Cant get on site

[NWHathway]

John or somebody help me.
For some reason I can not get on any of the M1911 sites on my home computers I can at both my jobs but not at home. I have tried two laptops and they both say page can not be displayed I emailed Comcast my internet provider and they sent me a list of things to do which I have done and the site will still not come up. Any suggestions??? Thanks Nate

[Tom]

First off, I'd like to know what these things Comcast told you to do, so I don't annoy you by having you repeat steps you've already taken.

Second, there could be any number of reasons why you cannot access it from home. How is your home network designed? Dial-up? DSL? Cable? Satellite? Hard-wired routers or wireless? Etc.

Just trying to get some background before giving any solid answers.

[NWHathway]

I have the list in my other email account I can't get to it at this job. Ill post it ASAP though. Thanks for your help, Nate

[NWHathway]

I understand that you are able to access normal websites, however you are unable
to access any sites that are secure. There could be several issues that could
cause you to have difficulties accessing secure sites. I have included steps
below for a few different fixes. I suggest you start with the first one, and
after each step, close Internet Explorer, launch it again, and try accessing the
secure site. Chances are you will not need to complete all of these steps,
however I included them to help you avoid multiple contacts with us.

Verify that Internet Explorer is using 128-Bit Encryption. To do so:

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click Help
3. Select About Internet Explorer
4. Verify that 128-bit appears next to Cipher Strength. If not, upgrade to that
level either by clicking the word "update" next to the current cipher strength
or by downloading the "Internet Explorer High Encryption Pack" to your
computer's hard disk, and then installing it.

Clear the cache. It is possible that some of the files in your cache (Temporary
Internet Files) are corrupted.

To clear the cache:

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click Tools
3. Select Internet Options at the bottom of the drop-down menu
4. Click the General tab
5. In the Temporary Internet Files section, click Delete Files
6. Place a check in the box labeled Include All Offline Content
7. Click OK

Incorrect date, time, and time zone settings on your computer can prevent you
from accessing secure sites because SSL certificates have an expiration date.

To verify that your computer is configured with the correct date, time, and time
zone settings:

1. Click Start
2. Choose Control Panel
3. Select the Date/Time, Language, and Regional options
4. Make sure the Date, Time, Time Zone, and Daylight Savings settings are
correct for your area in each option
5. Click OK in each option if any changes are made

Verify that Internet Explorer is configured to use SSL 2.0 and SSL 3.0:

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click Tools
3. Choose Internet Options
4. Select the Advanced tab
5. In the Settings box, under the Security header, verify that the boxes next
to Use SSL 2.0 and Use SSL 3.0 are checked. If not, check them
6. If changes were made, click Apply
7. Click OK

Configure Security settings for the Trusted Sites zone in Internet Explorer:

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click Tools
3. Choose Internet Options
4. Select the Security tab
5. Click on Trusted sites and then on Default Level
6. Add the secure Web site you are trying to access to the Trusted Sites zone
by clicking on Sites and then typing the address (URL) of the site in the "Add
this Web site to the zone" box
7. Click Add
8. Click OK
9. Click Apply
10. Click OK again

If you are using Windows XP you will want to clear the Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) state and AutoComplete history:

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click Tools
3. Choose Internet Options
4. Select the Content tab
5. Under Certificates, click Clear SSL State. Click OK when you receive the
message that the SSL cache was successfully cleared
6. Under Personal information, click AutoComplete
7. Under Clear AutoComplete history, click Clear Forms
8. Click OK when you are prompted for confirmation of this action

[John]

Was this issue ever dealt with? Or you still have problems.

Our site is NOT secure, I know that much. Tom!???

[Tom]

Nope. m1911.org is NOT a secure site, so that's not the reason you're unable to access the site from home.

Without knowing all the details, it almost sounds like you have a firewall or NetNanny-like block in place. Perhaps a content filter that blocks access to sites dealing with weapons?

Again, I'd like to know what sort of network and access you have at home. I'd also like to know exactly what message you're seeing when you attempt to access the Forum. Is it the typical "404" message or are you seeing something specific.

Just for grins, I'd like you to open the Command Prompt from one of your home computers and type "PING forum.m1911.org" and see what you get. You should see replies like so:


Reply from 199.79.199.60: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=50
Reply from 199.79.199.60: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=50
Reply from 199.79.199.60: bytes=32 time=54ms TTL=50
Reply from 199.79.199.60: bytes=32 time=55ms TTL=50


Please post the results of the PING when you get the chance.

Back to the content filter thing, can you access any other weapons-related site like Bud's Gun Shop or GunsAmerica.com?

[NWHathway]

I hooked up my desktop today and it worked then I grabbed the laptop to ping.. Everything looked ok the ms times were a little slower but its wireless.
Then I figured I would try the site on the lap top and it worked...Joy
Did pinging the sight fix something? Thanks a lot guys I really like the site.

[John]

No pinging does not do anything to fix the problem. It just shows if you can access the site from your computer. I'll let Tom answer the question though, for details.

[Tom]

John's correct. All a PING does is send data packets to a given destination and checks for replies indicating they were received. That's the layman's explanation; I could give you a long, detailed geek-filled answer, but I don't want to bore you (or anyone else reading this).

Assumnig nothing was changed on your end, the only thing I can think of now was some problem with your home ISP. Bad DNS record or something. Who knows?

Main thing, you're online from the home front. That is what matters! :)