computer help

[dgdave]

I can connect with the network, but IE will not find any pages. I can download a song from iTunes or use google earth. So I thought IE was the problem. I went through all the troubleshooting and help screens. so I downloaded Netscape on my phones and transferred it to my laptop thinking I could just just use that browser. not it won't connect to a page either. I looked at some tech message boards, but no luck.

Any help out there? Or should i just call dell since its still under waranty?

[garublador]

What is "the network?"

You may want to check with your ISP rather than Dell. It sounds more like a network/setup problem than a computer hardware problem to me.

[dgdave]

my isp is my cell phone company. I use my phone as a modem by teathering it to my laptop.

This just started a couple of days ago. I've had no problems over the last few monthes. that's what leads me to believe its in the set up somewhere, since I can connect to anything but a browser.

[garublador]

Hopefully someone else will chime in because I'm a pretty sorry excuse for tech support and my helpfullness will run out very quickly.

Has it always worked and all of a sudden stopped, or are you just setting it up? The fact that some things work but web pages don't makes me think it could be a settings issue. You may need to have some specific DNS servers specified or something like that.

[deaddisc]

Id check out the internet options to make sure that the pages you are trying to view are not blocked for some reason.

[dgdave]

its worked fine for 3 or 4 monthes, then on monday it just stopped working.

[SkaBob]

Check the following: in IE in the Tools menu at the top, go to Internet Options, select the Connections tab, then click the LAN settings. Is there any info or anything checked on the window that comes up? If so, what?

[dgdave]

Check the following: in IE in the Tools menu at the top, go to Internet Options, select the Connections tab, then click the LAN settings. Is there any info or anything checked on the window that comes up? If so, what?

It has checked "automatically detect settings"

There is no proxy server being used

[dgdave]

here's another twist.

I was messing around on google earth and pulled up a picture, then it pulled up a browser. I have full internet access through the G.E. browser, but still am unable to use IE or netscape.

Anyone?

[SkaBob]

You can try un-checking that check box in IE and see if that helps.

That's really odd, though. If it were my PC I'd take it somewhere else to see if i could get net on it, or hook the phone up to another PC and see if that PC has the same problem.

Has your computer been acting funny lately? more pop-ups, slower performance, anything crashing? Have you run a spyware or virus scan lately? If so, what programs do you use to do so?

I'm betting it's either a config change on your computer or at the ISP. When you use google earth's browser, you can go to any website you want? or is it just for getting pics for google earth?

[dgdave]

I can view anything in the G.E. If it opens a new window, it doesn't let me view it, but the new pop up window is IE. No virus on the scans. I will have to take it somewhere with wi-fi and see if I can get on there.

I did re-config some start up to make it go faster, but that was about a month ago and have had no problems with it untill monday

[steezo]

Sounds like a virus might have screwed up your registry. Might give Dell a call but they will tell you to reinstall if you haven't done so already.

[SkaBob]

Dell won't provide software support beyond asking you 5-10 questions that'll let them know for sure if it's hardware or software, and then if it's software telling you to use the system restore disc.

It's either a software problem or something that his wireless provider has changed or filtered.

Try this:

1. Click start, then Run on the start menu. In the box that comes up, enter "cmd" and click OK.
2. in that window type "telnet www.google.com 80" and hit enter, and when the screen clears, type "get" and hit enter.

If you see output, something has gotten funkified in the way your browsers are seeing things. I'd recommend uninstalling firefox, reinstalling it and telling it NOT to import any settings from IE and see if that works.

If you don't see output, either your computer itself is filtering the connection or the ISP is. If your computer has additional firewall software, check to see if it's got anything to say in the list of allowed programs or connections, or try turning the firewall off, then try browsing with IE or firefox, then re-enable the firewall. If this doesn't work, it looks like everything is setup right, or you don't have additional firewall software to check, it's time to test at a wifi hotspot or call your ISP.

Since google earth can browse, and can browse to sites that aren't google earth, I'd say this is most likely NOT at the ISP, since any port filtering they'd put on would block everything that's web traffic. This is most likely going to be something with a firewall, or something that's infected your computer. If something's infected your computer that's doing things THIS odd, back up any useful data, and do a system restore, making sure to format your hard drive in the process. Malware doesn't tend to interfere that noticably with the operation of your system unless it's a pretty nasty one, and the nastier ones, despite anyone posturing and what not, are less work and have a better outcome if you just re-format and re-install instead of trying to clean them off, and whatever else might be there that the cleaner apps can't see.

[dgdave]

Thanks skabob,
I didn't even think about not importing the stuff from IE. I will uninstall that and try it again.

[SkaBob]

No prob Hope it helps! I really think it's probably just a config setting that got brought over from IE...Let me know if that doesn't fix it and we'll see what else we can think of...