1 PC on network can't access certain sites, but other PCs can

[dsiomtw]

OK long story short, I'm pulling my hair out over this one and could really use some help. So yesterday I upgraded from a slow, ancient T1 to Verizon's "Home Fusion" 4G LTE broadband. It's amazing how fast it is, but I seem to have a problem where occasionally I can't connect to certain sites.

For example, I'll be surfing Facebook and all of a sudden it'll just stop connecting and I can't do anything. BUT if I jump over to my laptop which is on the same network, it works fine. Usually it won't start working again unless I reboot the PC, in which case I can start surfing Facebook again. For awhile, until it craps out again ...

Any time this happens, I can connect to 99.9% of other sites just fine - both http and https. I've found a few other sites that I also can't connect to whenever I can't connect to Facebook. Opendns.com is one, and wireshark.org is another. So when I CAN connect to FB I CAN connect to these sites, and when I CAN'T connect to FB, I CAN'T connect to these sites either. There's a few other sites I've noticed trouble with, but overall I can access 99.9% of sites just fine while this is happening.

The primary PC with the problem is running windows 8.1 and I'm plugged directly into the Verizon 4G LTE router via ethernet. I started out on wifi and when I first noticed the problem I switched to ethernet figuring it was just flaky wifi, but that's obviously not the case.

I'm really at a loss here. Both the PC and the laptop are on the same network, running the same firewall/antivirus/etc. and yet one can connect to Facebook while the other can't. The only thing I can think of is that this is some kind of Windows 8.1 problem, which I just recently "upgraded" to from XP.

Someone suggested running wireshark and logging everything, to see what the packets look like when I can no longer connect to FB, etc. but honestly I don't even know what I'm looking at with wireshark. I see a bunch of stuff highlighted in red though off and on, and I assume that's not good...

Anyway, sorry for the long post. Anyone have any ideas for me? I'm sort of relieved that it doesn't seem to be a problem with the Verizon service, because I really need this to work, but I'm at a loss and don't know what to do short of wiping this machine and installing Windows 7 or something (which is what my laptop is running that doesn't have the problem).

Oh yeah, and I've tried flushing the DNS, resetting winsock, etc. etc.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Ok, so you have multiple PCs, all sharing an internet connection, and sometimes, you cannot connect to certain sites on one PC, but if you switch to another PC on the same connection, you can access them?

I would start by giving all of your PCs a good scanning for malware and rootkits.

 

[dsiomtw]

You got it. This new Verizon Home Fusion service is awesome, but there's something about the combination of that and this Windows 8.1 machine that just isn't working right. I don't have any viruses or malware, and haven't in literally 15 years.

 

[dsiomtw]

OK here's something weird that might be a clue ...

When I go to the properties for my ethernet adaptor, click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click properties, I get the following error message:

"In order to configure TCP/IP, you must install and enable a network adaptor card."

Doh. I just tried re-installing the latest drivers for the ethernet adaptor but that made no difference (it's an Intel I217-LM).

And what's weird is when I view the driver details for the adaptor, the version information it spits out still lists the old driver, not the new version I just installed ... but the "events" pane does show that a new driver was installed.

Not sure what this means or if it's related, but yesterday I could go into the properties just fine because I was testing different DNS servers, etc. and now I can't. This just keeps getting stranger and stranger...

Another clue perhaps ...

Whenever I can't load a site, when I view the network traffic it's almost always waiting for some type of CDN-based content to load.

I'm starting to wonder if the fact that my connections look like a mobile phone while my browser headers/useragent etc. identifies them as coming from a desktop machine is confusing some sites/CDNs, etc.??

I guess the weirdest thing of all is that if I can't connect to a site like say FB, if I just reboot then I can connect to FB again for awhile, until it decides to crap out again.

Anyone? I'm at a total loss here.

 

[dsiomtw]

*deleted*

 

[Mushkins]

I dont know if this is relevant, but you mention Facebook and a Verizon 4G LTE connection. Same thing happens to me on my phone sometimes when i'm on the go. If I try to open Facebook in a web browser I just get a white page and nothing loads even though other pages work fine. Could be a Verizon network issue?

 

[dsiomtw]

That's what I thought at first, but if I jump on my ipad or laptop which are connected to the same network, they can connect to FB just fine while my desktop can't.

 

[serpretetsky]

Are the websites pingable? If so, while the webpage isn't loading, can you still ping the site from the affected computer?

 

[dsiomtw]

I can't access FB right now, but I just pinged it fine:


C:\Users\admin>ping www.facebook.com

Pinging star.c10r.facebook.com [2a03:2880:f00d:1:face:b00c:0:1] with 32 bytes of
data:
Reply from 2a03:2880:f00d:1:face:b00c:0:1: time=55ms
Reply from 2a03:2880:f00d:1:face:b00c:0:1: time=43ms
Reply from 2a03:2880:f00d:1:face:b00c:0:1: time=40ms
Reply from 2a03:2880:f00d:1:face:b00c:0:1: time=47ms

Ping statistics for 2a03:2880:f00d:1:face:b00c:0:1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 40ms, Maximum = 55ms, Average = 46ms


On an unrelated note, I uninstalled the ethernet adaptor and drivers, and rebooted to let windows reinstall whatever drivers it wanted. I can now access the properties for the adaptor and that problem seems fixed, but still the primary problem remains.

*UPDATE* Now out of the blue 15 mins later I can access FB just fine ...

 

[serpretetsky]

Does your router have any logs that give any clues?

 

[dsiomtw]

Nothing I can make heads or tails of. Someone else suggested using Wireshark, which I'm messing with now, but this stuff is way over my head and I barely know what I'm looking at. In wireshark I do see a bunch of TCP/IP "binding" errors/warnings from time to time, and they're highlighted in red so I assume that's not good ...

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, you've apparently got an IPv6 connection. (Too bad I'm on FIOS, and can't get IPv6, without a 3rd-party workaround.)

I'm not sure how that affects you, however.

It's a bit weird that you can't seem to access your IPv4 properties for your adapter though.

Have you tried scanning for disk corruption? Is it only that one machine that gives you problems?

 

[dsiomtw]

I uninstalled my ethernet adaptor and it's drivers, then rebooted to let Windows detect it and install whatever drivers it wanted. That fixed the problem with the adapter and now I can access the properties. I didn't even realize about the IPv6 thing but I did notice that. I really have no idea how that affects things, I guess something to look in to?...

 

[dsiomtw]

OK just posting an update for anyone who happens to search and come across this. Turns out it's an IPv6 problem with the verizon router/firmware. If you disable IPv6 it solves the problem, and speeds up the entire experience because everything just connects faster. Obviously not a long-term solution but hopefully Verizon will get it fixed before too long. Apparently the current router/firmware combo results in some IPv6 packets being too big or something like that, which causes them to be dropped and leads to intermittent problems with certain sites.

 

[gbeirn]

Try disabling IP6 by unchecking the box and have the adapter use IP4 only. You can also try setting different DNS like Google's or OpenDNS.

 

[Bant]

I am having a similar problem. My computers on the LAN can retrieve any website using IPv6 address, but none that uses IPv4.

Nobody from Verizon tech support can understand when I am describing the problem. They do not know what is the difference between IPv6 and IPv4....

The Advanced Support team member just admitted she have not hear about HomeFusion.

I am speechless.