Windows 7: Only a few websites available, most time out (all browsers, all rigs)

Really strange... Only websites working at the moment from those I try (all rigs, all browsers) are SF, 8F, Google, Speedtest.net and a Finnish newspaper plus GUI's for our two IPTV services. All others time out: CNN, BBC, TechNet, German and Finnish news sites, WordPress, online banking etc.

Streaming IPTV television comes without problems, both from Finland and Germany but for instance YouTube and Vimeo do not work ATM. I am currently not able to watch videos from these sites, the sites do not open. After posting this I'm going to see if I can upload an explaining video to this post from my neighbors.

I have now tried over 40 sites I normally visit more or less regularly, five sites work, others don't. Seven Forums, Eight Forums, Google, Speedtest.net and Iltalehti.fi, a Finnish newspaper are working without problems but clicking an external link in any of these is a no go. Online banking is also not possible ATM.

Any ideas? Belkin N1 Vision router, very fast VDSL connection. MSE 2, Windows Firewall. Until yesterday evening no problems, since that no updates on computers or router. One of the working websites is Speedtest.net which gives totally normal ping and speed.

Kari



EDIT:

My neighbor has the same ISP, having no problems, so I used his connection to upload this to YouTube. It shows my problem better than I can describe:

Hey Kari

Is the problem "global" - happens on other computers too - or is it just your laptop that does this?

Our local ISP (Comcast) has sporadic outages that affect traffic through certain sites that last a few hours a couple times a year. Networking is not my strong suit, so I don't know why that would be.

It's all rigs, all browsers.

Kari

Well it could either be the rigs or the router-modem or the ISP. The ISP is ruled out because the neighbour's fine, rigs are ruled out because malware infection or bad browser settings couldnt have affected all rigs and all browsers simultaneously and identically. So my guess is it has something to do with the router-modem- try resetting and reconfiguring it.

Bill, what you say makes sense. But: I have reseted both modem and router twice already, and once restored both to factory settings.

I have never seen something like this. It's as if I suddenly had a global host file that prevents me of using certain sites, except that the error message is "Timed out".

Kari

Ok, some random thoughts here. You maybe have the same security app on every rig, you could check settings there. Or try switching to opendns or googledns. Or maybe just sleep over it, might be a temporary quirk.

Hi Kari
Have you tried actually typing the address of one of the sites in the address bar rather than using the link?

Yes, I have tried typing both normal URL's and IP's (when I have known it).

Kari : that is very odd. A complete stab in the dark here : is it something about your account with your ISP? Could they have inadevertenly done/switched/limited something there?

That was my first thought, but it seems the answer is no. I have called my ISP, they have no clue.

Past half an hour I've found a couple more sites that work but for instance the important sites for a news junkie like me (CNN, BBC World, Al Jazeera, YLE (Finnish PBS broadcaster) and so on) do not work ATM. Funny thing is, all John's sites work without problems Vista, Seven and Eight Forums come nice and fast. BBC World came through a couple of times but very distorted, no images and like some text only HTML page from early 90's.

Worth to notice, our IPTV systems, both Finnish and German, use the same connection and we have no problems with TV. Currently watching streaming HDTV, news from Finland.

This is bloody interesting! Is God trying to tell me something?

Kari