# Yahoo Mail, Gmail and eBay sites all down? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788 "2008-04-10T19:15:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/1 "2008-04-10T19:15:38Z")
For some reason I have not been able to access Yahoo Mail, Gmail or sign in to eBay all day. Anyone else having problems? The rest of the internet appears to work fine - any ideas what could be causing the problem, assuming it is at my end? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/2 "2008-04-10T19:19:14Z")
I’ve been in and out of Gmail, Ebay and Yahoo today with no problems whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/3 "2008-04-10T19:21:06Z")
Sounds like the first step of the alien invasion… ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/4 "2008-04-10T19:30:33Z")
I was having problems with Yahoo mail yesterday and today on this computer, but was fine after I cleared my caches. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/5 "2008-04-10T20:15:45Z")
Been on all three all day, no problems. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/6 "2008-04-10T20:22:39Z")
No problems with Yahoo today. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/7 "2008-04-10T20:24:52Z")
Just cleared my cache and still no joy. When I type “[mail.yahoo.com](http://mail.yahoo.com)” into the address bar and hit Enter I end up with a Google search with the top result being Yahoo Mail. I click that and get “The page cannot be displayed”. With Gmail and “My Account” on eBay, I just get the “page cannot be displayed” page straight away. Been like this all day and getting quite annoying now! Edit: I can get to [http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/](http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/) but not [http://mail.yahoo.com](http://mail.yahoo.com) I have also just tried Firefox and still nothing. I get an alert box saying “The connection was refused when attempting to contact [login.yahoo.com](http://login.yahoo.com)”. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Offkenter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f08c70/32.png) [@Offkenter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Offkenter)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/8 "2008-04-10T20:33:29Z")
All of those are secure websites ([http://mail.yahoo.com](http://mail.yahoo.com) automatically redirects to **https** ://mail.yahoo.com) Are you at work? They may have blocked the port that https uses, or may be doing some filtering that breaks secure logins. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/9 "2008-04-10T20:35:24Z")
Try: 209.131.36.158 If this works, you have a DNS problem. (caused by the aliens) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/10 "2008-04-10T20:35:46Z")
I’m guessing your workplace has slapped a filter on. Try some porn to find out for sure 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/11 "2008-04-10T20:49:11Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Just cleared my cache and still no joy. When I type “[mail.yahoo.com](http://mail.yahoo.com)” into the address bar and hit Enter I end up with a Google search with the top result being Yahoo Mail. I click that and get “The page cannot be displayed”. With Gmail and “My Account” on eBay, I just get the “page cannot be displayed” page straight away. Been like this all day and getting quite annoying now! Edit: I can get to [http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/](http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/) but not [http://mail.yahoo.com](http://mail.yahoo.com) I have also just tried Firefox and still nothing. I get an alert box saying “The connection was refused when attempting to contact [login.yahoo.com](http://login.yahoo.com)”. 😕 [/QUOTE] What browser and version please . ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/12 "2008-04-10T22:41:22Z")
I’ve seen several times this kind of post at the board. And yesterday I read an interesting article on the subject: [http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/36848/113/](http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/36848/113/) TG Daily: Researchers uncover black holes across the Internet By Wolfgang Gruener Tuesday, April 08, 2008 17:21 People at the University of Washington (UW) in the USA have discovered that sometimes network packets get lost and computer A will be unable to access server B on the internet. They found a three-week period in 2007 where 7% of computers worldwide were affected at least once during that timeframe. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/13 "2008-04-11T01:39:49Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] Try: 209.131.36.158 If this works, you have a DNS problem. (caused by the aliens) 😛 [/QUOTE] Properly pronounced “oil-iens”. Even better “spoice oiliens”. **ahem** I’ve had no probs here. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/14 "2008-04-11T09:34:15Z")
Sorry to leave this thread. I rebooted my computer last night and, hey, it worked. It’s my home PC, not at work, and I haven’t made any firewall changes. The only thing I had done was install some new software (a photo panorama stitching application) but I don’t see why that would have screwed things up. As **Offkenter** noted, all those sites are secure sites so maybe some setting got messed up. Anyway, all is well now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/15 "2008-04-11T10:15:40Z")
Neat little resource you can use if it happens again: [Down for everyone, or just me?](http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/16 "2008-04-11T10:34:46Z")
I’ve never seen that one before, **Sleel**. Another link bookmarked. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/17 "2008-04-11T15:41:36Z")
I did not see this thread yesterday, but for a bunch of hours yesterday late morning/early afternoon, I could not access the regular Yahoo Mail, although I could get to the ‘Classic’ version, an option they offered me when I got an error message. That’s a fun tool, **Sleel**! ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-mail-gmail-and-ebay-sites-all-down/444788/18 "2008-04-12T05:19:39Z")
Glad you guys like. I found it on a blog I visit, Daring Fireball, and wanted to share the love. Yahoo does have weird outages. Every once in a while my mail program will bounce back with a message that Yahoo doesn’t like my password. Since I’m offset from North America time, I’ll bet that it’s polling when some of the servers are down for maintenance.