Web Browsers

[Anon41691]

Sites that are loading fine: comcast.com, www.yahoo.com

sites that don't: www.cnn.com, www.monster.com, www.callaway.com, etc.

What could be wrong?? I did everything Comcast wanted me to do (i.e. upgrade patch, and etc) while my roommate whose computer is connected thru homenetworking did absolutely nothing. And his computer is trouble free while mine's much slower, outlook is not working, websites are not loading up, freezing, and on and on and on.

I tried solutions provided in other posts like resetting the browser options, editing regedit (couldn't find tcpcip window size), and rebooting and rebooting and rebooting. I even tried "restore" 10 times. Called Comcast Techsupport but they couldn't solve it. Now i'm getting really frustrated.

Do I have any other option than formatting my computer?
Please HELP!!

[Anon41691]

I'm having the exact same problem. When I called Comcast, they said it's a browser problem. So I downloaded netscape and navigator wouldn't open the sites that explorer wouldn't and would open those explorer would.

[silvatone]

Same problem here. I'm using Windows ME, IE 6 sp1. I have also tried Netscape, Opera, Mozilla with the same browsing problem. Some pages load fine, others don't load at all...I get "Cannot display page" message. I have talked to Comcast support six times and have been given 3 basic answers. It's your browser (I've tried 4 w/ same results), It's your OS (I've reloaded OS same results), It's not us if you can get to some sites. Any ideas?

[Anon41691]

Weird. Today I turned on my computer and it DOES show the sites that didn't work last night. And somehow, although my homepage was set to comcast.com, the browser automatically opened microsoft update page.

[MH63]

The browser will perioidically open the Microsoft update page, I think either when there are new updates or just to remind you to look. It may be something you can turn on or off in IE, but it's nothing unusual.

[D_A15063]

If you have windows critical updates installed and permission set in your firewall it will automatically check for updates and direct your IE browser there after you open it. This has happened to me 2 - 3 times since loading the newest version of critical updates. It may download and install patches, which don't require a restart, automatically. This is a possibility and could explain why your problem seems to be corrected. By the way, when IE opened with windows update in the address bar, did you install any updates? If so, this could have corrected your problem.

[Shrugs]

I am having the same problems. This is really ANNOYING.

[C?mcATT]

Do a file search for a file named HOSTS .
There is no extension at the end and it is usually in ( depending on your OS ) the /system or /system32 folder

rename HOSTS to HOSTS.bak
Reboot the computer
See if sites load better now.

Just another thought.
a lot of ad blocking/pop up stopping software will " edit/replace " your existing hosts file.

HOPE THIS HELPS.

[Shrugs]

Comc ATT:

Thanks for your suggestions. However, in my case, this happens in 3 of my home computers. Two of them don't have any popups blocker.

In this computer, I am using the Google Toolbar 2.0 but I uninstalled it and and had the same problem. So I reinstalled.

My Host file has the following entries:

127.0.0.1 localhost
#127.0.0.1 Web2Pop

So there is no other entries that could be interfering with browsing the web.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

[C?mcATT]

What operating system are you running??
and
When it start happening??

[Anon47656]

I am having the same problem. I just started using comcast.net today and now I can't get to a lot of websites that I need. I did everything they told me to.

[Anon47799]

Same problem here in Western Washington. I've only had this service available to us for 6 weeks, and I was one of the first in the area to get it. For 3 weeks I've struggled with this. Initially I couldn't even get to microsoft.com to download new IE. I hate IE, so I've been using Netscape 4.8, just like we all have at work. The link to update my browser from the comcast homepage won't even load. Netscape.com, real.com, mozilla.com, my bank, etc. etc., will not load. I can get the first page of yahoo.com, but no further. Doesn't it just annoy the heck out of you that Comcast only supports IE? That forces me to use windows, and IE. What if I wanted to have a linux system? EVERY website on the web should work with ANY browser. I could connect via dial-up through work and everything works fine. That means to me that my browsers are OK, so it must be the comcast internet connection. Of course, they have denied everything.

Here's the crazy thing. I stopped using the computer for the past week because I was sure that I was going to have to reload my copy of Windows 98 and I just wasn't feeling up to dealing with it. Today I had to check something on teh web, and lo and behold, everything works! Works like a charm! I'm guessing that comcast fixed something on their end, because I certainly didn't do anything differently here. I hope they post a note telling us what was wrong.

[Anon47792]

Recong your system under (system settings).
Choose (Internet Options)click connection, uncheck the box at the end of the window...(explorer as default).
You should no more problems.

[Arisaid]

I am not computer savy. Why will adding bak do to make them load faster? I like to know a little bit of why before I do something. I can't load some or click a link and go to a web site either. Another thing is I can't type in an address in the address window and hit go to get there. All was fine until a few days ago. I have not added nor changed anything. OS is XP.
I need help. I have tried some of the suggestions in the forums here. I also am not getting some of my news letters I have subscribed too.
I know comcast has closed some ports because of the virus.
I appreciate any newbie help.
arisaid

[jhaskins75]

i am having the same problem. has anybody out there been able to resolve this issue. please let me know. my web address is jhaskins75@comcast.net thank you

[C?mcATT]

Please refer to my post in this thread with regards to tweaking....

http://forums.comcast.net/thread.jspa?threadID=3158&tstart=0

GOOD LUCK!!!

[Shrugs]

I'm using Windows XP HE. IE 6.0. I noticed this started happening a week or two ago. Not very sure. It's SO frustrating. Please help!

[dcso580GA]

Pull up the internet options and set everything back to default. Close your firewall program. Re-boot and try the sites again. This fixed my computer and I havn't figured out which of the two was the culprit yet. I will repost when I find out! I'm still investigating

[dcso580GA]

It's Norton Internet Security, which includes the firewall. I am still investigating exactly which one is causing the problem.

[Shrugs]

No firewalls running here.

[JetGuy]

I too am having nothing but problems with this (I've only had my account for a couple of days). I've tried everything people have suggested in this thread, plus another thread on the same subject, but nothing fixes it. This help forum is about the only item in the whole support area that will load. The online support, the live support, and the e-mail support pages give me "The page cannot be displayed". Several people at work also have Comcast, but none of them have ever had this type of problem. It's enough to make me go back to Qwest DSL!!!

[MGP]

Well, not wanting to look like a Comcast-Outcast, my browswer seems to be followng the crowd. The IE6 on my 98 machine stopped accessing certain sites a couple of days ago, and I think they're mostly secure sites. For instance, I can load the Comcast home page, but when I enter my username & password to log in, I get "Page cannot be displayed". What's even more fun is I can't get any Windows Updates. Even if I go to the site, once I click "scan", I get a Windows Update Error, followed by some error codes which I can find in the knowledge base, but none of which apply to XP. When I emailed Microsoft, I got an auto-reply stating someone would get back to me in 48 hours. And they did. Actually, they were quite prompt in getting back to me to inform me that I "should" receieve an answer in 8-10 business days. I wanted to reply back telling them how special I felt that they would devote more time to my problem than they do in the research, creation, testing, & distribution of each of their products. Then I thought maybe I should save THAT for my thank you note after I get my answer.

MGP

[PJ]

In IE's tools/Internet Options/Advanced tab...
scroll down to security and make sure "use SSL 2.0" and "use SSL 3.0" are checked.

[C?mcATT]

Have had some instances where the browser became corrupt.

To check this out, open up IE, click on HELP, About INTERNET EXPLORER.

If this little window is all blank, then your browser and the cipher strength is corrupt. go to http://www.microsoft.com/ie and redownload/install IE6 sp1

If Cipher strength is showing anything other than 128-bit encryption, then you will need to download high encryption pack / or update browser to IE6 SP1 at the site mentioned above.

Hope this HELPS

GOOD LUCK!!!

[Anon72512]

Whew! I just signed onto Comcast 2 days ago after having Sprint DSL for 2.5 years and when I couldn't get on with Sprint last Wednesday night (which NEVER went down) I was told that it was my modem and I would have to buy a new modem (Sprint doesn't or didn't have the rental option when I signed on) - well I didn't like that answer so I called them back and got someone else who said they would send a tech out (I didn't have to be home). I wasn't too hopeful it would be fixed so I called Comcast the next morning and decided to try it. Got the self-install kit at lunchtime and when I got home that night - guess what? I had a voice mail from Sprint saying they had fixed the problem and sure enough: Sprint DSL was working. So, I decided I would do my own comparison test. After doing the Comcast self-install kit I found the SAME PROBLEMS with pages loading as posted here. I NEVER NEVER had this problem with Sprint/Earthlink. (Sprint is not ALWAYS connected like Comcast so I can unplug Comcast modem and then click on Sprint connect to go back and forth). I called Comcast support and the tech had me download Sun Java and Macromedia and reinstall IE 6 (which I then had to go back and reinstall all the patches since then). When I called Comcast tech support a second time, I got this very very unfriendly girl who told me that I would have to contact Microsoft! I repeatedly told her that it was obvious it was Comcast's problem as Sprint didn't have the problem, so why do I have to call Microsoft??? Anyway, I hung up on her and called back and asked for a supervisor......eventually got hung up on and decided to call regular customer service. The person I got then was JUST WONDERFUL! and suggested that a tech come out to look and also gave me a couple of free days and pay-per-view coupons!
The tech came yesterday and I showed him the difference with the pages loading between Sprint and Comcast - his response was that it's because I have the XP Firewall enabled and that Comcast has ITS OWN security so each page is checked twice over and that's why some of the pages take longer - and that Sprint/Earthlink have no such "extra" security. Well, to be honest, it sounded plausible to me so I'm still trying to decide if I can live with the slower (it's not really too too bad) - but it's hard to get used to when you're used to INSTANT access. Plus, Comcast is $15 a month cheaper and I won't have to ever BUY another modem. But, going to these forums has just been SO HELPFUL! And, I can see now that maybe the Tech was telling the truth, but it is a big problem and it is COMCAST'S problem, not Microsoft and not mine. I just have to decide if I can live with it! I found if I press the back and then forward keys when the longer loading pages are loading, they seem to go faster - but I read here to press Refresh so I'm going to try that. Anyway, thanks so much for listening, and THANKS so much to everyone here for trying to help each other!!!