Network/website problem 1+1+1=0. Seeking a solution.

[cranioscopical]

Networks are a closed book to me — heck, I have trouble even reading the title on the cover.

I have three facts here that I think state my problem. After testing under WIndows 7 and 8.1, and with a plethora of browsers, the three statements resolve to these:

• On my own desk-top computers I can load any site except my own.
• The same is true on my Android tablet (entirely different o/s).
• Other people can load my site just fine.

What happens when I try to load my own site from the web is interminable load times, and 'not available' content, and badly-formed layouts.

A few more details

• The site is hosted by a small-ish, fairly local ISP. My previous site there had no problems.
• My feed comes through a satellite modem and thence to a router.
• tracert info for the site is poor, but not as poor as that for other sites that load just fine.
• I put up a minimal, unfinished site to play with at barbarabickell.ca

I've been banging my head against a wall trying to understand why the site doesn't work properly for me (from the web) but does work for just about everybody else. If nothing else, it makes revisions tricky as I've no way of knowing their real-world effects. Whenever I have what I think is an 'aha moment' a review of the three statements rules it out.

I'd welcome any insights that might help to resolve the problem.
 

[4wd]

I had another idea that might help narrow it down a little, what happens if you use an online HTTP proxy to load the site?

eg. kproxy

[Renegade]

This is what I see:



Is that right?

[cranioscopical]

This is what I see:
Is that right?

-Renegade (November 30, 2013, 09:43 PM)

Yes. Click on one of the images and it should tile up to a bunch of other stuff.
I just clicked on Birds-1 and Birds-2. After a loooooong wait Birds-2 opened and a click inside that produced a severely broken format.
 
 
 

[cranioscopical]

I had another idea that might help narrow it down a little, what happens if you use an online HTTP proxy to load the site?

eg. kproxy

-4wd (November 30, 2013, 08:57 PM)

Just tried it. It's still slow but it's not broken UK newspaper loads much faster. Right now everything here is slow, unfortunately (especially me) we had some snow and that is so surprising here, in Canada, that everything's gone into panic mode. Just like Christmas, always sneaks up and takes one unawares.

[4wd]

Just tried it. It's still slow but it's not broken UK newspaper loads much faster.

-cranioscopical (November 30, 2013, 10:18 PM)

OK, I've set up a transparent proxy on a VPS in Canada - I'll send you config details for Firefox, Chrome, and IE and you can see how you go.

For me it loads faster than if I go direct, might have to start using it myself  

EDIT: Info sent, providing you get the settings correct you should appear to be in downtown Toronto if you go here: whatsmyip

[Deozaan]

I had a similar problem once. I could access the internet just fine, and everything seemed to work perfectly except my own domain. I think I decided it was my ISP's DNS because http://isitup.org/ was showing my site was up, everyone else I asked could reach my website, and IIRC, I changed my network settings to use OpenDNS and then I could access my site. I called my ISP and they fixed it.

[40hz]

I agree with Deozaan. It sounds like a DNS issue to me too.

You may have corrupted data in your cache. Clear that out first by doing as follows:

• From your <start menu><Accessories>
• Right click on <Command Prompt>
• Select <Run as Administrator>
• In the command box enter: ipconfig /flushdns

You'll get a confirmation that says:

Windows IP Configuration Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

Try webbing  out to your site again and see if it now works properly.

If it does you can leave things as are, or optionally switch your DNS settiongs to use OpenDNS. (Recommended btw.)

If you already know how to configure DNS, the OpenDNS servers are :

       208.67.222.222
       208.67.220.220

If flushing the DNS cache didn't fix things:

Change your DNS server settings to use OpenDNS, save the changes, and then reflush your DNS cache per above and (hopefully) all should be well.

If you need detailed instructions for setting up OpenDNS on your device - look here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: If you decide you prefer to use OpenDNS across your home network, you can configure it on your router quite easily and just have all member PC and other devices use it automatically via DHCP. Much easier than manually configuring it for each device when you have several.

Luck!

[cranioscopical]

Thanks Deozaan and 40hz.

I had flushed the cache and tried the Google DNS settings, with which I prefer not to stay for obvious reasons.
Now I've switched to OpenDNS. Of course, at the moment everything is out to lunch as my ISP is having weather-related problems.
My site did seem to come up reasonably quickly, though, so I'll get back on it when things smooth out again to the point where more testing makes sense. By then I'll have a chance of reaching my ISP's support people by phone.

Boy, I've flushed so often that I'll be the poster boy for hygiene!   

Thanks for everyone's participation, much appreciated!
 


 

[lanux128]

as curious bystander, i was wondering what router/modem are you using, do you mind sharing the brand/model?

[cranioscopical]

as curious bystander, i was wondering what router/modem are you using, do you mind sharing the brand/model?

-lanux128 (December 01, 2013, 07:53 PM)

Not at all, it's a D-Link DIR-615.