[Ammuro]

Hi, I just joined the forum because of a mind-crushing internet problem.
I've already asked yahoo answers, but no one could help me :-(
Now I think I've been trying to solve this problem myself for more than a week by now

I saw you guys solved a lot of problems like this one,
so I figured that you guys might able to help me.

the details go like this:


I have problem accessing deviantart.com.

I've searched through a lot... I tried using every -.dll files from cmd menu,
set the proxy to auto, deleted cache, history, and tried all other things... including openDNS.
I even used flushing, but still no go.

typing in IP address instead of DNS address won't work, and all of chrome, IE, firefox won't work on the site.
Strangely enough, when I used google image search to access deviantart pages indirectly,
it worked fine.

I searched more, and came across a method where I did some modification on a file in
C:/WINDOWS/System...somewhere (I'm not sure).

All I did was adding deviantart.com's address at the end of a file opened by notepad.
They said that Microsoft was using that file for some kind of test...?

It kind of worked, but after this change,
it started to give me "the connection has timed out" instead of "DNS error - can't find the server"
of course, the site won't work on all three browsers that I mentioned above.
and I know for a fact that this is not the problem on their end.

I mean, I can still kind of visit deviantart.com by using google image search.

I'm currently using Win Vista.
please help!


edit:
no virus/malwares. I checked it twice.
I also disabled firewalls, shut down anti-virus programs, and allowed every cookies.
I'm going to try reginout now.

--------
used ccleaner and tweak regcleaner instead of reginout, but still doesn't work.



-----------
now I'm thinking, the file I meddled might be the problem.

please help !

Edited by Ammuro, 08 June 2010 - 07:12 PM.

[Advertisements]

Ahh! While I was searching through the forum via "Similar Topics," I came across this topic:
"Firefox - "connection has timed out"

It turns out, the file I meddled with was located at
C:W/WINDOWS/system32/drivers/etc.

the file was called "hosts," and when I deleted deviantart.com's address from that file,
the problem was fixed.

Sorry for wasting your time if you're reading this topic.
I wish I could delete this, but I can't...

Edited by Ammuro, 08 June 2010 - 08:11 PM.

[Ammuro]

Ahh! While I was searching through the forum via "Similar Topics," I came across this topic:
"Firefox - "connection has timed out"

It turns out, the file I meddled with was located at
C:W/WINDOWS/system32/drivers/etc.

the file was called "hosts," and when I deleted deviantart.com's address from that file,
the problem was fixed.

Sorry for wasting your time if you're reading this topic.
I wish I could delete this, but I can't...

Edited by Ammuro, 08 June 2010 - 08:11 PM.

[Johanna]

Posting your solution might help someone else with a similar problem. Thanks for telling us what worked for you!

Johanna

[FNP]

If I may...

The 'Hosts' file is used by Windows to predetermine how web browsers deal with certain IP address and name resolutions (sort of like a pre-DNS server query). The hosts file matches up IP addresses with URL names so that the system doesn't send out a network query- it automatically knows where to go when that URL is sent through the web browser. Some malware prevention measures (like MVPHosts) will alter the hosts file to prevent users from accessing known malicious sites (of course, some malware programs tamper with the hosts file- this is how a lot of redirect viruses get ya).

Deleting deviantart.com from the hosts file freed up that initial block and allowed the web browser to access the site through normal DNS server functionality.

Hope that helps any future questions! (And hope the network guys don't shoot me over my pitiful explanation )