Newbies 101 Announcement: 07/13/04

[indolikaa]

How-Dee!

For reasons unknown, Indolikaa Khan has lost the ability to access the videohelp.com forums at work for the purpose of posting. As a result, this unexpected access issue caused the proported absence of one Professor Khan this morning for the 2nd installment of Newbies 106.

Rest assured, I am working on the problem. However, given that this forum is filled with a bunch of computer geniuses, I thought I'd post the problem I am having and see if somebody has anything enlightening to offer on the problem.

First, the hard facts. This is a Dell Pentium III/900 machine running WindowsME. It has run flawlessly for the last 2½ years, and to my knowledge has never suffered from a BSOD or crash. Most of my uptime on videohelp.com has taken place on this machine.

There is no Dell software on this machine. A clean install was done from a master WindowsME disc, and there have been 'Zero' hardware issues, either with the original OEM parts or the massive upgrades it has received since I started working there. The last time anybody installed new software on this machine was last fall, when 'SimTower' was added.

1) A 'ping.exe' command produces the following results:
videohelp.com: Unknown host www.videohelp.com
vcdhelp.com: Connection is fine
svcdhelp.com: Connection is fine
dvdrhelp.com: Connection is fine
66.17.140.17: Connection is fine

2) When attempting to access the site via Internet Explorer:
videohelp.com: Cannot enter forums to see postings
vcdhelp.com: Can enter forums and login, but cannot post replies
svcdhelp.com: Can enter forums and login, but cannot post replies
dvdrhelp.com: Can enter forums and login, but cannot post replies
66.17.140.17: Can enter forums and login, but cannot post replies
(NOTE: Private Message system works fine in all domains)

3) When attempting to access the site behind a secured proxy server:
videohelp.com: Can enter forums and login, but cannot post replies
all others: Can enter forums and login, but cannot post replies

videohelp.com IS NOT being pre-emtively blocked. And turning off the firewall, Spybot, and AVG have no effect on the problem. About 40% of the time I can't even get to videohelp.com to begin with, so I'm beginning to think it's a problem on my ISPs end. However, I use the same ISP for both work and home, and I have perfect access at home. And of course, they can't find anything wrong on their end. Typical.

Just an interesting problem for y'all to consider. Obviously the hard drive will be getting a complete wipe this weekend if things don't improve, but I'd like to figure this one out before I crash the system. Curiosity.


.indolikaa.


Oh, yeah. I'll post Part 2 of Newbies 106 next Monday. Before I leave for work. That's 4:45 AM Arizona Time.

[gitreel]

The IT person may have set the company firewall to block videohelp.

[indolikaa]

The IT person may have set the company firewall to block videohelp.

I probably should've mentioned this in my original post...

This is a single-computer office running directly through a DSL modem. We do not network, we do not collaborate, we do not share. My boss spends as much time on her forums of interest as I do at videohelp.com. We are forum junkies. When the Internet hiccups at work, we panic.

That was my first thought. She's got a wicked enough sense of humor to do it, but alas, there is no Corporate Blocking in effect. I checked Spybot and Sygate and neither program is blocking the domain, either. I checked the IE options and while there are 4,911 porn sites being blocked, videohelp.com is not listed there, either.

[gitreel]

Oh well, I tried. :P

Sorry

[indolikaa]

Oh well, I tried. :P

Sorry

I do appreciate it. Please remind me again about how much you like WindowsME...

[gitreel]

Nah, I think I will let you do that.

[stiltman]

Have you tried using another DNS server?
What hot fixes have you installed lately?
Have you tried to access the site with another browser?
Pings work, but what does tracert show? (any "*" throughout)
Do a tracert from work and home and see if they take the same route.
Do you use the same DNS server at both locations?
Do you tweak your hosts or networks files?

[The village idiot]

ISP glitch? Maybe something gone wrong with your cookies?

Get GreedyDog and log your traffic to see if there is something different about PM from normal posting.

[Faustus]

Isn't there a DNS flush command?

[stiltman]

Isn't there a DNS flush command?

I don't think ME has that....I think it's just a NT command

I'm not sure about winipcfg, it may have something but I doubt it

[northcat_8]

Hell with 4080 posts...maybe the ******* button is just wore out

[stiltman]

Hell with 4080 posts...maybe the ******* button is just wore out

Never thought about that one....geuss he needs to be a mod in order to have uniterupted access after 4000

[tekkieman]

Which basically means we can **** with indo all day, and he can't do anything about it until he gets home at night! :P

Of course, I can only imagine the "Indolikaa Special" that would befall the person who did that !

[flaninacupboard]

Hell with 4080 posts...maybe the ******* button is just wore out

Never thought about that one....geuss he needs to be a mod in order to have uniterupted access after 4000

So -that- explains it...
I keep logging on to be entertained and amused, but instead see a bunch of bitches whining about crap. can someone make me a mod ASAP please?

[Capmaster]

It's a Naked Geek conspiracy, man .....kidnap post whores (Teegee & jeex) and prevent Indo from posting

[offline]

Interesting,

the security @ my place of hardship prevents me from editing
the lists and everything else except the most basic mod work and
posting. It seems phpBB needs a few net and browser freedoms
in order to work.

[flaninacupboard]

interesting...

i wonder if you have more luck with a different browser?

[stiltman]

Or maybe it's just an Australia thing? You know like the toilet flushing and the water goes the wrong direction