Windows 7 - Can't access a website

I have a strange problem: I cannot access websites on a certain server (Firefox gives me "Network Timeout", Windows network diagnostics says "website is online but isn't responding to connection attempts"). The problem is quite annoying since that happens to be the server that hosts my own websites.

The problem is limited to this computer because I can access the websites without problem from other devices (another computer, a mobile phone) connected to the same network. That should rule out server, ISP or router problems.

The problem is not browser related, because none of the browsers on this computer can access the website (I have tried Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari).

I can ping the server IP with no problem.

But I cannot access the server by entering the IP to the browser (this results in the same error message -- but works fine on other devices).

I can access other websites hosted by the same hosting provider on different servers.

The hosts file looks ok -- it's the default Windows 7 host file.

I have tried reconnecting to the network, dnsflush, rebooting, emptying caches, deleting temporary internet files, but none of this helps.

This has happened a few times now, and then gone away after a while. It just starts working again. But now it's been over two days that it hasn't worked, so it seems like it might not come back at all.

I never had this issue before I moved to Windows 7. I am currently running the Release Candidate.

Any suggestions?

Hi and welcome to sevenforums

My first impulse is to ask abt firewalls, and anti-virus. could you give us the info on yours as well as complete computer specs.

Thanks
Ken

Thanks for the reply, Ken!

Indeed, I forgot to mention that I also tried turning off firewall (Windows 7 default) and anti-virus (Avira) but that didn't help. The computer is a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo A7640 notebook.

I think I just narrowed down the problem to the Ethernet card, however. When I tested the WLAN connection, the websites I'm having problems with worked just fine. However, the moment I turn off the wireless connection and switch back to the cable, I cannot access the websites any more.

I have now tried a few different drivers for the Ethernet card (SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter), disabling and enabling it, but with no luck.

OK im assuming you have a typical setup cable modem, router, pcs. have you tried (yeah i know this is a pretty lame one) re-boorting them all. I figure you have and the next step is are you getting dns. Im gonna assume you are good cause you seem to be. try ping the domain name of your server msn.com, then ping the ip of ame server. that will tell you if you have dns.

If you feel corfortible with telling me the domain name I can do a little investigating, if not dont worry we can still tackle this
Ken

Not lame at all. I thought that I had tried rebooting everything, but now that you mentioned a "typical setup", I realised that my setup is indeed not entirely typical (the wired connection goes through a switch, a wireless access point and two routers) and that the problem could be with the wireless access point that is used by the wired connection but which is bypassed by the wireless one. Rebooting the access point didn't help, but I decided to dig deeper.

And indeed, if I take the laptop and plug it directly to the router, the websites load again. Once I plug the computer back to the access point, however, the problem returns. Clearly, the issue must be with the connection running through the access point. Which means that I have probably been barking at the wrong tree here -- Windows 7 may well have nothing to do with the issue. I'll need to troubleshoot the access point instead. Strange though that the problems started after I installed Windows 7.

Thanks for this!

I was wrong, the problem really is Windows 7 related. For one thing, there is nothing in the access point that should block the traffic. Secondly, I booted the laptop into Ubuntu, and the websites loaded just fine.

So, what on earth can affect Windows 7 in a way that stops me from accessing specific websites within the same IP when the computer is connected to a specific access point? Why only those sites? Why only when connected through the access point?

This is beyond my understanding of technology. If anyone has suggestions how to proceed, let me know. I might actually just go back to XP.

disable IPv6 on your network adapter and try again.

Thanks for the suggestion, sup3rsprt! I actually tried that already, but with no help.

I was facing the same problem. I was able to solve it with following steps:

1. Go to control panel
2. Go to System and Security
3. Click "Allow Programs and Features" under "Windows Firewall"
4. Click "Change Settings" and then turn ON the check box at the bottom of the list with header "World Wide Web Service".

Click OK and you should be able to access the site from other computers.

Thanks
Onkar

I'm having the same exact problem, almost. I can solve the problem by restarting the computer, but if I leave it on for another 24 hours, it generally will not be able to access websites through the browser again. Adapter settings all seem correct, and I'm able to ping websites (e.g. Google) and my router. I have AVG installed on the computer, I'm wondering if that's the problem.

I tried going to the Firewall Settings as mentioned above, but there was no "World Wide Web Service" to allow through the firewall.