Why can't I load certain web sites?

October 1, 2007 7:11 AM

Why won't CNN's web site load?

Sometime over the course of a week, CNN refuses to load from my home system. When I go there, it takes forever and finally a partial text-only version of the site loads. When I ping CNN.com, the request times out. Below is the tracert output. This is perplexing because I've had the same setup for four years. I'm running a fully patched version of Windows XP Pro, DSL connection going through a Linksys WRTG router (pretty standard stuff). Any ideas on where to start looking? Thanks!

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\MyMachine>ping www.cnn.com

Pinging www.cnn.com [64.236.91.21] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 64.236.91.21:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\MyMachine>tracert www.cnn.com

Tracing route to www.cnn.com [64.236.91.21]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 2 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms adsl-68-20-31-254.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net [64.21
31.50.254]
3 9 ms 7 ms 7 ms dist1-vlan50.chcgil.ameritech.net [64.21
31.50.254]

4 8 ms 8 ms 8 ms bb1-g7-0.chcgil.ameritech.net [151.164.242.208]

5 9 ms 8 ms 8 ms ex2-p1-0.eqchil.sbcglobal.net [151.164.191.250]

6 8 ms 8 ms 7 ms pop1-chi-P4-1.atdn.net [66.185.151.217]
7 201 ms 207 ms 202 ms bb2-chi-P0-0.atdn.net [66.185.141.86]
8 28 ms 28 ms 29 ms bb2-vie-P14-0.atdn.net [66.185.152.215]
9 219 ms 209 ms 212 ms pop1-vie-P2-0.atdn.net [66.185.139.83]
10 28 ms 28 ms 28 ms dar1-mtc-S3-0-0.atdn.net [66.185.139.134]
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.

posted by RDNZL to computers & internet (14 comments total)

They may have disabled ping requests on www.cnn.com and its surrounding network. I can access www.cnn.com via a web browser, no problem, but get no pings back. My traceroute results look like this:

10 pop1-loh-S0-3-3.atdn.net (66.185.146.241) 6.036 ms 4.418 ms 4.555 ms
11 bb1-loh-S1-0-0.atdn.net (66.185.136.236) 6.399 ms 4.596 ms 4.691 ms
MPLS Label=111168 CoS=5 TTL=1 S=0
12 bb1-nye-P5-0.atdn.net (66.185.152.95) 77.617 ms 76.237 ms 75.928 ms
MPLS Label=1741 CoS=5 TTL=1 S=0
13 bb2-ash-P13-0.atdn.net (66.185.152.87) 257.448 ms 354.759 ms 378.948 ms
MPLS Label=1711 CoS=5 TTL=1 S=0
14 pop1-ash-S1-0-0.atdn.net (66.185.144.195) 291.073 ms 259.527 ms 259.823 ms
MPLS Label=111616 CoS=5 TTL=1 S=0
15 dar1-mtc-S1-0-0.atdn.net (66.185.151.102) 260.960 ms 250.262 ms 251.115 ms
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * * *
19 * * *
20 * * *
21 * * * (and so on)
posted by grouse at 7:35 AM on October 1, 2007

Problems when visiting only certain sites can sometimes be fixed by changing the MTU settings of your router. See this related thread for more information.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 7:38 AM on October 1, 2007

Hmmm. Weird. Thanks Grouse. Yeah, CNN does eventually load but with really crappy unformatted text and no graphics. I'm sort of at a loss. Running a spyware sweep right now to see if that makes any.
posted by RDNZL at 7:43 AM on October 1, 2007

..difference.
posted by RDNZL at 7:55 AM on October 1, 2007

FWIW, the CNN web site freezes my web browser at work. (Worth = little. But it could offer a clue that the site is heinous for a web browser to deal with.)

Have you tried multiple browsers? (Just for the hell of it. You probably prefer to use the one you're using.)
posted by iguanapolitico at 8:00 AM on October 1, 2007

Gomez_in_the_South - Thanks for the heads-up on that thread. It doesn't appear the MTU settings solved the problem and I'm a little reluctant to mess with them since I haven't changed them in the first place. I will however, keep that on the backburner. Ya never know.

iguanapolitico - Yep. Tried IE and FF. Same thing.
posted by RDNZL at 8:06 AM on October 1, 2007

If the page will load eventually, but the images and style sheets won't, then you're probably having trouble accessing i.l.cnn.net (or similar server visible in the source code it serves you, which may differ).

To see if it's a DNS issue, try switching to different DNS servers (e.g. OpenDNS). Some ISPs have odd/broken servers that can't resolve some domains or hang onto outdated data.
posted by malevolent at 8:07 AM on October 1, 2007

FWIW, lowering your MTU packet size has solved issues in previous threads won't break anything. Just set it back to 1492 afterwards if it doesn't work. I've had a lot more luck using DrTCP over changing router settings.
posted by jmd82 at 8:22 AM on October 1, 2007

A few things to try:

1. Power cycle both the dsl modem and the linksys.

2. Delete the cache on the browser.

3. disable any extensions.

Try again.

If youre still getting the same results try pinging google.com and yahoo.com like so "ping -t google.com" Make sure that -t is in there. Let it run for a minute. Then hit control-c. If your packet loss is above 0% then you might have a line issue. If thats true then contact your dsl provider's tech support.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:31 AM on October 1, 2007

Oh, the above assumes changing the mtu didnt help.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:34 AM on October 1, 2007

Basic troubleshooting

1) Download, update, innoculate, and scan with Spybot 1.5.1 (link)

2) Check with an alternate browser (IE if you're using Firefox, Firefox if you're using IE, Safari, Opera, whatever)

3) Check your HOSTS file. Browse to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc and open it in Notepad. If any line here references CNN, delete that line.

4) Use OpenDNS with your router (instructions). After following the OpenDNS instructions, restart to make sure the setting is passed down to your PC.

On preview, also do everything damn dirty ape said.
posted by mysterious1der at 8:35 AM on October 1, 2007

No solution here but I am having the *exact* same problem with CNN on my work computer. It's fine on my home computer though. The problem started last week for me too. Weird. It's not just you.
posted by awegz at 9:05 AM on October 1, 2007

Wow. Great suggestions DDA and mysterious1der. I'm logged into my home desktop w/Remote Desktop so it's a little difficult for me to try all that stuff now but I will when I get home. I really appreciate your suggestions.

I did scan w/Spybot Search and Destroy and messed with the MTU settings to no avail. Maybe I'll have better luck at home. I post here again and let you know how it went.

Thanks!
posted by RDNZL at 10:33 AM on October 1, 2007

damn dirty ape had it. I'm sure a combination of all of the above did the trick but cycling the DSL modem and router seemed to do the trick. Thanks all!
posted by RDNZL at 5:40 PM on October 1, 2007