Topic: Networking problem

[Ghandi]

I made a post in the IRC? thread about this. Every now and then I can't access IRC, and I also can't access my router from my browser. It only half loads. This is what shows up:

Link

It's odd. I'm assuming that there's an answer and I'm just stupid, but I need guidance. Help!

[Ghandi]

Well the router thing was stupid. NoScript was blocking it, which I should have known from the beginning. Now that was an alcohol-related mistake. It's the first thing I checked sober. But I still can't connect to IRC. And I never fiddled with any of the settings. It just keeps refusing my connection.

[Quemaqua]

Have you tried using any clients other than whatever you usually use?  That might help you narrow things down if one client connects but another doesn't.  You could try IRC @ Work, mIRC, or one of the Firefox plugins.

[Ghandi]

Good idea. I'll get mIRC, since I used to use that and am comfortable with it.

Edit: No dice.

* Connect retry #14 uk.quakenet.org (6669) (dns pool)
-
* Unable to connect to server (Connection refused)
-
* Connect retry #15 uk.quakenet.org (6669) (dns pool)
-
* Unable to connect to server (Connection refused)

etc etc etc

[Quemaqua]

Well, that at least tells you it's probably a global issue, something with your connection rather than a program setting or whatever.  Security problem?  Maybe your router is giving you troubles?  I don't recall having any trouble with mine, but maybe you need to open a port that IRC wants to use?  I'm really just shooting in the dark since I'm not good with this stuff and the smart people don't seem to be responding.

[Cobra951]

I find this very puzzling.  I just looked at my router setup and at my firewall rules list.  My firewall is set up to deny all traffic that isn't specifically allowed in my rules.  Firefox is allowed access, but there's no other special rule.  The router has port forwards for FTP, bittorrent and XBL.  Nothing that matters here.

Edit:  Is the port (6669) being blocked by someone or something you use to connect?  See if this thread is at all helpful.

[Ghandi]

The most puzzling thing is that it used to work. I used it for a year and a half. It's almost like my ISP decided to block access to IRC, which wouldn't surprise me. I'm assuming they block access to the PSN as well, since I'm refused access.

And I stand corrected on that router issue. I disabled NoScript and I'm having similar problems again. That makes me feel less stupid.

Edit: Well I googled and did a little research and nothing helped. Every message board I went to was completely inadequate. So as a last-ditch effort I went into the task manager and deleted every unnecessary process. I just reformatted so I don't have many, but one of them did the trick and it now works. I'm assuming it was something with McAfee. But I'm surprised that no one had this problem before me (or, at least, no one within the first few pages of Google).

In any case, problem solved. Thanks for all the help Que and Cobra (Moral support is help )

[scottws]

All those McAfee and Norton Internet Security products do is cause trouble.  The Windows firewall is good enough for most people.  Get anti-virus and/or anti-spyware products only, nothing that attempts to "keep you safe from the Internet."  It's all garbage that does more harm than good

[Quemaqua]

Indeed.  Also, make your solving post there green because seriously, it feels triumphant.  We all know you solved it, but you're missing out on the experience otherwise.

[Ghandi]

Yay for green!

I actually didn't even put it on. I let the computer people on campus reformat my computer and they must have installed it. Needless to say, it quickly got deleted from my computer.

[Quemaqua]

Never let other people touch your computer.

[scottws]

Yay for green!

I actually didn't even put it on. I let the computer people on campus reformat my computer and they must have installed it. Needless to say, it quickly got deleted from my computer.

Yeah, they'll do that.  At Univ. of Cincinnati their student handbook tells you that you're required to install some program that downloads all this Internet protection crap and supposedly lets them know you are fully protected with all the newest versions and definitions of everything and with no detected viruses or malware, otherwise it won't let you connect to the network.  I haven't had that experience as I've connected both my Linux laptop and work Vista laptop without that stuff installed.

But yeah I'm sure if I went to their desk and asked for help, they'd want me to put that garbage on. 

[Ghandi]

There actually wasn't much crap installed on here. Just your usual bullshit and then McAfee. I connected to the network here with this computer before it crashed, so there aren't any software restrictions that I know of on our campus network, although it doesn't surprise me that some require certain things. I guess this isn't a big enough university yet to reach those levels of bullshit.

And Que, the only reason I did it was because it was free. And I'm lazy.

[Quemaqua]

I understand the temptation.  I have done it before.  Alas, I've usually regretted it shortly thereafter.  Though it's looking like I'm going to have to take my rig into a shop to get that stupid power button fixed, which irks me to no end.  I think I'll do it after my new chess set comes so I can spend the computerless days at least playing something.

[Ghandi]

I have a cheaper solution:

[Quemaqua]

For all the wonders of duct tape, I don't think this is a problem it can fix.

[Ghandi]

LIES.

Perhaps you haven't been enlightened to some of the many uses of duct tape?

[scottws]

I understand the temptation.  I have done it before.  Alas, I've usually regretted it shortly thereafter.  Though it's looking like I'm going to have to take my rig into a shop to get that stupid power button fixed, which irks me to no end.  I think I'll do it after my new chess set comes so I can spend the computerless days at least playing something.

I work at a place that does PC repairs on top of the IT outsourcing that I'm part of.  First of all, it's $40 just to look at it, and then if there is a decision to fix it's like $130/hr (the $40 is not charged extra if there is a request to fix).  But the guys working on this stuff know just as much as you or I.  Maybe a little more because they do it day in and day out and might have an A+, but there is no magic voodoo they do in these shops.  They get just as perplexed as you or I would by weird problems and the solution is usually a part replacement.

[Quemaqua]

Huh... my shop doesn't strike me that way.  They've fixed most things I've not been able to fix myself, and while they do generally charge a bit just to look at the thing, their hourly rate isn't really all that bad, and they're generally quite fast if you describe the problem sufficiently.  I've walked out of there for $70 or so on several occasions.  Which isn't free, but what I can't fix, I can't fix.

You raise a good point, though.  My case is actually the biggest problem here, and in order to get at the problem area I may have to remove three hard drives.  Which sucks, especially since I don't know what's even wrong exactly and may be able to do nothing at all.