Redirected web pages won't load in IE/Moz

When I click on certain links that redirect such as the "Autos" link on yahoo.com, I get a "Cannot find server" error page. It still occurs with IE 5.5, 6, and Mozilla, all with the latest browser and system patches. It's not my network because my 2nd computer doesn't have the problem and I've also tried using a dialup. I've found some posts on the MS support site, but they say this error only occurs on earlier versions of IE. Can anyone help, I'm truly stumped! Thanks.

 

anyone? still stumped and ready to reinstall windows over this...

 

It is always a good idea to give your Windows OS and any other information that might help others help you, such as specific URLs and EXACT error messages.

If you have cookies disabled in both IE and Mozilla, enable them. The site may require cookies to be enabled. If you have cookies enabled, clean them out (might be a corrupted cookie)

In IE there is an option to reset default security settings. In other words, try to get back to the default settings in both IE and Mozilla.

Since the "cannot find server" error also happens in Mozilla, search for a HOSTS file - no extension - don't confuse with hosts.sam) and open it in Notepad and remove any references to the problem websites. This file may be hidden so make sure your Windows Explorer view/folder options are set to "show all files ". See:
http://www.fjsmjs.com/IE/hosts.htm

Also temporarily disable any other programs you are running in the background that might interfere with browsing such as web accelerators pop-up stoppers or firewalls.

More here:
http://www.generation.net/~hleboeuf/canotofd.htm

 

Thanks Alice!

I was having the exact same problem. Went to the Hosts file and removed all of the reference to yahoo.com (around 4 or 5 I think), resaved the file and whalaaa! Fixed!

Again, Thanks!

 

You're welcome

I hope it also helps ozonesaq

 

Thanks so much Alice! Turns out it was the hosts file for me as well. It looks like when I installed a program called Kazaa Lite it added entries to the hosts file to filter out popups, but also blocked many legitimate web pages.

 

Great news!

I've never installed a program that needed a HOSTS file myself so I don't even have such a file, only a Hosts.sam (sample file).

I'm glad I was able to help.

 

ozonesaq

It was Kazaa Lite that messed up my Hosts file too!

 

HOSTS file

Well, this was WELL worth the reading! I found seventeen references fo rd.yahoo.com in the two HOSTS files institiuted by KL++ and after removing them I too could again access the pages in question.

While it's a PITA to go search for every DNS error in the HOSTS file, it's worth it to me to have ad-free sharing - a small enough price to pay now that y'all have explained it.

Once again, Windows BBS and it's denizens save the day!

And I love it that I got to explain to Yahoo Support (not the sharpest tools on anyone's bench) in words of one syllable exactly what the problem was... most satisfying !

(and if anyone is depriving a village somewhere of anything, it's a genius, not an idiot!)

 

I have a folder in "Hosts" that evidently Spy Bot uses; it's 314kb in size. When I open it it opens up the Spy Bot program. It's called spyware supplement. Is this ok?

 

pippopottomus

So then you searched this bbs and found this thread to solve your own C:\Windows\Hosts problem? Good work


dmz1967,

The C:\Windows\HOSTS file installed with Kazaa Lite included a number of references to rd.yahoo.com. That caused problems accessing different Yahoo links.

I've never used the Hosts file tool in Spybot S&D but from what I can gather, it's a way to add spyware and adware sites to an exisitng Windows\Hosts file so that those sites will not be accessed.


if you don't have a C:\Windows\Hosts file then the hosts.sbs 314KB "Spyware Supplemental file" in the C:\Program Files\Spybot S&D\ includes folder is nothing to be concerned about.

PS Here is a copy/paste of the first few sites included in my own hosts.sbs file (opened it in wordpad, out of curiosity):

127.0.0.1 images.real.com
127.0.0.1 real.com
127.0.0.1 ct5.hypercount.com
127.0.0.1 acme.bfast.com
127.0.0.1 ads.bfast.com
127.0.0.1 affiliates.bfast.com
(snip)

 

THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU!!! I have been searching the net for 2 days trying to figure out why my stupid browser won't open Yahoo links anymore... I reformatted twice to try and fix it, but then I found this thread!!!

STUPID KAZAA LITE AND IT'S "HOSTS" FILE!!!

WARNING: DO NOT INSTALL KAZAA LITE UNLESS YOU PLAN ON NEVER ACCESSING YAHOO AGAIN!



Thanks, guys. This site rocks. I am forever in debt.

- Eufonik

 

Hi Eufonik,

Glad you found your way here.

I hope you were able to fix the problem and can now access Yahoo sites!

If you open your HOSTS file with notepad (Use the Start, Search or Find, to locate the HOSTS file) and delete all the lines that refer to yahoo, then close/save the file you will be able to access Yahoo sites again.

If you want to "disable" the lines instead of deleting them, you could add a # symbol in front of the line (which makes it a comment) so that Windows will ignore the line.

For more information, look here:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/how_to_use_hosts.html