Browsers cannot establish connection at certain sites

SoxmisUK · 26 Aug 2015

Hi, I cannot reach some websites that were easily accessible to me about a couple of weeks ago and get this message from (For example..) Firefox, here's another site I discovered this morning:

Unable to connect

Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at BBC - Homepage.

The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.
If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection.
If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

[Try Again] (Of course that doesn't change the result at all..)

Now, if this happens on this site, then I also cannot connect to the site with IE11 nor Edge so whatever it is it seems to affect all browsers identically.. Yet on many sites this isn't a problem at all..

When I google for site hits the preview shows up fine in Google's search, but clicking on the link and any sub-link at that site brings up the same error..

Now looking at Googles result I can get to the site if I use the little drop down "Cached.." link on Google's hit and the very strange thing is that the cached link is dated for today or the day I attempt and fail to connect. However I cannot go any deeper than that initial cached link.

I have run Malwarebytes, CCleaner, but to no avail, pretty sure this is not a malware or virus problem.

Can anyone help here? I do a lot of browsing around and this state is really annoying..

SoxmisUK · 26 Aug 2015

Here's what I get at the top of the (Above..) page when I use the cached link in Google's search:

This is Google's cache of http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 26 Aug 2015 12:12:05 GMT.

The current page could have changed in the meantime. Learn more
Full versionText-only version View source[COLOR=#717171 !important]Tip: To quickly find your search term on this page, press Ctrl+F or ⌘-F (Mac) and use the find bar.
[/COLOR]

The rest of the page shows up, but none of the links work going directly to the "Cannot connect.." message again.

Gary · 26 Aug 2015

I can get to the BBC home page using Fx 40.0.2

SoxmisUK · 26 Aug 2015

Gary said:

I can get to the BBC home page using Fx 40.0.2

I'm sure many people can Gary... I can't

- I have the same version.. I know these sites are working as the missus has a lappy and she has no problems with Vista.. Because this happens across browsers identically I'm guessing it's more to do with settings for the internet somehow.

If anyone's not familiar with cached links here's a quick link to help:
Cached link - Search Help

ambimom · 26 Aug 2015

I had a similar problem and discovered that it was one of my extensions. Try disabling all your extensions and then try the sites you cannot reach. If you can now reach the site, enable each extension one by one until you pinpoint the one that may be causing the problem.

It's worth a try....if you've got a bunch of extensions...maybe they haven't updated to be compatible with Win 10.

SoxmisUK · 26 Aug 2015

ambimom said:

I had a similar problem and discovered that it was one of my extensions. Try disabling all your extensions and then try the sites you cannot reach. If you can now reach the site, enable each extension one by one until you pinpoint the one that may be causing the problem.

It's worth a try....if you've got a bunch of extensions...maybe they haven't updated to be compatible with Win 10.

Well, I'll give it a go.. But it doesn't really explain how exactly the same sites won't open in IE11 or Edge does it?

SoxmisUK · 26 Aug 2015

SoxmisUK said:

Well, I'll give it a go.. But it doesn't really explain how exactly the same sites won't open in IE11 or Edge does it?

Gave it a go, started Firefox in Safe mode, (No add ons loaded, and same deal still cannot connect to those sites it doesn't like...

Any other ideas folks? Honestly, I'll pee on a sparkplug if it'll help...

SoxmisUK · 26 Aug 2015

Ok.. I'm probably going to try resetting all my IE settings as I know they affect all browsers. Maybe something is conflicting. I'll give the thing a shot tomorrow after a good night's sleep.

Cheers, Laters.

SoxmisUK · 26 Aug 2015

SoxmisUK said:

Ok.. I'm probably going to try resetting all my IE settings as I know they affect all browsers. Maybe something is conflicting. I'll give the thing a shot tomorrow after a good night's sleep.

Cheers, Laters.

Sleep? I don't need sleep, I need answers! Got up again with an idea and it worked.

Have to apologise for wasting everyone's time. I have Peerblock installed and had "Block HTTP.." enabled.

Sorry guys. I should have thought of it long ago but Peerblock has given me so little trouble over the years that I'd just taken it for granted that it was working properly, but it was actually filtering out a list of URL's connections according to some lists that imported or already used by Peerblocks filters.

Just un-selected Block HTTP and the HTTP lists were not enforced by the filter anymore. Result? I can now browse where I like across all 3 browsers.

Cheers! John.