Cannot open certain websites in OS X?

[Tachion]

So, for the past few days I've been unable to open a fair number of websites in OS X, including:

www.about.com
www.cracked.com

Here's the jist of the problem:

-Neither will open in Firefox or Safari, simplying throwing up the generic "Cannot find website" error.
-Plugging my modem directly into my MBP does not fix it, so it's not a router problem.
-The sites load fine in Windows XP (both in Bootcamp and in Parallels) so it's not an ISP issue.
-None of the standard OS X maintenance procedures have fixed it (permissions, etc.).
-Creating another user account does not remedy the problem, so it's not just my account.
-I do not have parental controls turned on.
-My hosts file is clean and looks fine, with no extraneous lines.
-The sites do not load while directly typing in the IP address either, so it doesn't seem to be a DNS issue.

Here is what one of the pings looks like:

Ping has started ...

ping: sendto: No route to host
ping: sendto: No route to host
ping: sendto: No route to host
ping: sendto: No route to host
ping: sendto: No route to host

Here's what a traceroute looks like:

Traceroute has started ...

traceroute to www.about.akadns.net (207.241.148.80), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
traceroute: sendto: No route to host
1 traceroute: wrote www.about.akadns.net 40 chars, ret=-1
*traceroute: sendto: No route to host
traceroute: wrote www.about.akadns.net 40 chars, ret=-1
*traceroute: sendto: No route to host
traceroute: wrote www.about.akadns.net 40 chars, ret=-1
*
traceroute: sendto: No route to host
2 traceroute: wrote www.about.akadns.net 40 chars, ret=-1


Does anyone have any ideas at all? I'm at a total loss here, and no one on the Apple forums seems to have any idea, either. I'm not the only one reporting this problem, however, so there's definitely something wacky going on in OS X. You can read up on the whole saga thus far on the Apple forums.

 

[MacDawg]

I get both web sites just fine in Safari

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[Signal-11]

See if this works.

In terminal window, type the following:

dscacheutil -flushcache

Then clear the cache of your browsers. Restart browser.

 

[Tachion]

See if this works.

In terminal window, type the following:

dscacheutil -flushcache

Then clear the cache of your browsers. Restart browser.

Didn't work, unfortunately...

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Is it possible those sites have been blocked somehow (Parental controls, network controls, etc.)? I read Cracked every day (on up to three different Macs) and have never had that issue.

 

[Tachion]

Is it possible those sites have been blocked somehow (Parental controls, network controls, etc.)? I read Cracked every day (on up to three different Macs) and have never had that issue.

Not that I can think of. I haven't changed anything these past few days, and I'm the only user and owner of this computer, so Parental Controls have never been touched. Also, a few other users on the Apple forums are reporting the same sites not loading, so I really doubt we all somehow managed to block the same sites.

 

[Signal-11]

Well, have you tried turning it off and on again? (The modem)

I can get to cracked.com and about.com.

Neither are responding to pings but there's nothing drastically unusual about that in and of itself. Try a free, anonymous proxy to help you rule out some things.

 

[Tachion]

Well, have you tried turning it off and on again? (The modem)

I can get to cracked.com and about.com.

Neither are responding to pings but there's nothing drastically unusual about that in and of itself. Try a free, anonymous proxy to help you rule out some things.

Haha, yes, I've tried that. Was one of my first thoughts.

But, when using http://freeproxy.us/, they load just fine.

Unfortunately, it still doesn't explain why it doesn't work under OS X, but works under Windows (even when running it in Parallels, which uses OS X networking). Plus, it still doesn't explain why others are having the exact same problem with the exact same sites, even though we don't have the same ISPs. It's gotta be something in OS X... a bug or something.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Not that I can think of. I haven't changed anything these past few days, and I'm the only user and owner of this computer, so Parental Controls have never been touched. Also, a few other users on the Apple forums are reporting the same sites not loading, so I really doubt we all somehow managed to block the same sites.

Who is your ISP? Maybe all the people reporting it have the same ISP and it's a problem on their end?

 

[mooblie]

Call me a cynic, but wouldn't this be a good way to drive traffic to those sites by a new poster, who joined this morning, and has never posted anything else here?

OKOK I'm a cynic.

 

[Tachion]

Who is your ISP? Maybe all the people reporting it have the same ISP and it's a problem on their end?

I have a small, local ISP called Hotwire. One of the users on the Apple forums reporting the same problem has Comcast.

Even if that were the case, that does not explain why the sites load under Windows XP, but not under OS X.

 

[Tachion]

Well, I figured it out. Apparently the newest version of PeerGuardian2 messed with something and was blocking sites, even though the app wasn't open. I actually had to uninstall it and reboot to keep it from blocking the sites.



Anyways, thanks a ton for the help everyone. Glad to know it wasn't Apple's latest updates screwing with me, heh.

 

[mooblie]

OK, so that's a Windows app?

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Call me a cynic, but wouldn't this be a good way to drive traffic to those sites by a new poster, who joined this morning, and has never posted anything else here?

OKOK I'm a cynic.

Those are both pretty heavily-tracked websites here in the US. I don't think they need to post on this site to up their numbers.

Well, I figured it out. Apparently the newest version of PeerGuardian2 messed with something and was blocking sites, even though the app wasn't open. I actually had to uninstall it and reboot to keep it from blocking the sites.



Anyways, thanks a ton for the help everyone. Glad to know it wasn't Apple's latest updates screwing with me, heh.

Good deal. Glad you found the culprit. What does the software do when it's working properly?

 

[Signal-11]

Westley: I mean, if we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.
Inigo: Where we did we put that wheelbarrow the albino had?
Fezzik: Over the albino, I think.
Westley: Well, why didn't you list that among our assets in the first place?