lost google!

My PC seems to have lost the ability to go to google.com! We use freeserve broadband, usually with no problems at all, the last few days we have been unable to access google, either .com or .co.uk, after a few seconds wait, you just get the 'unable to find URL' message. Everything else seems to work OK. Any ideas?

Hi Tony

This may or may not be of significance but local ntl broadband users were recently unable to connect to ebay if the LAN settings were left as automatic under connection settings.

ntl initially blamed the users (i.e. us) but eventually supplied an IP address to one of their servers that was able to connect without problem so it would appear to be the ISP at fault. I have since reverted to automatic without any problem.

I don't know anything about the way freeserve broadband connects but I would suggest calling or emailing their technical help for advice as they may be able to give you a specific IP address or other setting to change to overcome the problem.

Just checked and google.com and .co.uk works ok from here.

HTH

Adam

go to internet settings and clear your temporary files folder

there may be a corrupt file in the cache stored on your hard disk

I've looked on usenet, using google groups but found nothing relevant.

Assuming you have access to newsgroups you may want to post a message to freeserve.help.anytime

If you installed the freeserve software your copy of Outlook Express will have newsgroups already set up. If it has not then go to the freeserve help pages which will tell you how to configure it.

actually, this thread may help - hope you can access the URL
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...8&group=freeserve.help.anytime&sa=N&scoring=d

The first thing it says to do is clear the cache, which I've suggested. Then check your proxy settings. I found that setting it manually rather than letting "auto config script . . ." made my laptop work better on the Cardiff Uni proxy.

I have not read the other 160 posts!

Oh, and make sure your internet browser and operating system have all necessary updates (with Freeserve I guess that's Internet Explorer and Windoze)

adamski49 said:

This may or may not be of significance but local ntl broadband users were recently unable to connect to ebay if the LAN settings were left as automatic under connection settings.

ntl initially blamed the users (i.e. us) but eventually supplied an IP address to one of their servers that was able to connect without problem so it would appear to be the ISP at fault. I have since reverted to automatic without any problem.

Click to expand...

It also affected ntl dialup customers (like me). Don't know whether you noticed, but it also prevented me from posting on the Bulletin Board. Could see it fine, just couldn't post.

It's happened al least twice that I know of, and only on my XP machine.

Tried clearing cache etc, did a check for 'trojan.quost' virus, all to no effect, just got of the phone from FS tech support, problem is at their end, they are supposed to be sorting it out. We'll see!

The problem is with their proxy servers. Quite a few ISPs use transparent proxy servers which cache web requests even though your own browser doesn't have any proxy servers defined. Theoretically these can improve the user experience but when they go wrong they give really confusing results just like the ones you experienced here.

Mike