Broadband Problem

ProcalX

ProcalX

all grown up
I have a friend who lives up North, far far away from me, anyway he has just got setup with Tiscali Broadband.

The broadband works fine, he dials up, he is online.

I know he is online because i instructed him on giving me his IP address, which i can ping from my computer 300 miles away.

So the computer is on the internet when he is dialed up using his Broadband connection, Internet Explorer / Mozilla Firefox are all set to "Automatically Detect Settings" in the proxy / LAN settings.

When he uses the PING command to ping the www.bbc.co.uk website he gets told that the host is unreachable, this same error comes up when he tries to ping any site.

At the same time i can ping the same sites he is trying to ping without a problem, however, i CAN ping him, and i get a response.

Now to me this instantly sounds like a firewall problem or proxy misconfiguration, but he has no proxy settings and both firefox and IE are setup correctly and he is not using a firewall of any kind, not even the Windows one.

What he did say to me was that it was working perfectly last night about 8:30PM when the kids were using it, so i suggest System Restore (which i have found to be really good for little things like this), he tried setting it back to March 1st (now march 3rd), when rebooted he recieves the message "Cannot restore to the checkpoint of "XXX Date HERE""

So he tried, February 28th, 27th, 26th and 25th and still he cannot restore back to any of these checkpoints..

I even went rather unecerssaryily to the "Setup Home Network" option and made sure that his Broadband was selected as the direct connection to the internet.

I'm writing because i am tired and need some inspiration, please help guys.
 
If he's not using a proxy and has correct network settings, then I'd make a guess that he's having a problem with the internet connection itself, maybe the ISPs end?
 
Well he was on the phone to his ISP who have told him that it is a problem with his Browser, and that nothing is wrong their end.

As far as i can see they are right, but i cannot find anything wrong his end.

The one thing that i find strange is that i can ping him and get a response from his computer when it is online, and yet no software utilising internet connectivity will work.
 
I'd suggest first off by removing the "determine proxy settings automatically". Can he ping other sites? like google.com, HWF, etc? Make sure in IE that its set to never dial a connection. And of course, connect to his broadband before he opens IE. If that doesn't work, his broadband modem box might be defective (I install DSL's at my job) and though they don't happen often, they still do happen. If that's a-ok, I'd try another NIC. Good Luck.
 
StimpE said:
I'd suggest first off by removing the "determine proxy settings automatically". Can he ping other sites? like google.com, HWF, etc? Make sure in IE that its set to never dial a connection. And of course, connect to his broadband before he opens IE. If that doesn't work, his broadband modem box might be defective (I install DSL's at my job) and though they don't happen often, they still do happen. If that's a-ok, I'd try another NIC. Good Luck.
Click to expand...

Well i have tried all the different proxy settings, the internet is connected via an ADSL box & Filter kit as per usual, it was working perfectly and then all of a sudden the internet doesnt work.

He dials up on the broadband ADSL, it says its connected and is assigned an IP address, that IP address i can ping from my broadband connection on my laptop over 300 miles away - so he IS online as his computer is giving me a response.

However in no form at all can he communicate with other hosts, pinging multiple domain names (i tried google, hardwareforums, bbc, abc, fox, askjeeves) now.. when i try to ping them his computer says the host is unreachable (ie the message you get if your not online).

So despite the fact that his ADSL as far as i can tell is working perfectly;

- He is assigned an IP address
- Anyone can ping that IP address if they have it, and they recieve a positive response from his computer. - so his computer obviously is sending outward bound packets
- However when he "Pings" anyone else or a domain name or anything, or tries to download a URL direct to a .zip or .exe, or logon to msn or use Internet Browsers his computer will not let him.

I have also been through the Network setup to make sure his computer knows which is his internet connection, i have disabled all other devices in the network connections (Firewire connection + LAN), Windows Firewall is disabled and no other firewall or antivirus software is running just incase its conflicting.

He connects directly to the internet, no router or port forwarding is used at all..
 
The only thing I can see from what you described is maybe a faulty DSL box, or a faulty filter. Try swapping them, it has happened to me before.
 
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