# Cannot access just one site: MSNBC **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608 "2002-07-24T17:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/1 "2002-07-24T17:41:33Z")
I have three computers here and I can plug the ADSL modem into each one individually and connect to the net. With two of them I can surf to any site on the entire WWW _but_ with this one I am using now I can get any page _except_ [MSNBC.com](http://MSNBC.com) ( 207.46.238.105). What on earth is happening here? How is this possible? It has been like this for many weeks so I don’t expect it to go away by itself. I cannot find any MSNBC cookies on this computer. What can be the cause of this? Not that I am desperate to check out MSNBC but I have this scientific curiosity about what’s happening. A tracert gives a few hops but then this: 11 241 ms 245 ms 243 ms ix-7-0.core1.Seattle.Teleg 12 229 ms 225 ms 224 ms 207.46.154.29 13 230 ms 232 ms 232 ms 207.46.155.13 14 \* \* \* Request timed out. 15 \* \* \* Request timed out. 16 207.46.224.205 reports: Destination net unreachable. You can’t get there from here! huh? ---
**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/2 "2002-07-24T17:51:50Z")
PPPOE has a level of overhead requiring you to lower your MTU settings. [http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article04-107](http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article04-107) ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/3 "2002-07-24T17:54:09Z")
When I ping that IP address, I get a reply of either “Destination net unreachable” from 207.46.224.205 or more commonly a request timeout. But I can access MSNBC from my favorites link. Are you accessing by URL or IP? Try [http://www.msnbc.com/news/default.asp](http://www.msnbc.com/news/default.asp) ---
**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/4 "2002-07-24T18:01:00Z")
There is a type in the win98/me section of the link I provided. The registry key should be: HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class etTrans\ I would bet that it’s more than just that one single site you can’t access. Try [iwon.com](http://iwon.com) ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/5 "2002-07-24T19:44:18Z")
**dirty1** , the machines are not sharing the internet connection. I connect one at a time using the same USB AADSL modem. I have checked all those keys in the registryu and they are exactly alike in both computers. I can connect to iwon with no problem. **rsa** , I cannot connect using the url, or any other way. And AFAIK, it only happens with this one particular site. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/6 "2002-07-24T20:28:00Z")
To see if it was a connection problem I connected using a regular modem instead of ADSL but it still would not get msnbc ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/7 "2002-07-24T20:53:42Z")
When I ping [www.msnbc.com](http://www.msnbc.com) it responds back with domain name **[lb.msnbc.com](http://lb.msnbc.com)**, IP address 207.46.150.20. Both of them respond back with Request Timed Out or Destination Net Unreachable. Microsoft’s site may not be set to respond to pings and tracerts anyway. Both the name and IP address work in the IE address bar to get me to the site. To rule out a browser issue try downloading the free web broswer [Opera](http://www.opera.com/download/) and point it to the web site. If it works, IE is your problem. If not, well… dunno, we’ll have to see. ---
**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/8 "2002-07-24T22:06:54Z")
**sailor** it may still be your MTU settings. What are they set at now? Try a lower number like 1454 and if that works, creep them back up a little at a time until it quits again, and use the last lowest number that worked. ---
**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/9 "2002-07-24T22:11:37Z")
I meant the _highest_ number that worked. If that doesn’t help, hey at least I tried 🙂 good luck ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/10 "2002-07-24T23:01:46Z")
I tried really low MaxMTU numbers to the point things just got worse in general and I still couln;t get MSNBC. I have two computers side by side. Both had the same software installed at about the same recent time. It cannot be the browser or connection as they are both configured the same. I can only think of a cookie issie or something similar. any more ideas? ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/11 "2002-07-25T00:03:26Z")
**Sailor** , are you bragging or complaining? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/12 "2002-07-25T00:06:49Z")
I deleted all cookies and still no go. I tweaked the register MaxMTU, DefaultTTL, etc according to [http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/cabletweak.htm](http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/cabletweak.htm) and still no go. As I say, the two computers are different in hardware but the OS, browser etc are the same and recently installed. Mysteries of computers. If I had a life I would not be wasting so much time on this but it has me stumped. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/13 "2002-07-25T00:46:24Z")
I tried using a proxy site and I can reach MSNBC without problem. How should that be interpreted? ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/14 "2002-07-25T01:53:57Z")
Need some more info: 1. What OS and IE version are you using? 2. Does the computer that can’t reach the site have the same DNS servers and gateway as the computers that can? It could be your ISP has cached msnbc’s web pages but I don’t know why just one of your computers would react like that. Just a WAG but check your Internet Settings and set “Check for Newer Versions of Store Pages” to “Every Visit to the Page”. It could be that your security settings are too high. Match all the Internet settings to one of your other computers. Do you have some kind of firewall that might be blocking that IP address? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/15 "2002-07-25T10:43:22Z")
Win98SE, IE6 on both. Same ADSL-USB modem and account settings (DNS, etc) Everything is pretty much the same in both. Upon further experimenting it seems in the middle of the night, when Net traffic is lower, this computer will start to download the MSNBC page but extremely slowly and then quits, when it has only downloaded a few html lines and no graphics. So it may be that, for some reason, the other computer is getting the page faster and this one slow enough that it quits waiting. Does that make any sense? ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/16 "2002-07-25T15:50:03Z")
No sense at all. Very yucko bizarro. You up for backing off a version of IE to 5.5 or 5.0 to see if things change for your weird computer? It almost sounds like your Internet cache is to blame. Perhaps a version change will put things right. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/17 "2002-07-25T16:55:21Z")
**sailor** do you have all the MS updates and patches for your machines AND your browsers? Do you have the latest Flash, Shockwave, JavaVM and DirectX versions installed? Do you have security settings set differently on the two machines? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannot-access-just-one-site-msnbc/120608/18 "2002-07-25T19:44:53Z")
As I say, the computers are side by side and have exactly the same OS, browser, patches, tetanus shots etc. I have reinstalled them in parallell. After experimenting today, it seems this machine just gets timed out with MSNBC but ocassionally it will download the first few lines of code but that’s all. The other machine downloads slowly but successfully most of the time. It seems this machine get lower priority from the server or servers than the other one. Is there some secret “priority bit”?