Hotmail access problem

August 24, 2006 3:36 PM

My roommate can't access her e-mail. . .

my roommate is using IE 6 on our home wireless network (unsecure, if that matters, linksys router), and she can't access her hotmail account. She tries to log in and gets "this page can't be displayed."

Forgive me if this is a stupid question. I'm stumped although my knowledge is limited.

posted by mai to technology (8 answers total)

Can she access other webpages?

If so, here are some things to try:

- try to open the same www.hotmail.com webpage on your computer, if it can't open there either, you may have a problem with your router

- clear the cache (options, internet tools)

- use Firefox!
posted by k8t at 3:38 PM on August 24, 2006

Um, I don't remember exactly how to do this on windows machines, but try releasing and renewing the IP addresses and clearing the DNS cache or something like that (I'm sure someone else can explain this much better to you, but I figured I'd at least put the idea out there...)
posted by echo0720 at 3:54 PM on August 24, 2006

Clarification:
This problem persists after restarts (and I just cleared the dns cache to be sure).

This problem only affects her computer, not mine on the same network.

This problem affects hotmail and also aol mail, in terms of not being able to log in.

And, to make matters more confusing, I just tried to get to gmail and it won't even display the login page (possibly because it is trying to redirect to an inbox using saved username/password data).

So basically, it seems like the problem is with secure sites.
posted by mai at 4:30 PM on August 24, 2006

Run Windows updates?
posted by k8t at 5:06 PM on August 24, 2006

Sounds like a certificate issue. Turn on encryption and use Firefox and let us know if that solves the problem.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 6:22 PM on August 24, 2006

Here are some other things to try (mskb).
posted by banshee at 7:58 AM on August 25, 2006

A friend of mine just had this problem installing a new router at a client's -- no Hotmail or Gmail, everything else working fine.

He called Linksys and they had him change the MTU, which for no discernable reason fixed it.
posted by cps at 8:29 AM on August 25, 2006

If you have SP2, make sure windows popup killer is disable, or add those sites to its exceptions. You have something that isn't configured properly (i.e. security, firewall, etc.) If it can be accessed from other computers in your home, it isn't the router.
posted by cjburton at 7:36 AM on October 25, 2006