Problems getting to certain websites in Vista

Christopher1

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Aug 29, 2006
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I am having problems getting to certain websites on my Toshiba A135-S4467 notebook computer, specifically Cartoonnetwork.com, ToonamiJetstream, and Gametap, of all websites.

I was wondering if anyone could give me suggestions to try to fix this problem, considering that I can get to all other websites, including the website for the people who run those websites, TBS.com.

I've tried pinging and tracert'ing the server that Cartoonnetwork and the other sites are on using those commands in the cmd program with Vista, and it says that it can reach those websites using those programs, but neither IE nor Firefox will allow me to go to those sites, they come up with their respective 'check your connections' errors. I have also checked my 'hosts' file (thinking it might be a entry in it that is causing the problem) and no go there, the IP address of these websites are not in it and when I just blew away my hosts file except for the 'localhost' entry, it still didn't solve the problem even after a reboot.
I was wondering if this might be a virus (pretty strange one to only keep me from getting to those three sites, as far as I know of) or if I might have done something to blacklist the IP address of those websites OUTSIDE the hosts file somehow (though, tracert shouldn't be able to reach them I would think if I did that).
I also know that my router is not blocking the websites, because I can get to them through my parents computer which is on the same wireless router, though connected through a physical connection.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I might have done that is causing this problem? I would just blow away the hard drive and totally reload Vista, but my new backup drive hasn't arrived yet so I can backup my important files and my cousin is getting on my case because both she and I watch videos on those websites on my bedroom computer.
 

Christopher1

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Yeah, never mind about this and mods, please delete this thread if you deem it necessary. I found out what the problem was: unplugged my wireless router for about 12 hours to give it time to clear all the memory in it... WHAM! I can get to those sites again!

Funny thing.... I had tried unplugging it for 4 hours to fix this before, but there must have been some STUBBORN piece of memory that just wouldn't clear, considering I did nothing else to my computer or router to try to fix the problem.
 

parabola

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Routers have memory? I need to research that. And no, I don't think any mods need to erase this thread. It is very helpful to know what issues could arise. This is how I have learned about computers and thought the thread was very interesting as I have never heard of such a thing before. Nice work on the fix!
 

thepete

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Parabola is right--don't delete this thread because Scotteq's solution seems to have done the trick for me. I blogged about it (here: http://life.thepete.com/post/289072925/getting-vista-on-my-eee-pc-was-surprisingly-easy-but-i ) with a link back to his post.

So, THANKS, Scotteq for your suggestion, almost two years later!