Mac will not load one specific internet domain

roztokino said:

Hi,

I am at my wit's end and any ideas are greatly appreciated!

The Problem: I cannot access one and only one specific internet domain.

Description: I regularly use a blogging site, posterous.com (184.106.20.99). Three days ago I performed an offline archivation using SiteSucker. Shortly (but not immediately) after that my computers simply stopped being able to load the domain posterous.com.

Additional puzzle: I use two laptops, one has 10.7, the other 10.6. Both laptops time out on posterous.com, the one I used SiteSucker on and the other one, as well. All browsers on both computers return the same "The connection was reset" error message (Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome). My internet connection otherwise is fully working.

Troubleshooting I have already done: thought it was my wifi router. But one of these laptops cannot access posterous.com even at my work. At home my smartphone can access posterous.com. The laptops do not have firewall enabled. I even ran a virus check. All of my browsers work with all other sites and none with posterous.com. Any trace I put on posterous.com reports that the server is up. Friends have also checked it, there's nothing work with the server.

Any thoughts? Any diagnostic software or commands that could help me find out what happened? What could be the issue?

Thank you!

Click to expand...

I'm guessing you have tried resetting your browser and emptying it's cache? If so, a PRAM and SMC reset might help, but I doubt it...Worth a shot though:

SMC re-set:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

PRAM re-set:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379


Also look at any software you may have recently installed. Hope one of these ideas helps you out.

roztokino said:

Hi,

I have reset all my browsers, emptied all caches and some of the browsers I have installed after the issue exactly for troubleshooting purposes. All of them on both MacBooks behave the same way. It cannot be a browser-level issue.

About the PRAM re-set, this is what the apple.com support article says: OS X does not store network settings in NVRAM / PRAM. If you are troubleshooting a network issue, resetting it will not help. SMC controls low level functions. I don't think resetting will help - and again (and that's why I am absolutely baffled) I have an issue on two separate MacBooks.

I have looked at recently installed software and of course that could be part of the problem. I have uninstalled SiteSucker. But again: I have installed new software on only one of my MacBooks. And the other one cannot access postterous.com either.

Any more thoughts? Thanks!

----------



Done SMC re-set. No effect.
Done PRAM re-set. No effect.

Click to expand...

Got me stumped too....I didn't really hold out much hope for the resets....I'm guessing you've double checked your security settings too? It's a strange one. I guess if it were me in the same boat, I'd try a non destructive re install of OSX using a USB stick copy and diskmaker which is free...after making the USB stick bootable ( you need a stick of more than 4 GB, shut down put the stick in a USB slot and boot whilst holding down option, choose " EFI BOOT" and allow OSX to install. This will NOT delete any of your apps or data but a backup first is always the best policy.

Diskmaker:




http://www.cultofmac.com/180518/sin...on-diskmaker-gets-os-x-mountain-lion-support/


Try it on one Mac and see.

roztokino said:

Could it be a virus? I know, I know, it's a Mac, but still.

I am trying to be a Sherlock here. Trying to deduct what is the common denominator between these two laptops. I own both of them, that's the most obvious one. I use them over the same home wifi network. I exchange data between them using the same external USB disk.

Virus? Trojan?

Because otherwise the two laptops have different "histories": one had new software installed and uninstalled, the other didn't. One had SiteSucker on it, the other didn't.

I would love to avoid performint a whole OSX reinstall - there must be a simpler answer. It seems like you go hunting a deer and instead a rifle you use a nuke. (Not that I have ever hunted or used a gun.)

BTW: I checked the wifi router, too. There are no exception, no firewall settings, no blocks.

Click to expand...

It's a possible Malware block, but I doubt it. The whole non destructive install will take half an hour...I think it's worth a shot.

Just a guess: maybe the domain name resolution got confused.

Can you try in the terminal: nslookup posterous.com

Can you try in the terminal: traceroute -n posterous.com

It is likely, since you were using SiteSucker, that the domain detected you as some sort of threat and has blocked your IP from accessing it. This has happened to me a couple of times and it seems like after a period of time the restriction gets lifted.

Just recently I was blocked from a domain after accessing a couple of email accounts (for a client's email host transfer). Thankfully, I subscribe to a VPN service (iVPN.net in my case) and was able to connect through that.

I just opened a blank browser page and entered "184.106.20.99".

Result:
"The page may not exist anymore, or the URL may have been misspelled."

Perhaps you can't access the site in question because it has gone offline or….?

You could also try to force a disconnect from your ISP. A relogin might give you a new dynamic IP adress.
But since they block you on one IP it would not take long o block the second IP soon after you try the same application again.

Maybe it's this:

Why am I being redirected to other sites?

Some users experience a problem with being directed automatically to sites that they didn't intend to visit. This may also occur when searching with Google. You don't have a virus! It's a problem with your DNS settings, either in your Mac or in your router. Try resetting your router. Here's how to fix the problem in Mac OS X:

1. Go to System Preferences > Network
2. There you will see a padlock icon in the lower left corner. If the padlock is already open (unlocked), go directly to step 3. If the padlock is closed and the note says "Click the lock to make changes", click the lock and enter your administrator password, so you can change DNS servers.
3. Select your network on the left column, click the "Advanced" button in the lower right area of the window.
4. Click the DNS tab to see the listing of your DNS Servers
5. If any of the DNS servers are greyed out after entering your admin password, you may be able to simply add the OpenDNS or Google servers listed below. If you need to remove greyed-out servers, refer to this: 10.5: Disable DHCP-specified DNS servers
6. Select each set of numbers and click the "-" icon for each to remove all existing DNS servers
7. Click the "+" icon to add the following servers.

You may choose either OpenDNS or Google servers (not both sets):

OpenDNS (OpenDNS has announced they are blocking the Flashback trojan):
Primary DNS Server: 208.67.222.222
Secondary DNS Server: 208.67.220.220

Google:
Primary DNS Server: 8.8.8.8
Secondary DNS Server: 8.8.4.4

8. When you've completed your changes, click "OK" to close the Advanced settings window
9. Click "Apply" on the Network window to save your changes

As an alternative, you can use namebench to find the fastest DNS servers available for your computer.


Also: I had a problem loading the "bills khakis" website and the solution for me was to delete an old bills khakis cookie that was in my browser.