DNS
DNS is quick to be ruled or ruled out. If customer can surf by IP but
not by name most likely DNS is the cause.
Solution: Verify DNS are correct using ipconfig. If correct, reboot
and if problem persists let IT dept know. If primary DNS fails then secondary
should pick up but if for some reason problem is with both servers then
another dns can be manually input into tcp/ip properties bypassing the
problematic dns servers.
If the customer can ping by ip (64.58.76.222) address but not by name (www.yahoo.com) it is possible that the ports are blocked. These ports on a computer are similar to doors in a house. If the doors are locked no one can enter or exit the house typically. It is the same with the computer. If the computers doors, or ports are locked, blocked, etc then no data can enter or exit. There are easy and quick tests that can be run to determine if the computer's ports are blocked.
To test for blocked ports (Ruling out browser corruption and pointing
towards
firewall/Winsock issues)
1) click on start/run/type (Without quotation marks)
"telnet www.yahoo.com 80" and press [Enter]
(1a) To rule out DNS Issue use 64.58.76.222 in place of www.yahoo.com
2) when window appears, type "get" (note: you will not see this text
(echo) appear on the screen
3) Press [Enter] | You should see a bunch of text appear on the screen
*Note if not see (*) below
The text is actually the html code of the index.htm(l) page. This is
an
old Apache (Web) server test to see if the server is functioning correctly
or if you are having browser issues. Ultimately, if you can perform
this test
correctly your connection is working properly and you should look into
repairing or re-installing the browser.
2nd Test for blocked ports (FTP)
1) click on start/run/type "cmd" or "command" and press [Enter]
2) type "ftp webpages.charter.net" and press [Enter]
3) You should now see something similar to what is illustrated below:
*Note if not see (*) below
C:\>ftp webpages.charter.net
Connected to webpages.charter.net.
220 FTP Server ready
User (webpages.charter.net:(none)):
* The good thing if this fails hanging and/or saying "host cannot be
found"
is that you know that no connection can go out on this port which is
an entirely
different issue than browser-trouble and is related directly to the
O/S or firewall.
If both these tests are successful then you know there is most likely an issue with the browser the customer is using and can be confirmed by using another browser or repairing or reinstalling the current browser.
FIREWALL
If a customer has a firewall, at this point or earlier if you want
to shortcut, opening the firewall and resetting the settings and / or removing
it from windows startup would be the next step in determining if it is
the cause of the problems. Each firewall has it's own way of being reset.
You'll find that there are likely even a few ways that you can reset or
disable each type of firewall. More information can be found on the manufactures
web site or even IT can create some cheat sheets for these.
WINSOCK
Frustratingly, thus far it seems easiest to determine if there is an
issue with Window's Winsock files through eliminating issues with DNS and
Firewall. Winsock runs between your browser and tcp/ip. A request flows
in the following order:
Web browser or application a winsock.dll a TCP/IP layers a Modem or
NIC a Internet
There seems to be almost as many ways of reinstalling Winsock as there are people seeking to do so. When it comes down to it. In the end, due to time constraints, it really has to be considered whether or not a simple reinstallation of windows which may take approximately 20 minutes or less might just be a more efficient use of time. To date I have never once, out of approximately 30 times or so of following various directions precisely, gotten the Winsock fixes out there to remedy this situation. On one occasion, during Charters acquisition of a portion of @Home I spent four hours on the phone doing absolutely everything in the "Connect Not Transferring call template" (see below) as well as a few of the more popular Winsock fixes until my only recommendation to the customer was to reinstall windows.