Another network problem

Tuomas · Sun 15/04/2007 08:45:49

Hi. I later tried to solve what most probably was a firewall issue, blocking p2p software from entering internet. I have a, what do you call it, shared modem with all the student flats here, and I think the problem was the central modem, so I gave up on that. But from yesterday on I've had a new problem which I want to be sure of if it's again a firewall problem.

See, yesterday I tried to log into MSN, and it gave me 2 errors, 80048820 and 80048439. I've done quite a lot of research on them, but couldn't fix it. The other thing is, that Opera doesn't work either. I open it, and nothing happens, it seems as if it's not getting through. Now I have ZoneAlarm, the updated version myself (probably unnecessary with the central firewall, but still) and I've made sure that it allows both Opera and MSN through, so it's not my software that's blocking them.

I was wondering if they have blocked more common ports perhaps, and I thought I'd try this. Is there a way of choosing which port Opera uses? Or does it do that itself, find an open one? I'm currently using Firefox, but I can't really handle it with this. For some reason whe loading certain pages, Firefox gives an error with the quicktime plugin, and shuts down, so basically I can only surf half the pages. IE is long gone, disappeared from my computer.

I've never really played anything, so basically the thing I use my computer for is now not working, and the whole machine has become more or less useless to me, all I can really do is listen to music and irc. Which reminds me, mirc does still work, so that's why I thought it might be a port issue, if it would use a different one. Dunno though, I just updated Opera, didn't help either. I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to get them working, or how to get Firefox working because I'm not sure. Thanks.

makri · Sun 15/04/2007 09:23:55

As far as I know http traffic uses port 80 no matter what browser you use. A configured proxy can use something else (such as 8080). If you don't use a proxy in opera, I doubt it's the external firewall that's causing the problems.

Does MSN (messenger?) and opera work if you unload your ZoneAlarm?

Tuomas · Sun 15/04/2007 09:28:16

mmm, nope. I shut down ZoneAlarm and tried running the programs. Same problems occur. My connection, or modem, has a set tracker, the www-cache.tut.fi: 8000 that I have a a http proxy setting, but I'm really not sure if it works because I have frankly no idea on how a proxy works or what it even is. This was given when I recieved my connection, and the details, and I tried working it up, but I don't know if it made any difference. because I don't know what to do with it. I could post a screenshot of my settings, but as I said above, Firefox fails most pages, including uploading pages.

makri · Sun 15/04/2007 09:46:49

Simply put, a proxy is a server in between you and the web server that holds the pages you're looking at. So, when you're browsing on a mexican cactus cultivation site, the page is sent to your computer from your university server instead of all the way from this side of the world. That is, if someone else in your network has requested the same page in the recent history.

Does your opera have the proxy settings correct? What about firefox? Also, messenger takes proxy settings from IE, but you can set them manually too, from the tools menu.

Tuomas · Sun 15/04/2007 10:07:02

Well as far as I know, I'm not using the proxy. But, it seems both Opera and MSN are using the one I have set for the connection back inthe day. Firefox s running the web without a proxy, and I don't see a problem there, Quicktime is just crapped presumably.

about MSN, I don't have IE anymore, it's lost somewhere in the virtual black hole that is my hard drive. and I went to MSN, tools - settings - connection - advanced settings where it has the proxy settings shown. There I found the http set to www-cache.tut.fi port 8000 and below asking for username and password. Now there was no usernames or password in the info where I got the thing from, so I don't know how to use it.

And Opera. It seems to have the same http, www-cache.tut.fi port 8000 set and is in use, there's also the "use http 1.1 with the tracker" ticked and the "use tracker with local servers" ticked. Umm, note that my Opera's not in English, so these might not be written exactly so. I think both MSN and Opera have been that way since December...

Umm, ok, so I got Opera working again. By pressing F12 and deactivating the "use proxy" option, so that basically was the problem.

I'm pretty sure that's the problem with msn too, but I don't really know how to handle it.

woodz · Sun 15/04/2007 10:46:33

the wife had a similar problem with her laptop.. we created a new user account and messenger worked find, it only takes seconds so well worth a try

Tuomas · Sun 15/04/2007 17:32:02

Ok, I could try, but ...err... how the hell do I do that? It's been 5 years since I got this one, and the interface has changed quite a lot. And would that mean losing all my contacts?

Eigen · Sun 15/04/2007 19:52:13

Maybe he means creating a new Windows user .. you know, when logging in.

Tuomas · Sun 15/04/2007 20:13:43

nah, I think I'm going to get a new hard drive and format this one any day soon because it's broken, maybe that'll do it. I would really not want to have multiple accounts to mess it.

That ought to do it just as well, right?

woodz · Sun 15/04/2007 20:50:04

yes, sorry i ment user account.. you don't need to delete your own, takes two seconds and its got to be worth a try

another thing you can do is delete the network connection, then just install it again.. it resets any changes that may be conflicting.. all our computers connected to the net thro a single computer, when we switched to a router feck all worked, i just deleted the connections , windows detected them again, and setup a new network on each PC everything worked fine

makri · Mon 16/04/2007 04:01:37

Just remove IE's proxy and MSN stops using it too. Control Panel (Ohjauspaneeli) - Internet Options - Connections

Tuomas · Mon 16/04/2007 07:56:01

How clever. I had been looking for that settings window, couldn't remember it was in comtrol panel and internet options, even though it does sound very probable

Thanks a lot makri, all fixed now. Though I wonder why it didn't react to the settings in first place, but waited this long to get confused by it, same goes to Opera. as far as I know, I've always had the proxy ticked in the connection options.