Certian websites won't load at all

[xtrsid]

Hey,

Frequent reader of Mac Rumors but I finally joined as I searched a few threads that had similar issues but didn't create a solution for me. Essentially, certain web sites will not load on my mac after a while. When I first got it and subsequently formatted and reinstalled the OS (due to the same issue I'm having now), this issue did not happen.

I have a Mac Book Pro, OS X 10.5, 15.4" and other than this software screwup problem, everything runs like a dream.

Here is what happens:
I browse many websites, download files, normal computer usage, and after a while certian websites instantly don't load. A classic example is www.about.com, which didn't load the last time I had this issue, in addition to www.surefire.com, which also didn't load the last time I had this issue. BOTH of these pages used to load fine. The pages instantly go to a "cannot find server" error, on safari, and firefox. However, on parallels, the pages DO load on XP using firefox and internet explorer, although I could have sworn they didn't the last time...which may end up being the case as time goes on.

I have no spyware, firewall, or other network software on the machine. I DO have peer guardian but the problem persists even when I have quit the program. Restarting does nothing. Honestly, I must have done 50,000 google searches on this issue, and different people have different solutions to similar problems (permissions, etc), but this is something new, because the pages used to load and no do not.

Any experts have any thoughts? I'm stumped.

 

[mason.kramer]

On an affected machine, open terminal, copy or drag this command into terminal and press enter to run it, if it doesn't automatically.

nslookup about.com; cat /etc/hosts; ifconfig
dscacheutil -cachedump -entries | grep about.com

post and I'll take a look.

After you have gathered this diagnostic data for me, try to flush your DNS cache to see if it it's a bad cache that is doing this.

dscacheutil -flushcache

 

[xtrsid]

Hey,

thanks for getting back to me I really appreciate it. I went into terminal and entered those commands, and I have the output here:

Last login: Thu Nov 13 12:34:23 on console
ronins-macbook-pro:~ Ronin$ nslookup about.com; cat /etc/hosts; ifconifg
Server: 192.168.1.1
Address: 192.168.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: about.com
Address: 207.241.148.80

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
fe80::1%lo0 localhost
-bash: ifconifg: command not found
ronins-macbook-pro:~ Ronin$ dscacheutil -cachedump -entries | grep about.com
ronins-macbook-pro:~ Ronin$ dscacheutil -flushcache


After dumping the cache, the page still wont load. Did I enter in those commands correctly?


Thank you very much.

 

[benTtown]

same problem

I am encountering somewhat of the same problem... i cannot access many sites and it is starting to annoy. i've tried to deal with it by not going to the sites but i can do that no longer ..

some sites include
www.chacecandles.com

i get this:
Failed to Connect

Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at www.chacecandles.com.


Though the site seems valid, the browser was unable to establish a connection.

* Could the site be temporarily unavailable? Try again later.
* Are you unable to browse other sites? Check the computer's network connection.
* Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy? Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing.

also, i searched in google for a lexmark driver and it took me to a lexmark page but if i want to venture to find the correct driver the same error returns. works fine on PC though... there are many other sites that dont work these are just two that happened today.

any suggestions? i have tried clearing the cache and all that and nothing. tried disabling the firewall, nothing. i've tried the DNS servers and nothing.

i need to get the driver to print!

Thanks - make sure you answer the thread starter first

oh and also i am running from a standard D-link router (wireless).

 

[mason.kramer]

Hey,


-bash: ifconifg: command not found

Well, this one is typed in wrong (it's better to copy or drag, btw), but I'm not sure that it matters, given the other commands.

You see, Mac OS X is able to resolve the about.com DNS server to an IP address. Furthermore, nothing from about.com was cached in your dns cache. What this tells me is that it is not a DNS lookup error. If it is not a lookup error, the number of things it can be is limited. One thing that remains the same between browsers is your firewall software. Possibly some firewall process is running in the background after you quit the main program and this is blocking you. Try using Activity Monitor to find the process and force quit it.

Thank you very much.

welcome

Other poster:

"Failed to Connect" is a different error from "Can't find server". "The site seems valid" means FF was able to resolve a hostname to an ip address. Honestly, the most likely cause of this is some firewall protection.

 

[benTtown]

well could you suggest something i could do then?

i've been looking around for something to do about this for quite some time and i seem to be at a halt....

thank you

 

[BobZune]

Try removing peer guardian, restart and see if the sites work. You can always reinstall it back if that was not the problem. They may have made an error in the update of the new block list.

 

[mason.kramer]

Look in Activity monitor and kill any process that sounds related to any firewall software you think you've uninstalled, then try the site again.

 

[benTtown]

i removed peerguardian and it works! but i want peerguardian... should i redownload (would the problems be fixed already?)?


Thanks so much though!

 

[BobZune]

i removed peerguardian and it works! but i want peerguardian... should i redownload (would the problems be fixed already?)?


Thanks so much though!

You are welcome.

You can re-download and see if they have fixed the problem for the sites you want. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_guardian for a bit of the background. If you still have problems after installing the latest, you can become a 'member' at bluetack http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/ and see if the sites' IP address is in the block list, and request removal from the creators. You should consider looking into blocklist managers for Peer Guardian and also read
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/forums/index.php?autocom=faq&CODE=02&qid=19 -- there is a link to the forum section for removal of IP addresses from being blocked.

Good luck.