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Cannot find www.google.com


4x4junkie

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I've got an extremely strange problem here with a single computer in the house that's got me at wits end...

If I type in www.google.com, Firefox tells me "Server not found" (check that I typed it correctly and/or my network is configured properly blah blah blah). Any other website (including Bing and Yahoo) will load and work 100%.

I get the same error using Internet Explorer also.

Oddly, www.maps.google.com works perfect. But as soon as I try to put in just www.google.com, suddenly it's like it's looking into a black hole as if the ethernet cable is unplugged.
I've run antivirus and malware scans on it, they all come up clean.

Anyone know a simple fix for this or do I have to format & reinstall this POS?

Computer is an AMD Athlon 64 (I think?) with XP Home on it. Google works fine from other machines on the same network.

Help? :dunno:
 


Mark_88

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You could try deleting your DNS entries and/or history...also go into FF and remove stored cookies/cache and all that other garbage that builds up...it will also delete stored passwords but you can uncheck that box...

To clear the DNS go to the dos prompt (command prompt) and type in ipconfig /flushdns and hit enter...

see if that helps...

You can also use the ipconfig /registerdns afterwards but I've never actually did that one as it seem to find the DNS info without a problem.
 
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As Mark_88 has said, clear the DNS. Also, clear chache, and browsing history. Also, check if someone didn't fuddle around the setting and set www.google.com to be unattainable (via the internet properties)
 

4x4junkie

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No luck (said DNS successfully flushed after I hit enter, but no change). Cleared cache, cookies & history, still nothing.

Where would I look to see if anything has been fuddled with? I checked all through the Internet Options panel (trusted sites, restricted sites, etc.) and I couldn't find anything there, though I'm not sure if maybe I'm overlooking something...

Edit:
Ok, here's an even further oddity... I put Google in IE again and this time I got a redirect to my ISP's search results page telling me www.google.com is an "unknown URL" and here's some similar suggestions :icon_rofl: Now I'm really confused. :sad:



Firefox just continues to give me it's "Server not found" error.
 
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Mark_88

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Well, a friend called me on Sunday and was getting a similar error...but I set Google as the home page and that actually comes up...I had her try it a few times, but when I had her search for anything in Google it kept giving her a "server not found" error...I still haven't looked at the computer yet in person but I'd checked out her connection and it was working...

Anyway...do you have google bookmarked? Try accessing it that way...if that doesn't bring it up and both browsers do the same thing (and everything else works) then it might be some anti-google malware...

Your firewall can block individual sites (Zone Alarm does) and I recently had to "re enable" my phone software in the Zone Alarm software...all I did was upgrade the software when prompted and when I tried to use my web phone it kept giving me errors that I wasn't logged in...but Zone Alarm had actually disabled the software even though I was clicking the "allow" button when prompted...

Check your firewall...it may have a log of events that were blocked and it may be blocking google for some reason.
 

4x4junkie

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It just has the Windows firewall (nothing 3rd-party). I looked for anything unusual there, but seems there isn't much in the way of options for it vs. ZA or the like (at least I couldn't find anywhere restricted urls might be listed other than under Internet Options, which there was nothing there).

Bookmarking google or setting it as homepage = still no workie (server not found).

Avast & Malwarebytes both find nothing on the system... :dunno:
 

Mark_88

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Try accessing the google ip address directly...I did a search and it gave the following:

OK...that didn't work out...just tried it but it did not bring up google home page...still working on this...will edit.

EDIT:

try this...just copy and enter it into FF where you normally see the http://www...

74.125.224.210

And here is a link to some neat ip tools...

http://whatismyipaddress.com/hostname-ip
 
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4x4junkie

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I suspect you were probably trying to post: http://74.125.224.210 :icon_twisted:

Yes, using that, Google does load and works (both on FF & IE).
 

Mark_88

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That works too...but just typing in the ip address gets the same result...

So if that works...something is blocking the original www.google.com...

Funny, but when I was doing tech support for home internet I almost always found connectivity issues were caused by AV software...Avast was one of them that for some reason would block entire connections (not single sites) and when we disabled the AV software everything usually worked fine...sometimes we had to remove and reinstall the connection software (sympatico or whatever) or there was a connection "manager" software that sometimes went wonky...

But almost always it was something to do with AV software updates...if that means anything to you...
 

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Check both browsers and make sure some sort of tool bar or add-on app hasn't snuck. What you are experiencing in IE sounds like a browser redirect. I doubt that it is since its happening on both and MBAM didn't find anything, but better to be safe. If it is an actual Time Warner page in that screen shot, then opt out if that preference. Doing a quick google search of dnsrsearch.com has shown a lot of issues with the page. Some seem to think that it is a browser malicious add-on or virus, while others think it is a Time Warner page.

I would try manually setting different DNS servers. If you just reset your DNS servers without specifying any to replace it, then your computer is getting then directly from your ISP. If its an issue with their servers then it will continue happening until they get around to fixing it, which probably won't happen. Try setting it to use Google DNS or OpenDNS. I had an issue similar to this once with AT&T DSL. Can't recall all the details, but once I changed DNS servers it went away. Simply put ISP DNS servers aren't always the best. Have personally used both Google and OpenDNS with success. The latter offers a premium account that can be used for parental controls on the DNS side, but its absolutely not necessary to join.
 
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4x4junkie

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No toolbars on it that I can find, the only FF add-ons are Adblock plus and a cookie manager (forget exact name). No luck with disabling ABP. I also had Avast fully uninstalled at one point and it still wasn't working.
The Time Warner page doesn't come up every time, only twice in maybe a dozen attempts in IE (it has never shown itself in FF). I don't have reason (yet) to believe the page is a fake...

If this is an issue on the DNS server side, how would it only affect a single computer? Three other machines all plugged into the same router access Google just fine. :dunno:
(not that I'm saying it isn't the DNS server... I'll try changing it (if I can figure out how), I'm just trying to understand it better)
 

Mark_88

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It would have helped to know you had more than one computer initially...lol...

It is computer specific then all the dns stuff goes out the door...as does anything to do with your isp et al...

So...if Avast and malware don't detect something you may want to try a different AV...or reboot into safe mode with internet and try again...or...if you know how to use msconfig just reboot with all services and startup items enabled...just leave all the Microsoft services running...if that allows you to access google normally then it is something preloading that has either wonked out or you may have something on there like a virus or other malware...

Are you familiar enough with msconfig to run the computer as a clean start? If so, I won't need to elaborate...if not...let me know and i will give you some step by step...only problem with msconfig is if you have used it before and disabled some items then you will want to do screen captures on your current startup so you know what you had it set at before a reboot...that way you can reset it the way it was...
 

4x4junkie

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It would have helped to know you had more than one computer initially...lol...
I've got an extremely strange problem here with a single computer in the house that's got me at wits end...

If I type in www.google.com, Firefox tells me "Server not found" (check that I typed it correctly and/or my network is configured properly blah blah blah). Any other website (including Bing and Yahoo) will load and work 100%.

I get the same error using Internet Explorer also.

Oddly, www.maps.google.com works perfect. But as soon as I try to put in just www.google.com, suddenly it's like it's looking into a black hole as if the ethernet cable is unplugged.
I've run antivirus and malware scans on it, they all come up clean.

Anyone know a simple fix for this or do I have to format & reinstall this POS?

Computer is an AMD Athlon 64 (I think?) with XP Home on it. Google works fine from other machines on the same network.

Help? :dunno:
Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Tried Safe Mode with Networking... Still no Google.

I am familiar with msconfig, though I've never used it to boot as a clean start... (is that simply selecting Diagnostic startup? or is there more to it?)
 

Mark_88

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Ah, OK...wouldn't be the first time I missed a critical clue...lol

Yes, I usually use the Selective Startup and disable all the AV stuff (everything, actually including tool bars and all that stuff) ...as long as you keep the MS services running and disable everything else and reboot it will eliminate any interference from other applications...just remember your av and firewall will be out doing that so don't spend too much time browsing.

Safe Mode is basically the same thing though...so if safe mode didn't work it is something else that is embedded and perhaps bypassing your existing av stuff...

Could be something really simple here though...but I've not ever encountered a single site being lost like that...
 

4x4junkie

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Bronco II
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2.9 V6
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2.9L V6
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Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Tire Size
35x12.50R15
So unless someone else has some ideas, it's looking like a format & reinstall is in order... What a f'in' PITA.
I appreciate your effort in trying though. :beer:


Guessing I probably need to do it pretty quick here too (you wouldn't happen to know anything about whether M$ will also cut off XP OS activations after this supposed support cut-off date coming up next month I think it is, would you? Guessing this is probably a great opportunity for M$ to force people into paying for their later OSs :annoyed: )
 
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