Windows 7: Comcast blocking 99% of sites with my Win 7 laptop

Hi All,

I just got a new laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. We have a Netgear cable modem / wireless router. Comcast is the service provider. My other two computers connect and load pages without any issue. However, my new laptop connects without issue, the browser boots up just fine, and google comes up right away.

Here's the strange part: It only loads pages from Google! Whenever I go to another website, the browser finds the start, begins loading very slowly, then stops when the progress bar reaches about halfway. Again, my other two computers ( a laptop and a desktop ) both connect fine. They are both running XP.

I thought it might be a problem with the browser, so I went to starbucks with the new laptop and tried using the wifi there. All pages loaded perfectly there without issue. That's why I'm guessing Comcast is involved in this problem.



When I got back home, I tried using Firefox 3.5 and back to the same problem. I noticed that in addition to Google, Reuters News loads as well. Skype is also running without any problem.

Any clue if there is a setting in Windows 7 I need to change, or is this something I need to call Comcast about?

Thanks in advance for any help!

--Hashi

Hi and welcome

lets start with type cmd in search>right click and run as admin>ping msn.com ping apple.com . if it is compcast teh pings may faill. If it is your computer it is probably just a dns/dhcp prolem. what is ipconfig /all saying your ip is?

Ken J+

Thanks for the quick reply Ken!

I pinged apple.com and msn.com as you suggested and the request timed out on both sites.

I also did an ipconfig /all but I'm not quite sure what to look for. I did notice that the primary DSN suffix is blank, as is Connection-specific DNS Suffixes for Wirelelss LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection.

So maybe it's a combination of Comcast and me.

Is there something specific I should look for in the ipconfig /all that could give you more information?

Thanks again.

Do you have a Google Tool Bar?
How about Google Chrome?
If not I say its the router. Many people have problems with that particular router. My friend, keeps losing internet connection on one computer.

My advice, if you think that it can be the router and it appears that it can be, since you are fine when at another location. I would try to beg or borrow a router and see how it goes. Maybe you can get one from Comcast, but then the problem may still be present.

In situations like this no one really knows. Even if you bring it in for repairs, it will be hit and miss.

In any event, I wish you luck. If my suggestion does not work, maybe, someone with more expertise will be more helpful.

you can check to see if its a DNS issue
to check you can look at
https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm
to change your dns settings look at
DNS Addressing - How to Change in Windows 7

Problem: New Dell laptop has Windows 7 installed. When connected via wireless, using IE8 I can only browse to sites in the google.com domain. Examples: www.google.com, maps.google.com, etc. All other sites – for example www.yahoo.com, www.comcast.net, etc. - give me a “page not found error”.

I performed extensive analysis on the problem to isolate the root cause.
1) Reviewed Windows 7 machine.

• IP address is assigned via DHCP from the comcast wireless router. Router uses WPA, and Windows 7 machine is setup to match router’s ssid and WPA password.
• From the DOS command prompt, I can successfully ping any domain. This includes www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, www.comcast.net, etc. Clearly, my Windows 7 machine is on the network, and DNS is working
• From the DOS command prompt, I can ftp to any ftp site. Again, this proves I am on the network, and that DNS is working.
• From browser, tried to enter IP address of a site. Tried the IP address for www.yahoo.com. Still could not connect. Again, this further rules out any DNS problems.
• I installed Mozilla Firefox. Firefox connects to google.com domain but also gives me “page not found errors” for all other domains.
• I performed a factory reset on IE8 settings. No change.
• The machine uses the standard Windows 7 firewalls, which I disabled. No change.
• Removed Dell’s wlan wireless utility and tried to use native Windows 7 wireless utility. No change.
• Repaired Windows 7 internet connection. No change.
• Rebooted wireless router. No change.
• Checked wireless router settings. Pretty standard configuration, nothing fancy. SSID is broadcasting. WPA is used. I changed the WPA password on the router and entered the same password in Windows 7 wireless connection setting. No change.
• Upgraded BIOS and network card drivers on Windows 7 machine. No change.

2) Tested 2 other machines with Windows XP. XP machines can connect using IE8 and Firefox to all domains successfully. All internet and browser settings in the 2 Windows XP machines are identical to the Windows 7 machine.
3) Turned off security on the wireless router, and modified the wireless settings on the 3 machines. Now the Windows 7 machine and the 2 XP machines can connect to all domains using IE8 successfully.
4) Turned WPA security back on for the wireless router and modified the wireless settings on the 3 machines. Now the problem has returned to the Windows 7 machine, but the 2 XP machines can connect to all domains using IE8 successfully.
5) Connected Windows 7 machine to comcast wireless router via ethernet. The Windows 7 machine can now connect to all domains using IE8 successfully.
6) Took Windows 7 machine to the house of a friend who has AT&T Uverse with a wireless router using WPA. The Windows 7 machine can now connect to all domains using IE8 successfully.

These steps collectively rule out the following potential problems:
- Hardware issues with Dell laptop, including wireless card.
- Drivers.
- Windows 7.
- Network connection settings.
- Specific browsers – both IE8 and Firefox have the problem.
- Browser settings.
- Comcast network.
- Local firewall.
- Dell wireless utility.
- Wireless router settings.
- DNS.
- Other protocols – e.g. ftp works for all domains, but http only works for google.com domain.

This points to a bug in the comcast router firmware. My guess is that the following logic exists in the firmware:
- if operating system is unknown (e.g. the router firmware probably pre-dates Windows 7) AND
- security = WPA AND
- protocol = http,
- then only allow http access to google.com domain and block all other domains.

Most likely, the firmware developer years ago put that in for testing purposes and forgot to remove it, or perhaps the developer did not consider that other operating systems would be released before the firmware was upgraded with the new operating systems.

If I had a Linksys router, for example, I could simply download and install the latest (and hopefully bug-fixed) firmware. Unfortunately, the comcast combination cable modem/wireless router does not give me this capability.

Hence, the best approach for comcast to fix this problem:
1) Replace the current combination cable modem/wireless router with a much more current combination cable modem/wireless router. Test that the Windows 7 machine can connect to all domains using IE8 via wireless (open and WPA) and Ethernet.
2) Install a cable modem only. Make sure the Windows 7 machine via Ethernet can connect to all domains using IE8. Then add a separate wireless router and try to connect over Ethernet plus wireless (open and WPA).

I will let you know what happens once Comcast comes out.

Comcast came out and replaced the old router with a new router. Problem solved! I can now use IE8 and Firefox to browse to any site on the WWW.

Scot

Thank you for sharing the information; it will be used to help others.

My pleasure! When I saw his original post, I took his initial info, did some additional research, and was able to solve it. The least I could do was post the solution!

Ok, so you'll get (on Internet Explorer 8) an error window with a "Diagnose Connection Problems" button. Click on that and after a while you'll get a report.
In small print, on the lower left part of that window, you'll see a link (in blue) that says something like "detailed information". Upon clicking that, you'll be able to read what port was blocked...
for example:
The remote computer isn’t responding to connections on port 394, possibly due to firewall or security policy settings, or because it might be temporarily unavailable. Windows couldn’t find any problems with the firewall on your computer.

write this port down and go to your router set up. Ussually, you need to open a browser window and type 192.168.something.something
find the firewall settings. you may need to go into the advanced options
Now... create a rule using the UDP/TCP option NOT the IP otion. and make sure (if there is a enable checkbox) that enabled is checked. Next, put the port you wrote down on BOTH range boxes (for example: 394 to: 394) allow inbound and outbound. and click on the "apply" or "add" button....
you should be able to access the problematic website.
Hope this helps.