Every once in a while, someone posts a comment or blog about apparently not being able to reach as TG site such as this because of suspected censorship.
That's not my problem, at least, not entirely.
I can't reach any site except Top Shelf right now. Everything I was connected to and anything I try to reach, not comes up with a page asking me to 'CLICK HERE' to download installation software for Comcast if I'm a customer. OR, if I'm a Comcast Technician,to take the next step, and activate my connection.
(I've been a Comcast customer since they bought the system about 10 years ago!)
I called them and they say they are experiencing an outage in my area. yet, I can still reach this site.
I can open and even edit, ( I fixed a missing letter typo in your 'Only In New Zealand' blog, Gwen), comment; read and send or reply to private messages. But I couldn't follow the link in the blog, or even reach my home page or Google.
No, I can't reach Storysite or Fictionmania, Sapphires Place, or even Stardust.
As I said, weird.
Holly
Comments
internet
Here is your answer. The internet has four backbone servers in the country and depending where the servers that host a website then it goes to a backbone server. There is one for each main direction ordnance which North, East, West and South. The east is in Philadelphia, The south is in New Orleans (probably now in Atlanta after hurricane Katrina), west in Los Angeles and North in NYC. There is sub servers to these also which could be causing the problem. So it may not be just comcast but the other servers that distribute the domain name lists around the internet. The domain name list tells your computer where exactly to find the other computers. I had an intensive two week class at work on how the internet works, how to secure it and how to break it to find problems.
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
It is a long road ahead but I will finally become who I should be.
Maybe it's just a case of
good taste!
Angharad :)
Angharad
Half an hour later, everything is back. Whew!
I knew a bit of what you said, JennaFl, but I couldn't get onto a number of west coast sites that also should have been served here.. Oh well, it' back up, now :).
It’s not given to anyone to have no regrets; only to decide, through the choices we make, which regrets we’ll have,
David Weber – In Fury Born
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
Comcast Jail
The "click here to download" page sounds like you were in the standard "comcast jail"... When something happens to your acct (Billing, or tech issues that require disconnect) they "Jail" the acct and put in a mode where you have to call someone to reactivate it, or download thier software, put in your comcast user/pass to prove it's you and whatnot...
I don't know why the route from you to BCTS was still active, unless Calpop is peering directly with Comcast and so it was like you were on their network...
-HuGgLeS-
-P/KAF/PT
(Jail is my term not theirs. I am not a comcast tech and don't know what they call it. Verizon does the same thing to DSL users, and I'm assuming other providers do similar also. Verizon goes a step further and lets you pay your acct online via their Jail page if you behind)
another solution
Here is another solution if you are running windows then do a windows search on your pc for a file called hosts.dat and delete it. After doing that then reboot. This will cause your pc rebuild the hosts.dat for your pc for all the sites you visit. This fix should get around the dns server problem in the future because it will get the definitions from other backbone servers that are working correctly and use those instead.
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
It is a long road ahead but I will finally become who I should be.
I suspect a DNS problem.
DNS servers are the "phone books" of the Internet -- they take the URL you typed and convert it into an IP address, in the same way that you use a phone book to convert your friend's name into his phone number. When you connect to a network, you get (usually automatically) an IP assigned to you and also the IP numbers for your "default gateway" (that's the computer/router that connects you to the Internet) and one or more DNS servers.
What seems to be happening to you is that the Comcast DNS server went nuts, and is answering all queries with the IP for some Comcast download. BigCloset still works because, for some reason, you computer still "remembers" its IP address and therefore is not querying the DNS server regarding it.
Now, the thing is, you don't HAVE to use Comcast's DNS servers. There are plenty of other DNS servers around. You have to go into your network connection's settings, edit the TCP/IP settings (v.4 if there is more than one) and manually input the IP address of a different DNS server.
A few well-known options are:
208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 -- OpenDNS
156.154.70.1 and 156.154.71.1 -- DNSadvantage
8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 - Google Public DNS
You don't even have to use the "primary DNS" and "secondary DNS" from the same provider -- you can mix and match at will.
A Useful Diagnostic
When faced with situations like this, a useful diagnostic tool is a short list of raw IP address bookmarks.
One finds them though accessing a DNS lookup utility on your own computer and feeding it a web address like this:
bigclosetr.us
On the Mac, this is called Network Utility.
The utility will return the real address behind the name, in this case:
64.27.29.166
So the "raw" address for Topshelf is:
In practice, when it looks like the "network" is down, you can see if the problem is actually the network of merely DNS through plugging in a few numbers like this.
You should be aware, though, that the underlying numbers can and do change from time to time, so if Erin swaps out a server, the IP address associated with the DNS name may change, and you should keep a selection of them in a little bookmark category.
Cheers,
Puddin'
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Really, I am aware of all this
My bill was not only up to date, but I had just 5 days earlier opened up a new account at my new address. And i was surprised that they did NOT ask for my account number or my Comcast PIN, (which I never had until I opened the new account!).
I have also verified that everyone in the neighborhood including a Comcast tech who lives across the street, had similar problems, except that THEY could not connect to any addresses. I suspect that maybe it was because I was connected to BCTS when the outage occurred, and was able to remain connected to the home page and any addresses below the home page. That was the tech's independent thought, too,
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
I had a similar problem today..
...only I couldn't get to BCTS. I could access other sites but not here. I finally went and rebooted my cable modem and all is well again :) Perhaps it will work for you as well.
velo
My best guess: It was a DHCP problem
Although this is after the fact, here's my take on what happened.
It was a DHCP problem. The Comcast DHCP server lost the database of valid cable modem hardware addresses, so when the system came up following an outage, every cable modem within its span of control was treated as a "new" rather than existing customer. The DHCP server provided them all with a special DNS server address that is normally used only for new installations, and provides the address of a Comcast "new customer setup" server in response to all DNS queries.
As you and the Comcast technician surmised, you must have been connected to BC when the outage occurred, and had it's IP address (currently 64.27.29.166)in you machine's DNS cache.
All that, however, is only an educated guess.
Kris
Kris
{I leave a trail of Kudos as I browse the site. Be careful where you step!}