Perplexing browser problem "Page not available" errors on good links <vanity>

self

[HairOfTheDog]

I have problem that is about to make me snap. There is a demon somewhere and I pray we can find it. It isn't all that easy to explain, but I shall try.

When browsing web pages and clicking links within web pages… I can be going along just fine for much of the day, and then suddenly my browser will begin to "act up" and rather than opening the desired page… it begins sending me to some other place in never never land instead. It isn't directing me to good sites from advertisers, like I have a sneaky adware file hidden somewhere... I am redirected to broken and non-existent sites... 404/405/408 "Page Not Available" pages.

Examples below are all from here at Free Republic for discussion purposes… but it is not only Free Republic that does this.

When I click to "My Comments" (or "Post reply" or "preview" or "Latest Posts" – in other words, any link, or even trying to refresh the thread):

Browser will take me instead to some other page, not always the same one, with the correct url displayed in the address bar, but not the right page.

A page that says for example:

Not Found

The requested URL /focus/fr/involved was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an
ErrorDocument to handle the request.

______________________________________________________________
Apache/1.3.22 Server at www.earthfiles.com Port 80

OR

HTTP Error 404

404 Not Found

The Web server cannot find the file or script you asked for. Please check the URL to ensure that the path is correct.

Please contact the server's administrator if this problem persists.

OR an error message from some other place (i.e. not a clean page) I was not really trying to go to, some really bizarre pages that I am quite sure I have never been to… Occasionally I get the Cannot Find Server or DNS error (When FR is not really down!) and occasionally it will just load a blank page.

A click to Preview a response may take me to a 404 "Page Not Available" page at USA Today or Webshots or TheOneRing.Net or The New York Times. It seems completely random...

System description:

- Dell Dimension
- Windows XP – all released patches are installed as soon as I receive the notifications
- IE 6 (Office 2000)
- (Note… Windows 98/Office 2000 was originally loaded with the machine… and I DID have this problem before upgrading also.)
- AT&T Broadband Cable internet… RCA Cable modem provided by the ISP
- XP Firewall on
- PC-Cillan in use, and kept updated.

What I have already done about it:

- Called tech support at my ISP many times, and been sent up through "tier 2 and tier 3".
- They think it is my browser.
…They have also blamed my firewall… no matter which one I was using.
…They have told me to call Dell

- I also have searched the MS Knowledge base without success, although I am not sure I am searching the right place, because I am not even sure what to call this problem.

- I have called my brother Ramius, who is an IS manager, and complained about it. He has given me the fixes I list below.

- I have gotten mad.

What I do to fix it when it happens

- Simply close the browser and reopen it… Sometimes it is fine afterwards… Often times not.
- Clear the DNS cache
- Run the "Repair" function in XP's Local Area Connection tools…
- Clear out my Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), shut off my modem, reboot, reset the IP.

Some or all of these things sometimes fixes the problem, or at least the problem stops for awhile, or it at least keeps me occupied. Sometimes I can go many days without trouble, and sometimes, I can't go two minutes without it recurring, no matter which fixes I do.

I am almost at my wit's end, and looking to find someone who has even heard of this trouble. There is nothing more frustrating to me than trying to post a reply in a good discussion, and after composing a reply, being sent to USA Today when I click Preview.

Just to give fair warning about my own bias, I am not going to buy a Mac, and I am not going to install Linux. My computer works wonderfully in every other way, is better than average, and is not old.

And I am a driver, not a mechanic, … I don't understand a lot about this, you will need to use basic terms with me…

And, I am not going to reformat my hard-drive as the first response unless you can tell me absolutely what the problem was in the first place, and why reformatting is the only way. I think reformatting is an extreme measure.

I know that many thousands of others use my Software and my ISP without this trouble… so neither is inherently flawed, at least not in this way. This has to be a particular bug that I have… Am I the first and only one to have it? Will the bug be named after me?

Can anyone help?

[HairOfTheDog]

In answer to your earlier questions, which I forgot to answer... I did the upgrade to XP from 98. Not a clean install... I have never been involved in a reformat that did not go very very wrong, so I don't do it to a perfectly good machine with a little problem.

I have used Zone Alarm as firewall, no firewall, and XP's firewall, no real difference between the three. The errors happened under all of the above.

Bush2000 let me know via FReepmail that he has the very same trouble with AT&T... and my brother also suspects the trouble is just as likely related to AT&T as my computer, so I am not going to risk breaking my computer over it until I know it is not a DNS issue with AT&T...

FYI Bush2000, My brother Ramius was able, in a test, to ping FreeRepublic and other addresses in the command prompt and get wrong answers on the IP address... Which suggests a DNS issue unrelated to my browser.... Does it not?

[Bush2000]

FYI Bush2000, My brother Ramius was able, in a test, to ping FreeRepublic and other addresses in the command prompt and get wrong answers on the IP address... Which suggests a DNS issue unrelated to my browser.... Does it not?

Correct. I'm seeing the same thing. My guess is DNS at AT&T. But of course, if you're sitting behind a firewall/router, they won't support you.

[HairOfTheDog]

When I went up to the Tier 2 and 3 guys at AT&T, they did explain the firewall thing a bit... The tech support people ask you to turn off the firewall so that they can see you to work on it... But something got lost in the translation in the training, and many took that to mean the firewall was the problem, not just an obstacle to support.

So in other words, the guys up the ladder said AT&T does not actually frown on firewalls, they only ask that you turn them off when calling.

[HairOfTheDog]

With that said, they still claim to not have any trouble with incorrect DNS routing, and I quote: "because if they did it would be against the law" When I pointed out that the mere fact that there may be a regulation about accurate DNS routing did not in itself mean it couldn't happen, I was told "Yes it does".

[Ramius]

Is it still error free today? Or has some bad DNS juju come back?

[HairOfTheDog]

Bad DNS juju this morning - better this afternoon without doing a lot to fix it. Just left it alone for awhile, and now it is fine.

Let me tell you... I got a little wigged when FreeRepublic shuffled all the cards this morning! Egads! - Now I am other people?