[PGH]

Hi everyone!

I have been having trouble loging into a website which I use frequently: upon trying to login, I am told that my username/password combination are incorrect - which I know they aren't. The fact that I can get no response from the "reset password" and "register for new account" perhaps suggests that it is either their or my computer at fault.

Anyway, 2 days ago I managed to login fine and everything worked, however since yesterday I simply receive "incorrect username/password" messages, even though I have not knowingly changed anything on my computer. Other users of the site (including ones from my location - London UK) have been able to use the site, and I have no reason to believe that I have been blocked, nor have I been informed of such actions.

I am really only a 6/10 on computers, however, on the internet I did stumble upon "ping" tests, via command prompt, and ping tests on the problem causing website produced the result of 100% package loss, which I assume is a bad thing, but don't really know what this means (or if it could be causing my problem, how I could remedy it).

Then I thought mabye the Java isn't working, but again I haven't knowingly changed anything. I have never experienced problems like this in the past, and can login fine to all other websites (Hotmail, Gmail, here etc.), EXCEPT Apple (although this could be unrelated).

I am using IE version 6.0.2900.2180, and have Webroot's Spy Sweeper and Norton Anti Virus installed (and no firewall on this pc, because it is on an inaccessible closed network loop). I am accessing the internet at home from this laptop, via a wireless network which is connected to a wired network, and in turn to a broadband internet connection. I have tried "pinging" other sites based in the same geographical area as the one I can't use (NYC) and have (perhaps of relevance?) found that they too produced high package loss rates (100%). All sites can be viewed.

Many thanks indeed for any help.

PS I did just run Webroot's Spy Sweeper (v 4.5.8 - defs. fully updated) which claimed to find no spyware, and I have and run Norton Anti Virus 2005 reasonably often.

Edited by PGH, 20 January 2006 - 11:58 AM.

[Advertisements]

can you ping any websites...like google or yahoo or anything like that? pinging something on the internet isn't always a be all end all test...

try opening up a command prompt and typing tracert <the website in question>

have you checked to see if it is a popup that is being blocked?

[dsenette]

can you ping any websites...like google or yahoo or anything like that? pinging something on the internet isn't always a be all end all test...

try opening up a command prompt and typing tracert <the website in question>

have you checked to see if it is a popup that is being blocked?

[PGH]

Thanks for the ultra quick response!

I did a tracert for the site, and got up to 16 "hops" before the request "timed out"

I did the same for Google and BBC.com and the results were 18 and 11 "hops" respectively.

Pinging Google and BBC gave a 0% package loss and no "time out" error, however pinging www.nytimes.com gave a "time out" error and 100% package loss.

I also have something called AdsGone v 5.3, which stops the advertising pop-ups which sometimes occur on the site, but having this has never harmed my login before; I also tried logging in holding down CTRL (to disable the popup blocker) but it still wouldn't work...

[dsenette]

i just pinged nytimes.com...with all packets dropped...and my tracert crapped out at 10 hops (i'm in the u.s. so i'm closer)...their server may be having issues....this may seem unorthodox...but if you don't mind me logging in for verification you could pm me your login info and password for nytimes.com...if you don't feel comfortable with that...that is perfectly fine

[PGH]

NY Times isn't the actual site, I was giving an example of the low results for NY based sites .

I don't know if I'm coming from anywhere solid here, but nypost.com, condenast.com, bankofny.com, www.rockerfellercenter.com, nyc.gov (etc) and my site (a Conde Nast publication site, so presumabley based in NY) www.men.style.com all have 100% package loss..

I have found via/Google some people with similar, perhaps, problems whereby via their broadband/ADSL connections they cannot login to some websites - however the only advice given to them was to contact their service provider ?

Edited by PGH, 20 January 2006 - 12:55 PM.

[dsenette]

wow...that is interesting....nothing in new york can be pinged
haha nice

[coachwife6]

I was able to sign into the NYPost site with my account.

[PGH]

I wonder why NY sites can't be pinged?! AND if it even would affect login to a site - other users on these sites (inc. non US based) seem not to be experiencing probs. The sites can be viewed, but would a 0% package return prevent a Javascript (I assume) login system from working? Thanks.

Edited by PGH, 20 January 2006 - 01:07 PM.

[dsenette]

well..like i said..the ping and tracert tests aren't conclusive...if they have a router or a firewall that refuses all icmp traffic...then those tests would fail....or if a router along the line is set as such... it's really hard to determine the issue...it could be a java problem or something like that..

[PGH]

Could it be worthwhile trying another internet browser?

On that note, is it possible to have IE and, say, FireFox installed at the same time (and then choose which to use) or is it either one or the other?

[dsenette]

yeah..you can have firefox and explorer at the same time..you can have them open at the same time..and even open the same websites at the same time...they don't interact with each other at all...and it's worth a shot

[PGH]

... no luck with FireFox, or trying to access site through dial-up connection

The login page's file extension ends in .jspa, so I assume this is some kind of java script. Is there any reason why their Java should not work? Could a Spyware program or something have suddenly started to block it, without telling me?

[dsenette]

that is a java script page....have you updated your java runtime recently?

[PGH]

I will do that now...

However, to confuse matters more I have now managed to make another temporary account, which I can login to. This probably either suggests that my main account has got some sort of error (could this be possible - like a Java error) or it has been 'hacked'.

Would it be easy, should someone be inclined, to find out an account on a website's password - does software exists which 'hackers' could use to auto-enter lots of passwords - or is discussion on topics like that banned? I just wonder if someone has somehow managed to change the password and email address associated with that account, so I can't log in and can't get a new password sent to my email...

Thanks for all your answers so far, I never expected so much help

[dsenette]

it is extremely possible for someone to have done that....it's not that difficult when you have the right tools and knowledge...depending on what kind of account this is....it may be possible that this is what h append.....it is also possible that this site has had a database error and screwed something up....if they have a tech support number i would call it...or in your temp account if there is a support page you may try that