IE cannot open search page

[cali]

okay, this problem has me pulling my hair out. I've tried almost everything. Running a scan for viruses since an internet forum said it may be a virus, nothing. I've uninstalled IE from a windows xp disk, then reinstalled it, it still does not work. My local area connection says it is connected. I tried installing Firefox to see if that would work, and it says it cannot find the server. I've restored default, deleted cookies and history, I've run a winsock fix, and I've read where other people have had the problem, and it seems that no one else has solved it either short of reformatting the hardrive and reinstalling windows. I'm trying my best to avoid that, because I dont have the disk to do it. If anyone has any suggestions on how I can fix this problem, it would be greatly appreciated. oh and the version of IE is 6.0.

[jbinbpt]

Hi cali,
Welcome to WebmasterWorld.

Turn off your firewalls. Sounds like a conflict.

[cali]

I already did that also

[2lame2rank]

Hello, what "search page" do you mean, do you mean google or the internal windows search function?

If you mean a page on the internet, then you should check your "hosts" file in

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

open with Notepad program and see if you have any suspicious entries left by a trojan.

[rocknbil]

Welcome aboard!

I tried installing Firefox to see if that would work, and it says it cannot find the server

All sites or just one?

If you tried both browsers, it's something else.

First, see if you can ping.

Start->Run, enter cmd, press enter.

In the DOS window type

ping google.com [press ENTER]

You should see four bits of data sent to google.com and a response time. If it says "operation timed out" 4 times, you have a problem connecting that is not related to your browser.

In this case it could be anything from your computer to the ISP.

If you get a ping from the command window OK, the next place I would look is the DNS/proxy settings in the browser.

FF: Tools->options->Advanced->Network->Settings, try the auto settings or direct connection to the Internet. If you have manual settings in there, FF will save them, just gray them out.

IE:Tools->Internet Options->Connections->LAN Settings

Same applies here, connection script, Auto, Auto connection script, or use a proxy. Theoretically everything should be auto, but you may have to fiddle around with these.

[cali]

I have pinged google, and any other site I could think of, it all comes back with a reply, so I know I'm connected. I figured it would have something to do with the DNS or proxy settings, which I havn't yet had a chance to try yet, but I will and let you all know if it worked or not. Someone else had told me it may have been a trojan, that is why I ran a virus scan, but it detected nothing. so if the virus is no longer there, it can still effect my computer until I go in a manually change things?

[cali]

and yeah, its all sites, not just search pages. I tried to go to hotmail, myspace, even a forum I frequent, and nothing works, I still get the same error.

[rocknbil]

Okay . . . so . . try this.

Start->Run->cmd

In DOS,

ipconfig /flushdns

Restart computer and let it re-assign IP's.

No love? Try

Start->Run->cmd
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Restart only the browsers.

If it doesn't help, it's got to be something in your browser settings.

[Receptional Andy]

If you can ping sites, then you don't have a DNS problem. It sounds like a firewall/router/ISP problem to me. A couple of easy things to try would be

telnet google.com 80

at a command prompt (if you get a black screen, not an error then you have no problem connecting on port 80). Also see if you can connect to secure websites (e.g. [addons.mozilla.org...] and websites on non-standard ports (e.g. [lse.umiacs.umd.edu:8080...] which would help to see whether it was particular protocols causing problems, and whether browsers work.

[edited by: Receptional_Andy at 9:24 pm (utc) on June 1, 2008]

[jbinbpt]

In your connection status do you have values in all three?
local IP
Subnet mask
Default Gateway

[cali]

I have values in all three, and I had already reset my ip address, I had the isp do it for me. ipconfig and iprenew I've tried. it did nothing either. I checked the local host, and thats all fine as well, I have changed my dns servers, and added a couple others, but I havn't yet been able to try and see if that worked or not. I have to network my computer together first, and I just havn't gotten around to it yet. I also got a hold of a disk with internet explorer on it, but im not sure if that will help or not, since I've tried to uninstall and reinstall it before from a windows xp disk. hopefully the dns servers will work, if not, then I'm at my wits end on what to do. I've reset all my setting with both browers to default, and that didn't fix the problem either. Should I just chunk the computer out the window? that seems to be my best idea at the moment.