Google won't load in any web browser

March 16, 2008 5:26 AM

Anything google related won't load in any web browser

A couple of hours ago, google just stopped working on my computer. I can't get to any of the sites, google.com, google.co.jp, mail.google.com, etc. And any website that has a google search engine doesn't work, and sites with google ads take forever to load. I've done a virus scan and a spyware scan, nothing. I've reset the computer and the modem, nothing. I did a system restore, nothing. Cleared out all the cookies and cache files for all browsers, nothing.

I can ping google using command line, ping www.google.com and i can get to google through proxy sites. This is driving me crazy...Anyone have any idea what the problem is?

I'm using Windows XP with IE, firefox and opera. My ISP is just standard Leopalace, the free internet service at my apartment in Japan (there also isn't an Leonet customer service line, so....yea). I've also noticed that about a quarter of websites, mostly forums have slowed down as well, though my download rates are the same.

Thanks!

posted by MostHolyPorcine to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Same here; looks like some sort of major global downtime for google. Maybe someone exploiting the BGP routing issues as with Youtube the other week?

The slowing down of other websites might be related to google-analytics or google ads?
posted by Busy Old Fool at 5:44 AM on March 16, 2008

Yea...the slow down is during the time it says loading google-analytics...

I never realized how much of the web is intertwined with google.
posted by MostHolyPorcine at 5:45 AM on March 16, 2008

Oh, hold on, you're in East Asia too? It could be regional, which would fit if it was a routing issue. I note that there's no discussion of it at the NANOG mail archives, which are updated hourly, so that might indicate it hasn't affected the US? OK, I'm talking about things I barely understand here...
posted by Busy Old Fool at 6:00 AM on March 16, 2008

No problems with google in the UK, I can even get google.co.jp
posted by missmagenta at 6:13 AM on March 16, 2008

I'm sure it's a problem with my computer/isp. I've talked to some others in town with different companies and they are having no problems. And, like I said, I can access google through any proxy server.

I find it very odd that I can ping google and not access it, and also that google is the only site that seems effected.
posted by MostHolyPorcine at 6:18 AM on March 16, 2008

I'm in the US and it's working for me, but I had this problem a few months ago. I think it lasted a day or so, and the only way I got through it without completely losing my mind was by adblocking Google so I could at least use some of the internet.
posted by stefanie at 6:20 AM on March 16, 2008

Didn't even think to adblock google...thanks! Sped things up some, and ask.com isn't much worse than google.

Still need to get to gmail though...
posted by MostHolyPorcine at 6:38 AM on March 16, 2008

Now back up for me, having gone down about the same time as it did for you.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 6:46 AM on March 16, 2008