some site wont work - help!!

[almac_uk]

Hey everyone,
I'm new to all this, hopefully someone can help out. I have a g3 ibook and am running OS X 10.3.9. I haven't used the laptop for some time, but have recently returned to it and am having problems connecting to certain sites (only certain sites).

I connect via ethernet cable to a router which is shared by my 5 housemates. Nobody else in the house is suffering from these problems.

I cannot connect to certain sites, significantly i cannot connect to any apple sites, and cannot update. Safari comes up with the following message: Safari can’t open the page “http://www.apple.com/” because it could not connect to the server “www.apple.com”. I have no idea why this is. Most sites work, but some important ones do not. I cannot access the online legal databases, which is crucial for my work

I can't really supply much more info, i'm not a skilled Macintosh user and have a real basic knowledge of the system. If someone can help asap, i will be truly indebted. If you need in any further info, i'll be checking back routinely because I'm getting desperate!

Thanks

Almac_uk

[Clivey]

Confuddling - BTW, I've just checked www.apple.com and it's up and running.
Let's be clear here, you have internet access to certain websites but not others, and that your friends are happy?
Can you (in Terminal) ping www.apple.com ? You should get;

ping www.apple.com
PING www.apple.com.akadns.net (17.254.0.91): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 17.254.0.91: icmp_seq=0 ttl=238 time=154.829 ms
64 bytes from 17.254.0.91: icmp_seq=1 ttl=238 time=152.671 ms
64 bytes from 17.254.0.91: icmp_seq=2 ttl=238 time=155.570 ms
If not, then can you ping it by the IP number (in Red above)?

Qs:
Are you the only one in the building connected by ethernet cable to the router?
Are you sure you are all using the same DNS server (the ISPs would be favourite)?
Does your router have any url blocking software?

Have a try and revert if still problem.

ATB

[almac_uk]

hi there, thanks for the reply. i can't ping successfully:

PING www.apple.com.akadns.net (17.254.0.91): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: Permission denied
ping: wrote www.apple.com.akadns.net 64 chars, ret=-1

i am the only one connecting via ethernet... it's a wireless router but i haven't been able to upgrade to airport. it fails to work when i connect directly to the modem as well. what does revert mean?

"Are you sure you are all using the same DNS server (the ISPs would be favourite)?" < not sure what this means, how do i find this out?

[Clivey]

Ahh. Something is stopping you specifically to that site (and probably the others).
Just to be sure , try the same technique to a site you know works (you should get a reply from the ping as per my previous mail) - let me know this is OK.
So I can point you in the right direction, please open the 'Network' pane in 'System Preferences' in Applications folder and detail the IP settings you have. Once I've got this, I can start to help you work backwards to finding the problem.
Cheers for now.

[almac_uk]

thanks for being so quick... much appreciated!
PING www.euro.yahoo.akadns.net (217.12.3.11): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=0 ttl=246 time=61.187 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=1 ttl=246 time=21.365 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=2 ttl=246 time=18.459 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=3 ttl=246 time=20.113 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=4 ttl=246 time=19.644 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=5 ttl=246 time=26.741 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=6 ttl=246 time=19.369 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=7 ttl=246 time=20.653 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=8 ttl=246 time=23.654 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=9 ttl=246 time=25.853 ms
64 bytes from 217.12.3.11: icmp_seq=10 ttl=246 time=37.875 ms

My network settings are as follows:

Configure IPv4: Using DCHP
IP Address: 192.168.2.3
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.2.1
DNS Servers: 194.168.8.100, 194.168.4.100

[almac_uk]

oh, one more point, although i'm not sure how relevant it is...

One of the sites I try to access is called www.threadless.com. it doesn't work at the moment, and i get the same message (permission denied) but if i try and access it as soon as i start up the ibook, i have about a minute whereby i can access it. as soon as it is fully booted, the problem comes back.

just thought i'd let you know

Thanks

almac_uk

[Clivey]

This is a bit wierd. 194.168.8.100 comes up with the name 'cache2.ntli.net'- I assume that ntli is your ISP?
On the basis that you can see some sites and not others, and assuming that your friends have similar settings, then I think we'll turn our attentions to the Mac:
I think we need to make sure the OS is operating correctly:
In Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility and highlight your boot drive in the left hand side. Once this is done, on the right you can 'repair permissions'- do so.
Then reopen Safari and retry.
If it fails on apple.com, then open Applications>System Preferences>Network (pane), and press 'renew DHCP lease', press apply and quit System Preferences.
Then reopen Safari and retry.

I'll think further, but try that for the moment.
And yes, I'm intrigued about the 'works for a minute then not' bit...

[almac_uk]

No joy...

I repaired disk permissions, which didn't affect the problem and then attempted to renew DCHP but nothing happened when i clicked the button...

Should i try all this when directly plugged into the modem, instead of via the router? Perhaps I should reinstall the OS? It really is quite vexing... it seems like my computer is arbitrarily picking sites i can access, although i know that isn't the case. i just hope we can find the problem.

Whether or not this is of any use i don't know, but last week i attempted to port forward, but have since reverted back to the automatic detection using DCHP. Any further ideas?

Thanks

Almac_uk