I'm having Yahoo problems that really have me baffled, and I"m hoping someone here can help me sort them out. 3 days ago, my yahoo email started going dead on me at odd intervals. I'd be reading my email, then try to go back to my inbox but it was unresponsive. When I tried to go to yahoo.com, I got a page not found error. Yahoo messenger still connected and I could still IM. It just got progressively worse over the next couple days. Now Messenger hardly EVER connects - if I'm very lucky, I'll happen to be online when it decides to connect, my email pops on, and I try to speed-read my mail before it stops responding again. IM usually hangs on a little longer, but eventually Yahoo messenger shuts down completely again. It's off most of the time now. I've tried to access yahoo from Firefox and Internet Explorer - both get page not found errors. I've run spybot and a Norton scan, and neither found any problems. Nothing has been updated or changed since the last time Yahoo was working fine. Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks!

I do not believe it is a virus. I've had issues like that with yahoo recently as well. I believe it's their server.

Well, it could be a couple of things. You don't mention it, but I'm assuming that your connection to the Net is good for everything else. Is it? If so, then you've a DNS entry problem. If not, then yeah. Probably a virus/malware.

Here's what DNS does, in a nutshell. There are servers on the Internet that keep track of all websites. Since computers use the IP numbers to access websites, for example: 123.112.100.1, and humans like words, not numbers, they need to cross reference the name (www.yahoo.com) to the actual IP numbers. Somehow, there has to be a mechanism to translate the numbers to names and vice-versa, and DNS does this. There's many, many DNS servers out there, and they all talk to each other. This allows computers to route the destination addresses to your computer, as it searches on the Net for what you typed into your browser.

It gets somewhat confusing if I explain it more, but that should give you a basic understanding.

To check to see what your DNS entries are, go to a command prompt. I don't know what you're using, WinXP or Vista, but you need to get the black dos entry box. From XP, you can go to Start->Run->type in 'cmd' in the Open: line and then hit return. From Vista, I don't know what you'd do, perhaps someone else does, or maybe you can go to help to see how to get the Command Prompt window.

From there, type this:

ping www.yahoo.com

You'll get some info, but what you want to see is:

Reply from 69.147.76.15: bytes....blah blah blah. The numbers are the important thing, the other stuff is not. Well, the time could be. If it reports more than 200ms, that could be an issue. Let me know if that's the case.

But, if it lists anything else, or doesn't find it, your DNS entries are bogus/non-existent. Tell me what you see for the IP addresses, regardless. If they're incorrect, this could be on your computer, or it could be with your internet provider. You can try this from the same command prompt:

ipconfig/all

You'll get some info there, what you're looking for are the DNS Servers, almost to the end. Tell me what the IP numbers for the servers are.

It could also be a incorrectly cached entry, so from the same command prompt, type this:

ipconfig/flushdns

Then try to access yahoo again.

If it still doesn't work, it could be a file on your machine or it could be your service provider. Worst case, you may have to contact your internet provider and open a case. Again, I'm assuming that you don't have a virus, and that all other internet access is good. If it gets a bit confusing, I'll give you my number and we can talk.

fret

Just wanted to mention (and apologize for going on) that the parts where I ask you to do the IPCONFIG command has a slash-- / --then the other words. It didn't seem clear when I read it.

IPCONFIG / ALL

IPCONFIG / FLUSHDNS

fret

Fret -

I'm running Vista.

With "ping www.yahoo.com" I get "Ping reuest could not find host www.yahoo.com. Please check the name and try again."

With ipconfig/all, I'm not sure which numbers you're looking for - it gives a couple different IPv6 addresses, DHCP server, DNS servers....which am I looking for and is it OK to post them here or should I email? (we have a family account elsewhere that I can still use)

for the ipconfig/flushdns, it says "The requested operation requires elevation."

I'm going to bed shortly, but I'll be on again tomorrow morning after I get the kids out to school. If you need to email me, our family email is aabeagle at bridgemail dot com.

Thanks so much for the assist!

I should mention - everything else seems to be working just fine. Facebook craps out on me every once in a while, but everyone else seems to complain of problems at the same time, so I'm pretty sure the problem isn't just with my computer there.

I had a very similar problem having to do with my wireless antenna. You connected wireless or via CAT 5 cable?

Whatever kind of connection, I believe the problem is with your network device/card/antenna.

What do I know, I'm just a stupid jarhead. Really.

Gringo - I'm wireless. I just had to trade in our wireless modem for a new one because it wasn't connecting to the net at all, but haven't had any trouble with the new one. The confusing thing is that it's *only* futzing with Yahoo - everything else works just fine?

Queen - you've a problem with the DNS entry for yahoo. Forgot about Vista, security is enhanced, but that means you can't do sh*t. Is your account listed as an administrator? It should be. I don't know Vista well, the security issues may limit what we can do. I need you to search for two files, I tried with the new Windows Search, and I'm really frustrated. Essentially, you'll have to use the Search Companion to get to the old Find application. You'll need to look in subfolders and system/hidden locations.

Also, forgot it lists the IPv6 stuff. All I care about was the IPv4, or regular IP. Don't know what Vista says.

The two files to look at is lmhosts.sam and hosts (there is no extension for the hosts file. It's just hosts).

They should be in C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc

You can open them up using Notepad (Not Wordpad). Don't check the box that says always use to open.

See if there's a reference to yahoo of any sort. There will be some commented sections (probably almost all of the file) that have a # or a ! at the beginning of the lines. If there's anything there for yahoo, list it here. Whatever you do, don't save the file. Yet. If there is something, I'll have you delete it, but I want to see what that is first.

Once you confirm that there's nothing there for yahoo, you can call your service provider and give them a rash of crap. I can coach you on what to say.

I'll be off and on all day today, have a final tonight.

fret

Also, posting the IP numbers (other than yours, which is listed for the Ethernet or Wireless Connections, is just fine. DNS servers are what I was looking for, btw.

fret

Fret:

imhosts.sam had no references to yahoo; neither did hosts.

With ipconfig/all, I get:

IPv4 Address......192.168.2.8 (preferred)

DNS Servers......192.168.2.1

192.168.2.1

I hope this is what you were looking for?

Well, that tells me that your router is listed as your DNS server. It shouldn't be, it should be your provider. You can hard code the DNS servers, I can tell you how to do that via WinXP, but not Vista. it could be something as easy as a setting in your router.

My DNS servers (from my provider) are 209.18.47.61 and 209.18.47.62. I'm offsite right now, let me get with you later....or if someone else knows Vista, please tell this nice lady how to hard code the servers....

fret

your router is listed as your DNS server. It shouldn’t be

============

i'm no expert on this stuff, but the only way I get my internet to work is having my router ip address (non-public static) listed as my dns. my router is also a firewall. the router/firewall unit has its own settings that point to the IP server DNS.

^^Yeah, that sounds like what Mr. Beez said when he hooked up the router. Ours is also a firewall. I don't think that would be the problem, would it? It's been set up that way the whole time, and this is the first problem I've had.

RE #13/14

Most home user firewall/routers (Linksys, Belkin, Buffalo, Netgear, etc...) will forward DNS.

But sometimes they do "get stuck" or overloaded.

The problem could also be external to your network - your ISP's DNS might be hosed. Really hard to say from the information available to me at this time.

Tammy,

In picking up where fret left off...

You need to determine what the IPs of your ISP's DNS servers are. You should be able to find this out from their support/help pages. Depending on how fret's ISP's DNS server is set up, it might not honor requests from other networks, in fact, such "closed DNS" servers are normal for security reasons.

Once you have found your ISPs DNS servers, you can check your firewall/router to see if it is using the proper ones.

For manually setting the DNS servers please follow the directions at the link below:

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/e070bf7b-6d5e-4f49-b4f7-10aa8d8b11e21033.mspx 

If you can not find your ISP's DNS servers or wish to use an independant DNS server that does allow open requests, please follow the directions here on how to change nameservers (IP addresses will be provided in the tutorial):

https://www.opendns.com/start/ 

Tammy

I assume you have tried this, but if not ...

shut down your computer and unplug it for 5 min. or so. also unplug the power to your router and modem for a few minutes. plug the modem in and let it finish booting up, then the router and finally start your computer back up.

I know sometime I have a problem when the IP lease from my IPS resets to the modem, it sometimes causes problems with my firewall/router. This will make sure everything is reset.

I'm going to guess that this has been resolved.

Yeah, I assumed about the router reboot, too. First thing you should do, fixed alot of problems.

Thanks to jojo and TG for adding their info.

My router (non-modified by me), takes the DNS servers from the service provider. You're right, some home setups should forward that info, but mine doesn't, nor does several friends I referenced, just to be sure. Of course, we all may be using Time Warner, which could do things differently.

I do know you could hard code the dns server IPs, but to TG's point, this may not work. However, if you do get stuck, there are some public dns servers available: 10.10.10.4 was one I recall. If you want to see what yours is, just bypass the router and plug your computer directly into the modem. Do the same ipconfig/all and it'll tell you.

Anywhos, you can let us know if it's still not working, but since you haven't posted for a weekend (sorry, I had class away from home), I'm hoping all is well.

fret

no hasn't been resolved yet. she still having the same prob.

Yeah, the reboot was the first thing I tried.

No...still no luck with the yahoo. My weekend got eaten up - haven't really had time to work with this much, and it's so FRUSTRATING...the time I DID have to myself this weekend was spent drinking wine and watching movies, LOL!

Lilgreenfrog emailed the issue to the Yahoo help addy - no answer yet. New development: My son has been able to access email on yahoo, but says he gets "page not found" when he types yahoo.com. He doesn't use Yahoo as his primary email, so he hasn't noticed as much as I have. That means it has to be blocked at the router, doesn't it? No word on whether the desktop can access, but I'm going to guess "no." It's a dinosaur, and tonight it's being really finiky with Mr.Beez about doing ANYTHING online.

In the last 2 days, I've had one 6-minute window where I could access email, which means it's getting worse.

I have no idea what my ISP DNS numbers are, but I can call tech support to find out tomorrow between the end of school and the Princess' ballet class.

Thanks for the help and patience - I'm not particularly tech-savvy!

More confusion.....kiddo can access yahoo from the school, and I can get to it down at the coffee shop.....so it's not on my computer. That leaves the router (which hasn't been changed by US) and the ISP....right?