HELP!!! "www.timebomb2000.com not found"

Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
For just over a week, I have been getting an error message that reads, "www.timebomb2000.com can not be found" from my home PC. If I rebot, I can bring-up the page and surf through all the various SIGs, but once I close the browser, I can't get TB2K again without rebooting. I can surf any other website just fine; the problem only manifests itself with TB2K. This phenomenon manifest with IE, Mozilla, and Firefox. It's not my account, as I can get on just fine from work.

Any suggestions on how to resolve this? I'm puzzled.
 
Mrs Smith

Mrs Smith

Membership Revoked
Mark, I have the exact same problem, but re-booting doesn't help. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason when I can access. Most times it's 1x/day. Sometimes not even that often. Lately I've only been able to access from work, and have no problems there, so it must be server/PC related.

MSN won't answer my questions pertaining to this.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.
 
Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
night driver said:
Hunt up your "hosts" file and clean it out.....

IIRC these look for this file.
Click to expand...

Could you please expand/detail/clarify this suggestion?
 
O

OddOne

< Yes, I do look like that.
Yes, check your HOSTS file for any entry mentioning TB's domain, and remove any you find. Then, set the HOSTS file to read-only.

If you didn't find any such animal in your HOSTS file, your ISP might just have lost its local DNS cache. In that case, use TB's IP address(currently 66.133.153.43) instead of the domain name.

oO
 
WFK

WFK

Senior Something
reading the mail... Trying to FIND a HOSTS file... Negatory!

So what do I enter in Explorer/Tools/Find?
Setup: [search in C:\ and Subdirectories (show all files is present)]
 
S

shalym

Contributing Member
the path is c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc for winxp. For Win2k I'm pretty sure that it's c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc (my win2k box is down in the basement, and I'm just too lazy to go down and check right now :) ) For Win98 it's not...I think in Win98 it's called hosts.sam. Of course, I could be wrong :) To open any of these files, use notepad.

Hope this helps...

Shari
 
WFK

WFK

Senior Something
Contents of HOSTS.SAM (WIN98SE)

--------------------------------------------------------------
# Copyright (c) 1998 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP stack for Windows98
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
--------------------------------------------------------------

That's all there is! Looks "cleaning out" this file does absolutely nothing? :D
(Obviously the # lines are comments.)
Is the last line a legit (the only one) entry?
Why have I accumulated only ONE line in 4 years?
I have never seen this file before. Who or what controls the entry of a line?
Why have I been happily living without this knowledge? :D
 
S

shalym

Contributing Member
Looks like a pretty normal straight-forward hosts file to me. Yes, the last line is legit. Hosts files are used for different things by different things--basically they just force an address to a name, overriding dns. This is why they are used by hackers and evil spyware writers. If you put an entry into someone's host files that redirects all calls to www.msn.com to your porn site, then you don't have to mess with changing home pages or anything like that--you have 90% of all windows computers going to your site multiple times per day.

Shari
 
Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
No joy for me... Doesn't matter if I use I.E. or Firefox, or the Mozilla suite. Same thing every time.

I am going to contact Verizon and see if they are having a DNS issue.

This well and truly sucks.
 
Ought Six

Ought Six

Membership Revoked
I have had this problem for a while now. Sometimes it will resolve the TB2k URL, but most times not. I tried adding the recommended line to my HOST.SAM file, but it did not help. Have tried both IE6 and Opera. I also had to use the direct IP address for chat, instead of the TB2k chat server URL.

My ISP is also Verizon DSL, like Mark D, so perhaps the problem lies there.
 
Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
I called Verizon Tech Support and got a droid... "I'm sorry sir, but I can't help you unless you're sitting in front of the PC that is experiencing the problem." Heaven forbid I use logic and data on the puke, Nooooo, he thinks it's a "browser problem" and that I'm experiencing a "connectivity problem"... Never mind that I CAN SEE THE REST OF THE NET JUST FINE!!! I told him the same problem manifests itself with three different browsers, and only with TB2K, and could he please try to ascertain the status of the server-side DNS cache. "Huh? Wha? I can only help you if you are sitting in fro..." CLANG!!! I hung-up. Friggin tech-sup mutant.
 
Ought Six

Ought Six

Membership Revoked
Verizon's tech support drones are in India, and are incapable of stepping outside their programmed troubleshooting flowchart that is displayed on the screen in front of them.
 
Mrs Smith

Mrs Smith

Membership Revoked
Dennis, when I type in the www.66.133.153.43 it takes me to the TB2k title box, but it won't go any farther.

Dead.

Over the last few days I've found that if I keep a TB2k screen open when I log out, I can sometimes log in and once connected though my ISP, I can get into TB since I never signed out of it. If TB2k window is closed, my link is dead. Then it's 24-48 hours before I can get in again. It's SO FRUSTRATING!! This has been going on for months now.

I don't have this problem with any website other than TB2K.
 
J

john99

Contributing Member
Hope you get your problem sorted, Mark D.

As the HOSTS file has been mentioned, thought you all might find this interesting. This site has a HOSTS file you can download and use, it contains the URLs of many undesirable sites and diverts requests to them to 127.0.0.1 instead :D


http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Extract:

What it does ...
The Hosts file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. This file is loaded into memory at startup, then Windows checks the Hosts file before it queries any DNS servers, which enables it to override addresses in the DNS. This prevents access to the listed sites by redirecting any connection attempts back to the local machine. Another feature of the HOSTS file is it's ability to block other applications from connecting to the Internet, as long the the entry exists.

You can use a HOSTS file to block ads, banners, cookies, web bugs, and even most hijackers. This is accomplished by blocking the Server that supplies these little gems. Example - the following entry 127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net blocks all files supplied by the DoubleClick Server to the web page you are viewing. This also prevents the server from tracking your movements.

Now includes most major parasites, hijackers and unwanted Search Engines!
 
CalicoKat

CalicoKat

Contributing Member
A good tool to troubleshoot connection problems is ipconfig /flushdns. Sometimes a stale DNS entry can cause a no browse situation and I have used the flush command to fix it.

Run the IPCONFIG /FLUSHDNS command.

To run the ipconfig /flushdns command, follow these steps:

-Click Start, and then click Run.
-In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
-At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

ipconfig /flushdns

Close the command window.
 
Mrs Smith

Mrs Smith

Membership Revoked
Ought Six, that's what I meant. I didn't put www. in there afterall. Just the way you typed it.

Mark D, I'm with MSN.
 
Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
Thanks for the hints john99 and CalicoKat. I will give it a try tonight.

BB, I thought MSN was just an online service you subscribed to... Microsoft provides your local Internet connectivity too?
 
juco

juco

Veteran Member
This same thing has been happening to me for a few months. Like MarkD, it doesn't make any difference which browser I'm using, sometimes I just get little box that says Timebomb2000 cannot be found. And it's just timebomb, no other sites.
However, using the numeric address gets me on every time.

I've experienced this problem with both MSN, who I dumped, and Toast.net, my current ISP (I love those guys, an American answers the phone every time you call)

If I'm feeling really adventuresome later, I'll try to find the host file thingy.
 
CalicoKat

CalicoKat

Contributing Member
From http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/WindowsXP/AdminTips/Network/ManagetheDNSresolvercachewithIPCONFIG.htmlManage the DNS resolver cache with IPCONFIG


W2K and XP's workstation DNS client resolves host names to support web browsers, mail clients, and other apps where you used a host name rather than IP addresses. The Windows DNS resolver caches the results of DNS queries including queries that fail to resolve. Each DNS record has a time-to-live value that determines when the record should be refreshed with another query. Until the TTL expires, Windows will respond with the cached query rather than perform a new query. What this means is the when you're troubleshooting connection and DNS problems, it's important to flush the DNS cache and force Windows to generate a new query. ipconfig can be used to view and/or clear the resolver cache, among other things. The following command displays the contents of the resolver cache : ipconfig /displaydns.

Use this command to flush the resolver cache:
ipconfig /flushdns
 
Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
ipconfig/flushdns didn't work for me either. Nor did changing the HOSTS file (cool security addition to my PC by the way, thanks) ...

I queried MSFT knowledge base last night, and the most reasonable explanation is that Verizon's DNS server is having problems, as was suggested above earlier. I have called Verizon twice now, and good-grief, is it ever difficult trying to speak to those tech-suppt types on a resonably technical level; they have NO clue about network architecture.

This is getting annoying, as I can't feed my TB2K addiction from home anymore!!!
 
Ought Six

Ought Six

Membership Revoked
Next time you speak with Verizon support (if you have the patience to try again), demand to speak with a supervisor. You may have better luck explaining the problem.
 
Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
Well... SOMETHING happened, as I am posting this from home. Musta been on Verizon's end, because I haven't fiddled with my PC, or rebooted, for three days.
 
Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
Well, I spent most of today not being able to resolve the site either. Weird. This is the 20th? time I have tried to view the site. Don't know if I will be able to see it in ten minutes.
 
Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
Hours, and dozens of attempts later, I finally get on again.

I have not done anything to my computer today, no re-boots, nothing... I sure hope Verizon gets their act together.
 
Ought Six

Ought Six

Membership Revoked
Same here. It is now resolving the TB2k URL. No apparent reason for the change. And tomorrow, who knows? :shr:
 
E

ejagno

Veteran Member
I'm having the same problems again as I did last week with not being able to access from my MSNBC homepage. I literally have to go to another site then open this one up from there. Last time it did this the server went down. Gheez, I hope this doesn't keep up.
 
Tundra Gypsy

Tundra Gypsy

Veteran Member
I had the same problem, this is how I solved it: I e-mailed my friend who is a member; sent her an e-mail and asked her to copy and paste the website address and send it to me.......guess what? I was able to get back on. Figure that out?????!!!!!!!! :shr:
 
Libertarian

Libertarian

Deceased
WFK said:
Contents of HOSTS.SAM (WIN98SE)
~snip~
:D
Click to expand...

hosts.sam is a sample file (sam = sample) The real file is called hosts. (with no extention) Use the search function for hosts.* Use wordpad to open it as it is too large for notepad.

Note: If you have a firewall or a router all of the addresses with show the local loopback IP 127.0.0.1 In this case, deleting the entry willnot change anything. You'll have to flush your router.
 
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