Website/Internet Help

[Lyri]

Hey, guys, I'm having a problem, and I really hope someone more internet savvie than me can help.

I'm having trouble viewing BB on my home PC. Everytime I try to log on, I get a generic error message: 'Internet Explorer cannot display this web page.' But, on my laptop at my grandmother's house, I can log on just fine...obviously, considering my posting, lol. I have two different servers for each computer, so I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with that.

I've cleared my history and cookies on the PC, and restored the whole system to a date weeks before I started having trouble, but nothing's changed. If anyone has any suggestions I would be extremly greatful.

 

[Clem Rocks]

have you tried using a different browser?

 

[Lyri]

Yeah, I've tried IE, Firefox, Safari and MSN, they all display the same error message.

 

[SpikedBuffy]

Is it your internet connection? Maybe it's somehow blocking Buffy-boards, or not getting the correct information from the company that's providing your internet. Are you having this problem with any other websites that you visit?

I'm not technology inclined, but it's normally some stupid thing. For example, we were having internet trouble once, and our internet provider claimed it was not them, because they could receive messages from our modem, but actually, it is their problem because our modem is fautly 37% of the time.

 

[Lyri]

I can log onto every website I visit except this one. Which makes me wonder if it's something stupid I've done, like put BB on a restricted site or something and blocked it.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Do you use AOL? Can you access after-darkness.com? It's probably your ISP blocking the board for some reason, like they think we spam or something.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Have you checked your firewall settings? Like you say you could've accidentally clicked BB as restricted. Other than that, as the others said, it could be your ISP.

 

[Lyri]

No, Virgin Media. And my laptop's BT Internet. I remember something like this happening a few years back, only the other way around, I couldn't log onto BB from the laptop.

I'll check AD when I get home tomorrow, and see what's what.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

I generally don't have any problems with Virgin but I know that there are a few who do.

I did a little Googling and came up with the suggestion that a similar problem was something to do with DNS and a possible solution was to use openDNS - OpenDNS | Providing A Safer And Faster Internet - which is something that I've been using on the advice of my tech savvy stepson. It's free and also speeds up your browsing.

 

[sk]

I have/had the exact same problem.

Don't know why, but it seems that the IP address gets blocked for some reason.

I did a release and renew so I got a new IP address from my ISP.

/SK

 

[Willow Rosenberg]

You can also check if your IP is blocking BB by using a proxy site like Hide My Ass! Free Proxy - Free Web Proxy - Free Anonymous Browsing - if you can see BB via that site, then it's being blocked by your provider more than likely.

I had the same problem for around 12 months or so using AOL until Buffy gave me a link to a site like the one I mentioned. The only way I had access to BB & AD was via a proxy site, then one day, it suddenly resolved itself - I think Buffy swopped servers/hosts & it fixed the problem.

*touch wood* I haven't had any problems since then despite still using AOL.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

You can also check if your IP is blocking BB by using a proxy site like Hide My Ass! Free Proxy - Free Web Proxy - Free Anonymous Browsing - if you can see BB via that site, then it's being blocked by your provider more than likely.

Slightly off topic, so sorry to Lyri, but can a site like that be used to watch region-sensitive stuff on broadcasters' sites...like when non-UK users couldn't view the recent online Doctor Who eps and background vids...

 

[nerd4hire]

Slightly off topic, so sorry to Lyri, but can a site like that be used to watch region-sensitive stuff on broadcasters' sites...like when non-UK users couldn't view the recent online Doctor Who eps and background vids...

To help Lyri out with her internet problem, 😉 I can tell you a member at Whedonesque recommended this program for all that sort of stuff - Anchor Free.

The other members seemed pleased with it.

 

[Lyri]

I generally don't have any problems with Virgin but I know that there are a few who do.

I did a little Googling and came up with the suggestion that a similar problem was something to do with DNS and a possible solution was to use openDNS - OpenDNS | Providing A Safer And Faster Internet - which is something that I've been using on the advice of my tech savvy stepson. It's free and also speeds up your browsing.

I followed this advice...and it worked!!! I'm now sitting at my lovely home PC and viewing BB with no problems!

Thank you SO much, Mr. P, you've really helped me out of a jam.

And a big thanks to everyone else who offered help, I love you all!

 

[Mr. Pointy]

I followed this advice...and it worked!!! I'm now sitting at my lovely home PC and viewing BB with no problems!

Thank you SO much, Mr. P, you've really helped me out of a jam.

And a big thanks to everyone else who offered help, I love you all!

You're welcome...lookit me, the big 'puter expert 😉

Seriously, if it's something that our Rick put me on to, you know it's good...he is an IT god...well, cherub at least 🙂 He got me into Macs 😉

 

[Veyron]

Hey, guys, I'm having a problem, and I really hope someone more internet savvie than me can help.

I'm having trouble viewing BB on my home PC. Everytime I try to log on, I get a generic error message: 'Internet Explorer cannot display this web page.' But, on my laptop at my grandmother's house, I can log on just fine...obviously, considering my posting, lol. I have two different servers for each computer, so I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with that.

I've cleared my history and cookies on the PC, and restored the whole system to a date weeks before I started having trouble, but nothing's changed. If anyone has any suggestions I would be extremly greatful.

I've had exactly the same problem for the last two or three days and I'm on Virgin too.

The problem is either Virgin have blocked the IP address of the board for some reason or Buffy Boards have blocked our IP addresses. Either way, it sucks.

The solution.

Using Firefox (as I do), click Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Settings

Select Manual Proxy Configuration
Type webcache.blueyonder.co.uk in the first box and 8080 in the port box
Check the box Use this proxy server for all protocols
Click OK, OK and close Firefox.

When you restart you'll be able to connect back to Buffy Boards.

Of course this isn't just a temporary solution, this will work forever, but the best way to resolve this problem is to at night before you go to bed, unplug the power cable from your modem, leave it off all night and when you switch it back on the following day hopefully someone will have taken the IP address that you'd been assigned (the one which was blocked by either the board if that's the case) and you'll be assigned a new one by Virgin which will allow you to access the board without using the method described above.