What Causes a PC to only access certain websites, all else being equal?

[MigraineMan]

I am pulling my hair out over this. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem, and whether or not I am overlooking something.

Three PCs on my home network, running through a single DSL router. One using XP, two others using 98SE. They are network-configured the same.

One PC (98SE system) cannot access a number of websites, while the others can. This occurs regardless whether the other PCs are on or not. This faulty PC can see Google, Yahoo, and MSN, but not a host of other sites, such as www.microsoft.com, www.nvidia.com, www.gamespot.com, etc. I cannot do a Windows Update. And, if we can access a site, the home page is often the only thing we will see. Links from the page lead to the usual cannot display this web page, etc. etc.

I swapped the NIC card on the errant PC with a new one, and no improvement. The cable connected to the problem PC works on my other PCs just fine. No limitations to website access on those PCs. The problem is not the cable.

I've since reformatted and reinstalled 98SE on the PC with the new NIC card. No change. I've set browser settings to the lowest possible security. And I can see the other PCs on the network from that PC, as well as obtain my email at that PC, so I assume my only problem is related to web access.

Any thoughts?

 

[rw120555]

I wonder if it is the router. Some routers have these parental control content filters -- any chance you have that enabled for this PC? Check your router's documentation and go into its setup if necessary. (I assume you don't have Net Nanny or something like that on the machine.)

To rule out the router, does this pc have another way of connecting to the internet, e.g. via modem? Or, maybe you could directly connect the problem pc to the dsl (you'd probably have to install some connection software then).

Are the same pages always blocked, or do they sometimes work? If the former, that supports the router argument, if the latter then it is harder to say.

 

[rw120555]

One other idea -- if you haven't already, plug the pc into a different port on your router. Also, I doubt this is your problem, but I just noticed the following (excerpted from http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/specificbroblems.htm)

Problem: One Computer Can?t Access Some Web Sites, but Other Computers Can

Solution: Look for the Windows Hosts file on the problem computer:

Windows 95/98/Me: C:\Windows\Hosts
Windows 2000: C:\WinNT\System32\Drivers\Etc\Hosts
Windows XP: C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc\Hosts
Open it with a text editor and you'll probably find lines with the names of the sites that you can't access. Delete those lines, save the file, and try again. If those are the only lines in the file, delete the file. Be sure to save it with a file name of just Hosts, with no file type. If your editor saves it as Hosts.txt, rename it to just Hosts.

The Hosts file can be created by "web accelerator" programs that store name-to-IP address translations. This might speed up access by a tiny amount, but it causes problems when a site's IP address changes.