Al_B on 30/5/2010 at 09:35
Quote Posted by Enchantermon
Is it possible that the NIC is somehow mangling HTTP packets while leaving everything else (ICMP, for example) alone?
HTTP uses a TCP connection which is the same for email which you say works. The NIC shouldn't really be doing anything with the packets at TCP or ICMP level - it's only concerned with ethernet frames.
I know you've checked this - but my first thought would be a proxy issue. One thing that might be helpful is to use telnet to simulate a web request. Open a command prompt and type:
telnet (
www.google.com) 80
(This should connect - although you won't necessarily see anything confirming this)
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: (
www.google.com)
Make sure you press return twice after the Host line. Depending on your location the first line of the response should either give you a 302 code (e.g. HTTP/1.1 302 Found) or a success code (e.g. HTTP/1.1 200 OK).
Enchantermon on 31/5/2010 at 01:19
Quote Posted by Al_B
HTTP uses a TCP connection which is the same for email which you say works. The NIC shouldn't really be doing anything with the packets at TCP or ICMP level - it's only concerned with ethernet frames.
Yeah...I know my theory doesn't make sense, but it's all I've got. :erg:
Quote Posted by Al_B
I know you've checked this - but my first thought would be a proxy issue.
It can't be, though. I've never touched the proxy settings on that computer and my parents don't even know what a proxy is, much less how to set one up.
Quote Posted by Al_B
One thing that might be helpful is to use telnet to simulate a web request.
Okay, I walked her through this. She didn't get either of the messages you mentioned at the top, she got "HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request" followed by some other Content info, date, server, and a bunch of HTML. It seems like the Bad Request message would be a bad thing, but I tried it on my computer (on which internet works fine) and got the exact same result, so my assumption is that whatever I just did worked like it was supposed to.
Al_B on 31/5/2010 at 09:38
Quote Posted by Enchantermon
It can't be, though. I've never touched the proxy settings on that computer and my parents don't even know what a proxy is, much less how to set one up.
Ah - wait a second. It's still worth checking the internet proxy settings, particularly as I think that IE and Chrome use the same settings. Go to internet options in the control panel, go to the "Connections" tab at the top and press the "LAN settings" button near the bottom. Make sure that the proxy server tick box is not checked. (Sorry if I'm stating the obvious and you already know how to check it).
Quote Posted by Enchantermon
Okay, I walked her through this. She didn't get either of the messages you mentioned at the top, she got "HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request" followed by some other Content info, date, server, and a bunch of HTML.
Don't worry - I thought it might be a bit of a complex operation to talk over the phone. The first line ("GET / HTTP/1.1") needs to be typed in upper case and with a space either side of the first "/" character. However, the fact that you got a bad request response is actually a good sign that confirms that the network card, TCP stack, etc. is working.
Enchantermon on 31/5/2010 at 14:58
Quote Posted by Al_B
Don't worry - I thought it might be a bit of a complex operation to talk over the phone. The first line ("GET / HTTP/1.1") needs to be typed in upper case and with a space either side of the first "/" character. However, the fact that you got a bad request response is actually a good sign that confirms that the network card, TCP stack, etc. is working.
Well, my mom does know a bit about computers and is very good at following directions, so that helps. The problem was that line wasn't all capitalized. We tried it again and it produced "HTTP/1.1 200 OK".
Quote Posted by Al_B
Ah - wait a second. It's still worth checking the internet proxy settings, particularly as I think that IE and Chrome use the same settings.
*sigh*
Well, I feel dumb. That
was it. The box was checked; she unchecked it and the internet now works.
So here's the question: why was is checked? As I said before, my parents don't tamper with the thing. Could a virus have checked it? I would have thought that a virus would try to redirect you to other sites (which, as I understand it, a proxy can do), not just disable the internet altogether.
Anyway, problem solved! \o/
Apparently not, however I had not heard of this, so I'm going to download this and keep it. Thanks!
Thank you Blackman, TBE, Al_B, and Briareos for all of your help! It was greatly appreciated by me and my parents! :D
EDIT: Heh, I tried the telnet connection with google properly on my computer and when I broke it with Ctrl-C, the server dropped a heart on the DOS screen before severing the connection.
