried so far:
Flushing DNS
Running in safe mode
Disabling and re-enabling the network device
Using various browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome)
Re-installing Windows 7
Winsock reset

None of these methods seem to have had any effect: I am still connected, can browse some websites, but the websites that were inaccessible still do not load.

Any ideas what might be causing this/how this problem can be resolved?

 

[Core]

This probably won't help, but... Try running Namebench and changing the DNS servers used by your router to ones recommended by Namebench.

 

[TrainableMan]

What browser are you using? And what add-ins? Try disabling your add-ins and see if you get access then.

As Core mentioned, it is also possible the DNS server you are using is giving you issues.

 

[Shintaro]

It might be DNS, but I would think that if all the PC's on the network are using DHCP (Gettting the IP Address and DNS info dynamically from a DHCP Server) then everyone will be getting the same information and have the same problem.

I would suggest that you look at things like firewall settings and even C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Sometimes viruses can modify that file to re-direct you anywhere they want or if an admin doesn't want you to go to a site.(You will need Admin rights on the machine to modify that file BTW)

It should be empty. A "#" means a comment, so anything after the # will not work.

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost

 

[Shintaro]

BTW if you want to test how fast your DNS is, Steve Gibsons utility is small and fast.
https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm


Just for the techs here, he writes everything in assembly language.

 

[klorius]

Have tried Namebench, which runs fine but doesn't fix the problem (it tells me that I could get more efficient DNS connections, but that seems like optimization rather than resolving basic connection problems).

To clarify, I have also tried:
- Turning off Windows Firewall
- Turning off AVG (note: the problem was there on the fresh install, before I even downloaded AVG or installed it)
- checking the hosts file
- using IE, Mozilla, Chrome


The problem seems to remain the same:
- The desktop can connect to the network, but certain websites like Google just cannot load
- those websites show up fine when pinged using the command prompt
- other computers on the network have no such problems with browsing

 

[Shintaro]

Ok, time to test the RAM. https://www.w7forums.com/memtest86-memory-testing-t9067.html
Is your RAM timing, in your BIOS set to Normal?

What is your hardware?

 

[Core]

I had an issue where I couldnt reach specific websites because of a dns issue which flushing cache didnt fix, but changing dns did. Namebench itself doesnt fix anything, but changing the dns would at least exclude them as a possibility.