IE 7 webpages don't load on dial-up, but will on broadband!

Hi! Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

I'm trying to fix my friend's computer. For some reason internet explorer will not load any webpages.

They have a desktop, Windows XP and using outlook express and internet explorer 7. Oh by the way, they are using dial-up to connect! But, we live in a rural area and all we can get is satallite internet, which I have, but they do not want to pay that much. I'm paying $60 a month!

Anyway, the dial-up modem connects, that is no problem, but when I go to internet explorer the webpages won't load. It takes awhile and then I just get a white screen that says cannot display and do you want to diagnose connection problems. I tried that and it didn't help any.

The weird thing is that I can hook the computer up to my satellite router and internet explorer works fine. Unplug it and use the dial-up connection and it goes back to not working again.

I've tried different web addresses, resetting the IP, deleting history and everything else there, disabling firewall, checking device manager for any conflicts, and about 30 other things I can't remember at this point.

So, if anyone has any ideas for me, I'd REALLY appreciate it! I don't know what else to do besides reformat.

Thanks,
Tracy


Pinging 127.0.0.1
Reply bytes = 32 time<1 ms TTL = 128
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0

Primary Dns Suffix - this was blank, nothing there.
Node Type - Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled - No
WINS Proxy Enabled - No

PPP adapter

Connection - specific DNS Suffix - this was blank again, nothing there.
Description - WAN PPP/SLIP
Physical address - 00-53-45-00-00-00
Dhcp Enabled - No
IP adress - 74.218.78.187
DNS Servers - 74.218.78.33
Net BIOS over Tcpip - Disabled


DNS request timed out
Can't find server name for address 74.218.78.32 Timed out
Default servers are not available
Server - Unknown
Address - 74.218.78.32

 

That's where I'd start looking. You can't access web pages without DNS as it is DNS that tells you the IP address for a given internet address.

First thing to check is that the DNS address is the one for the dial up ISP's DNS servers. If your using the satellite ISP's DNS, that may not be available to dial-up users.

Next check that you can ping the correct DNS server.

Then enter the command nslookup www.windowsbbs.com at the command prompt. You should get that address resolved to an IP address.

If that all works and you still can't get IE to work, the next place to look is firewall and Anti-virus software.

 

I'm not sure how to do the first part that you're suggesting.

I did the other, the nslookup at the command prompt.
All I got was can't find server name for address.

If it has anything to do with firewall or anti-virus, why would it work when I hook it up to my satellite router connection, but not work on the dial-up connection on the same computer?

Thanks!

 

Well, since you said that it sounded like a DNS problem, I did a search on the net for DNS errors.

I found a site that said to put in an IP number in the primary and secondary TCP/IP settings. So, i did that, and now it is working most of the time. For some reason, a few links that I have clicked on won't load, but most will. So, I'm not sure what the deal is there.

This is the numbers the website said to put in...
Primary DNS: 134.50.254.5
Secondary DNS: 134.50.57.57

 

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to have in the TCP/IP settings box. It was set to automatically detect the IP address. Since that wasn't working and the webpages wouldn't load, I found a university's IP address on the web to try it and then see if the pages would load. That did work. But, I should leave the university's IP numbers there, should I?

Someone told me to contact the ISP and get their DNS IP numbers. So, I did that, and the guy there told me that I needed to get that from the phone company that they are going through for the dial-up connection. He said, the problem is through them not the ISP. Is that right, or am I getting some BS?

Thanks!

 

That may or may not work indefinately, you're using resources from another network and as you've already found some sites are restricted (either intentionally or a misconfiguration on the server). If you continue to use those servers then you are at the mercy of the sysadmin and in some areas may even be breaking the law.

I'd say you're getting BS, DNS servers have nothing to do with the phone company it's the Internet Service Provider that deals with those, what's your friends ISP? They may publish this info on their website.

 

It's Gurulink.com. Yeah, I did check their site before, and nothing is posted for that. They have no support page what so ever. Just a number to call.

When the box is checked to get this information automatically, it doesn't work. Shouldn't that work? I shouldn't have to manually assign any numbers, should I?

I'm wondering if I should just reformat. I hate to do that though, and that is a lot of work too.

Maybe if I call back to the ISP, I will get someone else that knows something. But, that is rare when you call tech support for ISPs.

 

On Gurulink's website it does say that the DNS server is assigned. That's where I guess my friend's computer has some sort of error there and is not automatically assigning a number from the server.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks!

 

It's been many years since I used Dial Up tracylynn, perhaps there are other issues with your friends configuration but I wouldn't like to comment. I'll step back and let others advise.

 

For DNS server ip numbers you can try these. They're from OpenDNS which you can google. 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. If they don't work then the problem is something else.

 

Thanks for the help, everyone!

I've pretty much figured out that the problem isn't with the computer, it's the ISP. I even tried another friend's dial-up connection with a different ISP on that same computer, and it works fine loading webpages.
I was able to get the ISP DNS number from the one that's not working, and that didn't make it work either.

I talked to tech support again. They are going to send me another dial-up number to access, so it will re-route me through different equipment. So, right now, I'm just waiting for them to send me that info.