Confused by one website not loading while laptop works flawlessly. 1

[DrB0b]

Alright Gentlemen,
I have officially been stumped. I have a house with two computers, a HP Desktop w/ XP and a Vista Laptop. Both work as they should except the Laptop will not connect to one website, ncsbank.com. That is the ONLY website this Laptop has trouble with regardless of Browser. Tried Chrome, FF, and IE. Desktop connects fine to it, as do phones, and my personal computer. It had Norton Internet Security Suite which I figured was blocking/messing with the connection. I uninstalled it and ran CCleaner, ipconfig /flushdns, ipconfig /release and /renew and it still wouldn't work. Disabled the Windows Firewall and Defender and still no go. There isn't any other "security" software installed on this machine as there is hardly any other programs installed at all. If it wasn't for Quicken 10 installed, I would do a reinstall but I don't want to figure out how to back it up and have them find the disk that may be long gone.

I'm assuming they have Ping disabled at the server because I cannot Ping or Tracert it from any PC. It can't be an ISP(client side) issue because the Desktop connects just fine through the same ISP. What am I missing? Only thing that comes to mind would be maybe the MAC got blacklisted for some unknown reason.

Could use some ideas, because I'm fresh out.
Thanks.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[flyboytim]

The

http://www.ncsbank.com

IP address (206.188.192.86) is presumably behind a firewall that does not respond to pings or tracert attempts, which is fair enough from a security point of view. Tests from

http://www.domaintools.com/research/dns/

fail too.

I am using a Windows 8 Laptop.

Whereas I can access the website using the domain names ncsbank.com or

http://www.ncsbank.com,

I cannot access it using the IP address above. The site may use something like an anonymous proxy server or some other buffer to hide behind.

Does your Vista laptop use different DNS servers from your XP Desktop?

I have to say that I left Vista alone several years ago, but on Windows 7, when the ISP I used seemed to have DNS server problems I switched from the automatically obtained DNS server settings to the Google public DNS servers - 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in the Properties of the TCP/IPv4 connection protocol for the network adapter I was using, which solved most issues I had problems with.

One other place to check is the hosts file in Windows\System32\drivers\etc\HOSTS, just in case there is an entry that blocks the website.

You could also check that all of the Vista Windows updates have successfully installed, (use something like Belarc Advisor) and if not, remedy the missing updates, in case an outdated bit of the networking stack remains in use.

You may need to check that all the requisite services are started and running from the computer management console. It is difficult to be precise in what to check for.

One way you could check the network adapter is functioning properly is to boot from a live linux CD.

That's about all I can think of.

 

[DrB0b]

Thanks flyboytim,
Yea wasnt too concerned about not being able to ping, after realizing I couldn't from any PC. I checked the hosts file and all was OK. Both use have the same DHCP settings using the same DNS servers. Changing them to Google or similar DNS servers didnt cross my mind but is a darn good idea, which I will try next time I am out on call. Updates were good, and most/all network services seemed to be running smoothly.

One thing I did find out was that, I was told the desktop w/ XP worked on ncsbanks.com. It doesnt either since the move and switch to the Verizon internet, leading me to believe Verizon's DNS servers are at fault. As stated above, Ill try different ones to confirm. Since finding out the XP PC didnt work, I did not try a Live CD as it would presumably have the same affect being behind the Verizon ISPs.

SO I believe this one is "solved" in that Verizon and its DNS servers are at fault. I found a way around the two PCs not being able to access that particular site. The client only needed to log into the online banking portion of the website which appears to be hosted on a different set of servers. Both the XP and Vista machines can access this site directly so we are good to go.

Thanks for the assistance.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[flyboytim]

Glad you consider it is solved. One final afterthought is to run the ICSI Netalyzr, which performs a comprehensive series of tests to detect faults and abnormalities in your IPv4 and IPv6 connection via your ISP. There is a section specifically dealing with DNS properties of your connection.

The report it presents can be passed on to the ISP etc., in the hope they will correct or at least respond to the issues that have shown up.

 

[DrB0b]

Fantastic posting flyboytim. I will be over there as soon as the RAM comes in to install it and will definitely run that to see what information it can find.
Thanks again.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.