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I usualy use Google Chrome but recently for some reason it won't let me log on to AOL to check my emails so have been using Firefox. Now, whichever browser I use the only website I can access is STW. Every other site is unavailable. I've tried restarting the computer but makes no difference. Any ideas?
Maybe it's a sign that I should go and ride my bike
Wait...
...there are [i]other[/i] sites on the internet? Why did nobody tell me?
Firewall problem?
Just tried turning the firewall off and it makes no difference.
STW=Cuckoo of the internet world?
I had this problem - couldnt access any secure site that required a password. Turned out to be the MTU rate. Possible solution is to check the MTU rate of your provider then change the settings on your router/modem - or use DRTCP if you can access the settings for either. Easy to fix - if that is your problem.
[i]log on to AOL [/i]
There's your problem mate.
AOL was not my choice - honest!
Petestuart, any chance you could write that in English? 😯 😉
MTU is Maximum Transmission Unit. Im no IT bod - i had to google it.
After re-installing windows one time i couldnt access any secure sites that required a login such as email, ebay, paypal, online banking etc. I COULD still look at non secure sites like google or STW.
I googled the problem and some forums suggested changing the MTU. I looked up Tiscali's MTU (grrr nasty Tiscali) and it was 1458. My router is set to 1500 as standard. Ignore the numbers (i dont understand them either). My router wouldnt let me change the MTU value but i could alter it on my wireless device using a peice of software called DRTCP. A tiny program that requires no installation (google it). Changing the MTU of my Belkin wireless USB thing to 1458 fixed my problem, and i could access all the secure sites again.
I dont know that this is your problem, so i dont know if this will fix it. You'll also have to check the MTU of your provider if you think this might be the problem.
Thanks for that. The problem is I can't even get on Google 🙁
That works, but when I search for something it says it's unavailable still
Looks like something is wrong with the DNS then (which turns URL's into IP addresses).
I have a couple of things you can try, but they might leave you with no connection back here if it gets rid of the entry for STW. Do you get free support from AOL - might be worth giving them a ring first to make sure the problem is not their end?
Thanks for your help, the sun's just come out so I'm off for a ride.
The mrs can speak to AOL when she gets home, she likes phoning people 
If you can do it with the ip address it could be a dns problem.
Try this:
Go to Start menu, go to 'RUN' type in [b]cmd[/b], this will open a command window.
Type the following. [b]ipconfig /flushdns[/b]
Press return, this will confirm when its done.
Close and reopen your browser and try browsing.
How long did it take for you to realise STW was the only site you could access? A week?
SM, tried that but it comes up with 'The requested operation requires elevation'.
None of this means anything to me so I really am off now! Will try again later
Ok have a good ride. Are you running Vista?
You can try what sm suggested - but if there is a problem with the DNS entry/server, it's bye-bye STW.
Enjoy the ride.
BGD you need to run CMD as Administrator to do that.
go to start menu
Accessories
Right hand click on Command Prompt
Run as administrator
then follow sm's post
If running Vista try this.
Go to All Programs, Accessories, right click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.
Then run the ipconfig /flushdns
I should have typed faster 😉
I had something like this and the DNS Client (it turns URLs like www.google.co.uk into an IP address) was not running for some reason.
If the FlushDNS thing doesn't work
Try checking that the DNS Client is running:
Start->Administrative Tools->Services
Find DNS Client. If the status column doesn't say Started this could be your problem. To fix:
Right Click on DNS Client and select properties.
Change Startup Type to Automatic.
Click Ok
Right Click on DNS Client again and select Start
Now try the browser. You may need to restart the browser first.
What happens if you try to browse to 212.58.251.195 ? Worksafe - it's the bbc news site
Right, I'm back from a quick spin. I'm running Vista and have tried Sm and GreenK's suggestions with no luck.
BigButSlimmerBloke, I get the BBC site but in a very basic format.
Thanks again for all your help, if nothing else works I'm gonna let the mrs sort it!
if the ip works at all, then your dns is broken. The reason it looks basic is probably that the CSS (styling) files to the site are referred to by hostname.
I would phone your ISP and ask if they are having problems. Take a look at your router's status page if possible, and see what it thinks your dns is pointing to.
Start a cmd (DOS) windows and enter the following to see if DNS is functioning:
nslookup www.google.co.uk
If this doesn't return a bunch of IP addresses and possible alias names for www.google.co.uk then your ISP's DNS server could be down. Some entries were possibly in your DNS cache which is why they worked previously.
Also, what retro83 said.
Panic over (for now), it's all up and running again. Thanks all 😀