unable to connect

[dug06824]

my friends computer was having probloms connecting to a few secure sites...,if i conected my laptop everything was fine  ,,only difference is i dont run avast on my laptop  so i uninstalled avast  and was told  that avst was still blocking my connecting  i can ping only by  numbers   i down loaded uninstall utility  and ran it but still can not resolve this issue  ,any help 

[Lisandro]

Generally, avast does not block anything...
Just scan.
Maybe WebShield provider is not well configurated in your computer.
Maybe your firewall is blocking ashWebSv.exe (the executable of WebShield) and avoiding you to connect...

[DavidR]

Secure sites, https urls aren't monitored by web shield as they are 'secure, encrypted' and physically can't scan this traffic but it shouldn't block that.

What is your friend's firewall ?
How does your friend access these secure sites, do they access a normal http, www web page and enter their user name and password and then they are re-directed to the secure https web page ?

If so it may be a privacy issue in the firewall if the have such a feature as this has previously been seen in Zone Alarm pro with Privacy set to high. In ZA Pro's case the web shield proxy needs to be manually set or the privacy setting lowered or disabled.

You could pause the web shield to see if access is gained or temporarily disable the firewall (just for this test) and try to access the pages.

[dug06824]

the computer runs windows 98 se  and connects by cable modem by optonline    at first it was just a couple web sites that could not be opened    now nothing can be opened    there is no  firewall   zone alarm was once on the computer but it is uninstalled    avast is uninstalled as well  but again  something is blocking  asw if i try to ping   say  www.abc.com   unknown host    comes back    also  when i now try to reformat   iam told the hard drive is full   even after i have  emptied all most all of the programs  ... any help  please....

[Eddy]

hmmm, if it was just a couple sites that would not open, it is not problem caused by avast but moer likely by your isp.

ZA leaves traces behind if you uninstall it through control panel > software > add/remove.
Make sure it is removed completely, reboot and try again.

[DavidR]

The fact that avast is no longer installed and the problem still exists would tend to indicate it is another problem. Probably with the dns resolution/caching for it not to find the host. The friendly name abc.com has to be resolved to its IP address so that it can be found.

I did a google search for 'win98 clear "dns cache" -XP' without the outer set of quotes and this returns many hits, this seems more relevant http://forums.windrivers.com/archive/index.php/t-33751.html. I also did a search for 'unknown host' this should at least flush the dns cache to ensure it isn't using old data http://www.starnet.com/xwin32kb/Unknown_host/.

Try either of these ClearProg - Temp File Cleaner or CCleaner - Temp File Cleaner, etc. to try and clean up the dross.

[dug06824]

when i try to type ipconfig/flushdns i get a list of command options which do i use

[DavidR]

I've never had to use it don't the command options (switches) give you info ?

However I think if you typed it as you posted it above you haven't put a space between the command (ipconfig) and the switch (/flushdns), e.g. ipconfig /flushdns.

[dug06824]

i was told these are not win98 commands anyway i have cleared  my dns and still can not connect   tech support  from optonline says that since they see my computer pinging   with number address and my computer does not recognize  the www address  something is blocking   and perhaps i still have a winsock problem which i can not resolve i have deleted winsockk and i still have a no go on connection  the computer is to old to get dell support  plus it is windows 98  .,, any more ideas

[DavidR]

Sorry my days of win98 are long gone and I would be lost around it now. All I can suggest is the google searches I did the first link I gave also talks about this and there is a resolution that has worked for those with the problem. Have you read it thoroughly, I suggest printing it out and try to follow it through.

This seems to be the most relevant post but not the only one, so work through it all and gather your information.

Ron Prestenback
July 10th, 2001, 07:17 PM
I was just reading over this thread again, and I seemed to recall a thread I read a loooooooong time ago where there all these people having a problem where they had network connections in DOS, but not windows. I couldn't remember exactly what they did, but my memory was jogged by another post I read somewhere else today, so here it is.

This is a winsock issue. It is usually due to incorrect registry entries in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2 key. Reinstalling TCP/IP will not work, unless you first delete the winsock key in the registry!!!!!! You must delete this key first, then reinstall TCP/IP. If you don't do these two things in this order, no amount of troubleshooting will work. It should be noted however, that before you reinstall TCP/IP, you can try only extracting a new winsock set from the CD, as this alone has been known to fix the problem on a small number of systems. If only extracting these files (winsock.dll or wnsock32.dll) doesn't work, you will need to reinstall TCP/IP. The only alternative is a full system reinstall (which *would* delete the winsock key <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> )

To MacGyver and ThunderVamp: Sorry I couldn't remember in time to help you guys out. I know how frustrating it can be to try everything and nothing works...have you ever gotten to the point where you had to have "The Talk" with the computer?

"Now listen here computer, if you don't start working here pretty soon, you see that window over there......"

To Gutted - ipconfig /flushdns is a feature only available in W2K's implentation of TCP/IP. This (stronger and more adaptive TCP/IP) is one of the reasons that Win2K is known as an NOS [network operating system] whereas Win98 is not. But the winsock reference above should fix the problem you're having as well.

To Everyone - What causes this? Well, it really hard to say, because there are SO MANY things that can. But we narrowed it down to at least a general category - programs that access the internet. LOL

That seems a little pre-inclusive, but any program that you install that accesses the internet may put its own version of winsock (which could be a 16-bit version, something known to cause the problem when Win98 first came out) on the system, or it may put its own entries into the Winsock2 key in the registry. Something goes wrong, or you uninstall a program that says "All components could not be deleted....blah blah blah". Well, that blah blah blah sometimes tells you that keys were created in winsock2 but weren't deleted. (probably because you were connected to the internet at the time)

You will see this problem again, so look out for this combonation (usually):

can ping in DOS
have both DUN and NIC
reinstalling TCP/IP doesn't work
occured out of the blue
all network setting are correct
This exact message in netscape: "Netscape was unable to create a network socket connection."

When you see this combination of symptoms, yell at the top of your lungs "DELETE THE WINSOCK2 KEY!!!!"

[dug06824]

go to the ws2backup directory and run ws2bckup.bat file from both windows and DOS to restore the correct winsock version and regestry key.
can some one walk me thru this to replace my winsock

[dug06824]

I solved the problem with my friends computer  it   took a fresh install of windows 98 over dells pre loaded windows 98   the computer runs better then it did in years ., i found a winsock fix utility that i am using to back up my register . it was tedious to say the least i had no options since  the dell recovery cds would not allow a reformat    thank you for the help , reading thru the instructions helped

[DavidR]

Thank you for the feed back on how you resolved the problem.

A belated welcome to the forums.

The Dell systems have that as a fault if they sell an OEM version of the OS the only way is to format and install to the same state as it was delivered to you, not very good when you have had the system for years. They also use proprietary components making upgrading or repair a pain you are pretty much left going back to Dell.

[dug06824]

question is it all right to delete from the add and remove window   delete windows 98 second edition uninstall infomation  since i did this overlay i dont have much memory.  could you guide me on how to remove the precopy from my drivr without killing everything ie what is save to remove

[Spiritsongs]

   Hi "Dug":

      I have heard Microsoft will no longer have Updates for
      Win 98, increasing the risk as each month go by !?

      Probably your latest question should be answered by the
      volunteer Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals that can
      be found on the forums at www.aumha.net .