Why can I not access certain web sites?

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The advice to check the MTU value at 1492 did the trick here.

I have a little additional information which may help others. In my case, the problem was introduced when a change had to be made in my local network; namely the DSL modem crapped out and had to be replaced... the new modem was also a routing device but I still had to use my old 'wireless' router in order for the wireless devices to continue to function. Where am I going with this? Namely, in all the changes that had to be made with the (now) two routers, the MTU value had gotten changed to a default of 1500. Once I located it and changed it back to 1492 all my systems worked.

Just saying, if you've got a home or small office network with multiple computers exhibiting this problem, don't change the MTU value via registry edits machine by machine... change it on the router.

Glad I found this! Been pulling my hair out. Thanks.

Hi all,

I have exactly the same problem at home on a small wireless network with 3 PCs running XP Pro SP2 (browsers IE and FireFox on all machines): one PC works well, one fails 50% of the websites we try and the third fails 90% of the websites (and I am talking about common stuff like Eurosport, eBay or Google). I've tried everything that has been suggested so far and to no avail, no improvement whatsoever: spyware software finds nothing; Norton and AVG antivirus nothing; MTU has been set (both on the router AND on each machine) as low as 1,000 ... nothing; HOSTS file has nothing but the usual "localhost" data!!
I am truly desperate here, does anyone have other ideas?

Thanks a lot for your help!

From my windows xp profession edition SP2 desktop I am unable to access www.nsu.edu,
am able to access from laptop.
Searched the entrie hard drive, disable norton
antivirus, norton internet security, its not in the restricted sites list. Tracert after 15 hops Request timed out. No virus/adware etc just curious as to what the problem could be, can you help?

Changing the MTU value as described earlier worked for me. But I had to change it to a value lower than 1492. I used a value of 1249 as someone else suggested.

I am so glad this worked! I tried several proposed solutions before the MTU fix...

o cleared my browser cache, history, deleted all cookies
o uninstalled Firefox 1.07 and installed Firefox 1.06
o reset my router
o turned off XP firewall
o configured firewall to allow Firefox to access interent (tho I had the problem with IE and Firefox)
o tried ipconfig /flushdns
o reset internet security settings to default values (running INETCPL.CPL)
o checked my hosts file (nothing was blocked)
o made recommended changes in about:config in Firefox

but it was 'the MTU fix' that did the trick. Thank you!

I am running Windoze XP SP2 with the Windows firewall, Firefox 1.07, but I also had the same problem accessing web sites using Internet Exploder.

For reference, I was having problems accessing secure pages at newegg.com, ebay.com, store.yahoo.com. I could get to some pages at these sites but, for example, when I went to log in at ebay it would crap out with the "document contains no data" error. I could browse for items at newegg.com but when it came time to place the item in my shopping cart it would give me the cursed error.

So it seems to me the problem is not with the browser(s) but with Windows XP. Changing the registry seems to confirm this. My question now is, "What does this MTU setting do?"

I will post this solution to other boards where I've read tons of posts from people having this problem.

I finally found the solution: it was simply the router locking up on the IP for two of the machines and not for the third!! Resetting the router did the trick!

Thanks to everyone that tried to help.

Ok Guys.. Here Is My SUCCESSFUL ANSWER!!!! After trying everything suggested on this website from (big breath) the MTU thing to the hosts thing, disbaling firewalls, trying different modems, talking to the my ISP technical support for over 3 hours, even swaping computers, i could NOT find this one certain website, even though I can access every other website in the world..wtf??? 3 days this took me and here is what i did in 2 minutes that got me on to the website. My dsl modem assigns me an ip address (DHCP), in the lan TCP/IP properties underneath the obtain IP address automatically option I MANUALLY assigned the DNS servers. Hit OK and that was it. BANG hit the website!!! to get dns settings you can ask your isp or browse on the web for them. Hope this helps some of you!!!! Cheers. Joyrider out.

I've had this problem ever since i started using my internet connection and have been looking high n low for a week. I've tried everything they said to try, scan for spyware,check for virus,change the MTU settings,remove my firewalls(both router and windows) Nothing worked. As i was about to give up, I tried www.ebay.co.uk once again,then as usual it comes up with 'Page not available'. Then i read at the bottom bit of the page saying that certain secure websites require you to have SSL 2.0,3.0 and TLS 1.0 for access. I checked my Internet Options and ticked 'Use TLS 1.0' which was unchecked by default. My problem is solved. I do believe there are many causes of this problem but maybe this 1 might work for you. I hope this will help other ppl who face this similiar problem.Good luck ppl!

Joyrider --- excellent work ... entering the DNS fixed the prob instantly

cheers

i cnt access to dis website (www.friendster.com) since dlast two days..evrytym i try dis will appeared..the page cannot b displayed..y is dat?cn sumboD plz tell me wat shud i do..some ppl said dat i have to reformat my pc..is dat true?or der is sumting dat i can do besides reformatin it..at least tell me der's sumting easier dat i cn do to solve this problem rather den loosing all my files in the pc by reformatin it..plz someboD tell me wat shud i do to allow me to access to dis website again..i only cant access to dis site..drest r fine..tq..

I was having the same problem for the past few days and tried everything to no avail. I simply started delteting Windows Hotfixes until it starting working again. I unfortunately did not catch the actual number of the hotfix that changed things, but it comes immediately AFTER "Windows XP Hotfix (SP2) Q814033" in your add/remove programs section.

Hope this helps others.

-Justin

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