IE is working, Firefox is not. Why?

[superboyac]

I don't know what's happening, but all of a sudden, my firefox stopped working ("server not found" message for all addresses).  However, IE still works.  I don't know exactly what's changed on my computer, but it's been left on for a few days and here's what I think I've done during that time:
--I installed Netlimiter.
--I used utorrent to download some large files, and when I did, it seemed like I couldn't use the internet because it was overloaded or something.
--I think Firefox got updated (minor updates) a couple of times.

So I don't know what's happening.  Netlimiter has a firewall that I've turned off.  Also, I use Kaspersky IS with the firewall turned off.  I have a linksys cable modem and linksys wifi router.  Utorrent still works even though firefox doesn't.  Also, my I can't send any pop3 email anymore.

My Windows network connections shows my IP address to be the 192... address assigned by my router and when I click on details, none of the IP's are the actual outside IP (which should be 76...).  I have DHCP enabled (although I don't exactly know what it means).

I guess I'm just not understanding why IE and torrent is working, but nothing else is including email and Firefox.  And I haven't really changed anything.  Anyway, thanks for any advice.

[sri]

Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network -> Settings

Make sure direct connection to the internet (the top one) is selected and not the proxy option.

[superboyac]

It has always been on direct connection.  So I don't know why it stopped working suddenly.

Here's what I think the problem is.  Before, when I go into the Windows Network Connections and click on the details, I get a bunch of IP numbers listed there.  Usually, one of them would be the WAN number from outside (76.xxx.xxx.xxx), but now they are all showing 192.168.1.10, which is the LAN number than my router gives the computer.  Somehow, firefox and some other programs like my email are not seeing the outside WAN number anymore, but IE is and so is the torrent program.

[f0dder]

Hm, it sounds like you went from a direct connection (which is bad) to a NAT'ed connection (which is good) - this by itself should cause any problems (except if you have services running that you need to access from the outside, you'll need to set up port forwarding then).

No proxy settings for firefox? No malware that has messed with NDIS? Can you access your router configuration? (probably http://192.168.1.1 , but ymmv).

[superboyac]

Yes, I can access my linksys router configuration, but I don't know what to change.  But I still don't get why it would all of a sudden change like this, and why IE still works, torrent works, but email doesn't work (the bat), firefox doesn't work.  I have some port forwarding set up already for some applications, but I never needed it for email and firefox, but maybe I'll set it up for that also.  However, I don't know how to setup a port forwarding for firefox (can you help) and same for the Bat.  What ports do I use, etc.?

Here's a screenshot of my settings:

[superboyac]

OK, some more information.

I started my computer in Safe Mode with Networking, and Firefox works fine!  Now what?  How come it doesn't work in normal mode?

I think Netlimiter screwed something up, but it's uninstalled and I'm still having problems.  I think my router is fine, but something is blocking firefox and the bat from working right.

[Grorgy]

Actually i just noticed on your settings the DNS server is your router, I was doing that for a long time and it worked ok, but then it stopped, i had no idea why, after a brief call to my ISP support they told me to change the DNS to the one they recommend, so I did, no more trouble.

May not be your problem but could be worth a try

[sri]

May be one of the add-ons is the trouble maker? Try disabling all of them.

[f0dder]

superboyac: does your network settings change in safe mode?

Could be a netlimiter filter driver left behind that screws up things... could be a lot of things. Does seem a bit suspicious that DNS server is set to your router, though - never seen that done before (with hardware routers anyway).

[superboyac]

Actually i just noticed on your settings the DNS server is your router, I was doing that for a long time and it worked ok, but then it stopped, i had no idea why, after a brief call to my ISP support they told me to change the DNS to the one they recommend, so I did, no more trouble.

May not be your problem but could be worth a try

-Grorgy (October 01, 2007, 12:37 AM)

I'll check that out and see if I can do something.

One thing that my cousin and I came up with yesterday is that maybe by installing Netlimiter, which has a firewall in it, it conflicted with the firewall in Kaspersky.  You know how they say you shouldn't install two antivirus programs or two firewall programs at the same time?  Well, maybe it screwed something up by doing that.  Maybe the solution is to uninstall Kaspersky and reinstall it from scratch.

superboyac: does your network settings change in safe mode?

Could be a netlimiter filter driver left behind that screws up things... could be a lot of things. Does seem a bit suspicious that DNS server is set to your router, though - never seen that done before (with hardware routers anyway).

-f0dder (October 01, 2007, 03:35 AM)

I didn't check the network settings in safe mode, I'll do that later.  All I know is that firefox worked fine.

[superboyac]

Well, I tried changing my DNS settings to these two numbers that were in my router's config, but that didn't help.  I also looked at my network settings while in safe mode, and they were the same as in normal mode.  Even with the altered dns settings, firefox worked in safe mode.

I'm really thinking about uninstalling Kaspersky and seeing if that does the trick.  The whole thing just doesn't make sense to me.

[superboyac]

Well, for anyone interested...

I uninstalled Kaspersky and everything is back to normal!  Yes!  So, the old adage is true, multiple firewalls and/or antivirus programs don't exist well together.  i will soon reinstall Kaspersky and hopefully everything will still be working.  Thanks for the help guys, but, honestly, you were no help.  It was all me.

Just kidding, I'm in a good mood, that's all.

[Dirhael]

In the future if you encounter such a problem, it could be that your winsock chain gets corrupted. If so, you could try:

[Select]

netsh winsock reset

Followed by an immediate reboot of the system.

[superboyac]

Very interesting!  I will save that and remember it.  Is that what normally causes firewalls to conflict with each other in cases like this?

[Dirhael]

Very interesting!  I will save that and remember it.  Is that what normally causes firewalls to conflict with each other in cases like this?

-superboyac (October 03, 2007, 10:13 AM)

Not really, as I think most firewalls installs as a ring 0 driver. However, many security programs install parts of itself as a winsock provider and can cause anything from slow connections to no network access at all. Applications like virus scanners that has a http scanner will always(?) install a component there.

If you want to check out if you have anything redundant there, you can use the "autoruns" sysinternals tool

[davidmisa]

hey yall i have a similar problem, on my lappy only ie connects to the internet. bittorrent, the new msn messenger, firefox, kazza, limewire, and a buch of other things that need to connect to the internet just wont. what gives? oh the old msn that comes with xp works
and ive done everything from completely removing the firewall to messing around with the lan adresses, almost everything i think, the only thing thats left is to reinstall xp

[superboyac]

go into safe mode with networking, and see if the programs work in there.  If they do, then you have some kind of software conflict like I did.

[jseamless]

This sight helped me fix the firefox not working issue.