Switched ISPs, now I can't connect to secure sites!

Unkempt

Junior Member
Jan 17, 2003
9
0
0
Hello All,

I searched all of the current and archived topics, but I was unable to find anything that helped with my current problem.

A friend of mine switched dial-up ISPs within the last week. He switched from a local provider, MSI, to Alltel internet service. He has a Sony Vaio computer using a Lucent winmodem to connect. Windows XP Home is currently the OS in use. IE 6 is the browser in use.

While MSI was the service provider, there was never any trouble connecting to any internet sites. He also used MSN explorer to check his various hotmail and other Microsoft accounts.

After switching to Alltel internet service, the computer will not connect to any secure sites, such as https sites and MSN explorer. Whenever attempting to connect to any secure sites, after a bit of a pause, IE goes straight to the This Page Can't Be Displayed page, prompting me to check network settings, security settings, etc. The little padlock icon indicating a secure page never pops up in the lower right corner of the window. It is almost as though IE doesn't recognize the secure site. There is no problem connecting to non-secure sites, such as google, etc...

So, at this point I tried a number of possible solutions. I first checked to make sure that 128 bit encryption was enabled in IE, and it was. I made sure that all of the required SSL options were selected, and they were. I deleted the Alltel connection and created a new one. I tried connecting with the WinXP firewall both off and on, with no noticeable difference. I uninstalled and reinstalled TCP/IP, all the while checking all of the settings to make sure that they were all correct, and they were. I deleted the old connection and made sure that the Alltel connection was set as the default connection. I went on to try everything that I could think of, but to no avail. So, much to my chagrin, I called Alltel's internet tech support to see if they had any ideas. They did not. I was instructed to try all of the things that I had already tried again, and then one more time just to be sure. After an hour on the phone, the tech support person I spoke with had no further ideas, and wished me luck in getting things figured out.

So, any ideas? Any other information you need? As far as I can tell, they only change made to the computer was simply setting up another dial-up connection to connect to Alltel's service. There was no change made to IE or MSN explorer, they just simply won't connect to secure sites any more. Does this sound like something that is wrong with the computer, or something on Alltel's end?

Thanks for your help.
 

Bug

Senior member
Nov 16, 1999
497
0
0
It seems rather strange that a switch of ISP would have such an effect, if in fact IE was not altered. I'm not sure I believe the ISP tech support though.
Has the ISP software installed its own browser? If not, has it customized the IE interface?
Have you tried using Mozilla or Opera?

Keep in mind that I have problems connecting to Hotmail thru a fully patched IE 6 unless I knock all the Security Settings to Enable (too lazy to figure out which little setting fixes it otherwise).
If you can ping from a command prompt, I'm inclined to blame IE.
 

Unkempt

Junior Member
Jan 17, 2003
9
0
0
Thanks for your response.

IE 6 was not altered. In fact, we did not use the Alltel installation CD, as according to installation instructions it was not necessary for Windows XP. We simply created a new dial-up connection to connect to Alltel. I asked the tech support lady if there was any sort of proprietary software that the install CD installed, and she said that there was not. According to her, to set up Alltel internet service on WinXP it is simply a matter of creating a new dial-up connection and connecting. There were no other browsers installed on the computer that we could try to connect with, and with the slow connection I didn't feel like downloading one.

Is it odd that tech support didn't even ask for a username/e-mail address? Shouldn't they at least check to make sure everything is configured correctly on their end?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks
 

dexmanone

Senior member
Aug 31, 2000
356
0
76
i would try with another browser, or try with ie5.5sp2. netscape would be a good alternateive, though I prefer ie myself. at least you would know if it's you or the isp. I agree with Bug, dont think a swith to a different isp would do that, the isp itself. maybe when loading software something else was set. internet security?
 

authenticate

Senior member
Nov 21, 2000
250
0
0
Two things that I would try are:

1. Download another browser such as Mozilla and confirm that this is also causing a problem. If it is then the problem must be with your isp's firewall/proxy; if not then it must be IE.

2. If the above does not help then try creating another dial-up connection to say your own dial-up isp to prove that the isp is/is not at fault.
 

Lord Evermore

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
9,558
0
76
Check to make sure the computer can even resolve the IP addresses of the https sites. :) Page cannot be displayed generally indicates that IE can't even locate the server. If it was reaching the server and just couldn't load an https page, you'd probably get a different error. Can you reach the non-secure parts of these sites? If he can resolve the IPs, can a traceroute reach the site (or as close as it does with a working connection, since some sites block traceroutes)?
 

Bug

Senior member
Nov 16, 1999
497
0
0
Two issues to check:
1) can you ping from a command prompt?
2) is there anything within the ISP dial-up connection for a Preferred DNS?
 

zetter

Senior member
May 6, 2000
328
0
0
Do you still have the proxy servers set for your old ISP in IE? Change them to the new ISPs proxy server or remove them altogether.
 

QueBert

Lifer
Jan 6, 2002
22,980
1,178
126
Originally posted by: Unkempt
Hello All,

I searched all of the current and archived topics, but I was unable to find anything that helped with my current problem.

A friend of mine switched dial-up ISPs within the last week. He switched from a local provider, MSI, to Alltel internet service. He has a Sony Vaio computer using a Lucent winmodem to connect. Windows XP Home is currently the OS in use. IE 6 is the browser in use.

While MSI was the service provider, there was never any trouble connecting to any internet sites. He also used MSN explorer to check his various hotmail and other Microsoft accounts.

After switching to Alltel internet service, the computer will not connect to any secure sites, such as https sites and MSN explorer. Whenever attempting to connect to any secure sites, after a bit of a pause, IE goes straight to the This Page Can't Be Displayed page, prompting me to check network settings, security settings, etc. The little padlock icon indicating a secure page never pops up in the lower right corner of the window. It is almost as though IE doesn't recognize the secure site. There is no problem connecting to non-secure sites, such as google, etc...

So, at this point I tried a number of possible solutions. I first checked to make sure that 128 bit encryption was enabled in IE, and it was. I made sure that all of the required SSL options were selected, and they were. I deleted the Alltel connection and created a new one. I tried connecting with the WinXP firewall both off and on, with no noticeable difference. I uninstalled and reinstalled TCP/IP, all the while checking all of the settings to make sure that they were all correct, and they were. I deleted the old connection and made sure that the Alltel connection was set as the default connection. I went on to try everything that I could think of, but to no avail. So, much to my chagrin, I called Alltel's internet tech support to see if they had any ideas. They did not. I was instructed to try all of the things that I had already tried again, and then one more time just to be sure. After an hour on the phone, the tech support person I spoke with had no further ideas, and wished me luck in getting things figured out.

So, any ideas? Any other information you need? As far as I can tell, they only change made to the computer was simply setting up another dial-up connection to connect to Alltel's service. There was no change made to IE or MSN explorer, they just simply won't connect to secure sites any more. Does this sound like something that is wrong with the computer, or something on Alltel's end?

Thanks for your help.


I had a similar problem with XP & AOL. I installed AOL on a clean XP install (just installed it) couldn't connect to HTTPS sites. I called AOL they told me "something else you installed is causing this" "I have installed 2 things, XP & AOL" "it's not aol" is all they told me. I put Netzero on, didn't change a SINGLE IE setting and HTTPS started to work. I have no suggestions on how you can fix this, but if you do I would LOVE to know what you did!