I’m a tech guy, but when it comes to secure server knowledge I’m a little stupid. I CANNOT access ANY secure server pages. For example: Trying to pay for a christmas present on Amazon. Another example would be logging into a Hotmail account. Trying to do these things brings a generic “This page cannot be displayed” error page. It has been doing this from the beginning.
I built this computer I’m on, a custom AMD Athlon 1800+, 256MB of DDR RAM, 80GB 7200RPM Maxtor HD, Geforce 4, loaded with Windows XP Professional. The soundcard and LAN card are both integrated into my Gigabyte motherboard. I use all the browsers, IE/Netscape/Opera/Mozilla, so I know that’s not the problem. It’s not a browser settings problem, either.
I’m thinking it might possibly be some sort of misconfiguration in my network settings. Does anyone have any ideas on what could cause this? Possible fixes? I’ve been having this problem for months, and I’ve been searching the net looking for answers.
It can’t be a “network” problem, because once you’re connected to your ISP, the network settings are irrelevant when it comes to accessing a specific web site. I know you’ve said it isn’t a browser setting problem, but do you have your browser set to block all cookies, without prompting you about it? I’ve hit a number of secure sites that can not be accessed unless you permit cookies. Or have you deleted the folder where the cookies are expected to be, so that they can’t be written to your hard drive? Just thinking out loud here…
Yes, each browser has its own SSL implementation. If all the browsers are OK, check your firewalls. The standard port for normal HTTP requests is 80, and for secure connections HTTPS is 443. If you are going through a proxy, check that too. Not all proxy servers can handle HTTPS.
I don’t use any firewalls(I’m on dialup), and XP Pro’s firewall is disabled.
I have both this and another computer hooked up through the same phone line, the same ISP, and the other computer can access secure servers normally. That’s how I’ve been doing my online transactions, so I’m pretty sure it’s not a proxy/ISP problem.
What is a proxy, by the way? Doesn’t it have to do with your ISP’s settings?
I guess I should also mention that I’m a webmaster, and I’m constantly uploading/downloading files to sites. A few months back, I had problems getting my FTP programs to connect, but I fixed that by reinstalling Xp(it didn’t seem to fix my current problem, though).
I did muck around with my network settings a long time ago, and I remember some program I had used showing my IP address as all zeros…not that my IP is all zeros now, because it’s normal. Perhaps that program wasn’t working correctly.
Here’s the solution to my problem, reposted from another help forum:
I FIXED IT! I FIXED IT!
THE ROOT OF ALL OF MY PROBLEMS WAS NORTON INTERNET SECURITY. Antivirus was installed to, it may have caused the problem as well. My email programs weren’t connecting properly, and a search on the error Outlook gave me turned up hints that it was a NIS problem.
Believe it or not, I couldn’t even uninstall NAV or NIS without the aid of a downloaded program from the Symantec site. It said I wasn’t logged in as an administrator, although I was. Very angering.
In any case, I can view all secure pages on FQ’s site, I can finally access my hotmail and paypal accounts from this pc, and all of my email programs are working perfectly now! Uninstalling Norton Antivirus and Internet Security did the trick. I’m guessing that the 2002 versions of the software conflicted with XP Pro somehow. Service Pack 1 might have fixed the problem, but I’m avoiding that download.
