Trouble loading webpages and flash

[Kingloser]

Hello, i am having a problem with loading multiple websites. Not multiple at once i mean a bunch of different ones.

I recently upgraded to an i7-2600k and z68 asrock mobo. (i had a 955be an msi mobo). Anyway i reinstalled windows (just an overwrite not clean install). Then i could not load yahoo.com, microsoft.com and a host of other websites. I am in a pc gaming clan and need to be able to access my yahoo email and some of the sites that i currently cannot access. So i tried a clean install on same hard drive and still same problem. So i tried a clean install on a second hard drive, still same problem. I formatted both hard drives before the clean installs. I have also tried an ethernet card (thinking maybe the onboard ethernet was defective). I have updated all drivers. I have not updated the bios cause it is only 1 update off. and that update says it has nothign to really add. I have win 7 64 bit os.

I also have an old vista computer on the same router that has no problems accessing these sites, i changed the computers to the other ethernet cables just to make sure and the vista one has no problems on the cable my gaming comp is on and my gaming comp still cant access on the other cable. so its not a cable issue.

I have flushed my dns, reset the modem and a bunch of other stuff that i googled ( i can load that at least, but cant connect to any microsoft help pages). So i use my other comp to look up microsoft help pages and tried the stuff listed there.

Also i cannot load adobe flash player - think this might be part of the prob. I go to adobe and click flash player, and the comp downloads it into my downloads. Then i open it and it starts downloading but stops at 12% and says connection timeout. every time. if i let google toolbar install with it that installs just fine, that connection doesnt time out. Im getting really frustrated and the only thing i can think of is to call my isp or microsoft and see what they say. Does neone have any ideas?

 

[TheCrimsonStar]

Seriously guys, all day and nothing? King's one of the leaders of the TKC clan, and I referred him here because you all have helped me solve 99% of my issues. Any ideas as to what's wrong here with his pc?

 

[Kougar]

When you say you cannot access those websites, you need to be more specific. What happens and what errors do you receive? Can you access anything at all with that computer?

Off the cuff it sounds like a driver issue. Have you downloaded the latest NIC driver from your laptop, then installed it on the new system? Some Z68 boards have two NIC ports, you also might try changing the port if it has two.

Edit: Haha Crimson! By 7 minutes...

 

[TheCrimsonStar]

This is his mobo, so no it doesn't have two NIC ports:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-

 

[Rob Williams]

When you say you cannot access those websites, you need to be more specific. What happens and what errors do you receive? Can you access anything at all with that computer?

I second this. But still, what a truly bizarre issue. As I read your post, all of my theories were being thrown out the window :S

If you can, I'd recommend downloading a Linux Live CD, like Linux Mint and boot into it, and then see if you can access those websites. If you can, then it's definitely a software issue in Windows. If you can't, it's hardware related.

http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

 

[Kougar]

Thanks Rob. I was wondering about the hardware, Newegg had a few users claiming there are defective NICs on ASRock boards.... The linux distro would be the quickest way to find out.

 

[Tharic-Nar]

If it's a hardware issue, then yeah, a Linux live distro would find that out quick, simply by the fact that if it doesn't work or same issue, it's hardware. (Live distros do not need installing, just boot from the CD/DVD, then load up Firefox to see if things are working). Though if you get focus issues, like clicking on the toolbar or other windows and nothing happens, try Ubuntu instead, seems to be a problem at the moment with sandy bridge (though some may be fine).

But typically, if it's a NIC failure, try a network transfer too, copy files over from another computer (like a disk ISO or movie, anything over 4GB, preferably 8GB+). If it goes at full speed then begins to slow down before finally hitting 1MB/s with high CPU usage (maxing out a single core), then it's a bad NIC. But since you've had the same issue with a different NIC, I'm reluctant to call it.

When reinstalling the OS, did you install all the normal apps before testing? Also, have you tried a different browser? There may be either a firewall conflict, or something else like a virus. What about checking the HOSTS file to see if it's been tampered with.

The other big issue can be antivirus getting in the way. Antivirus is notorious for causing all sorts of weird and seemingly random behaviour, like page time-outs and such.

 

[Kingloser]

thanks for the replies.

Ok before i get to the answer, which is a total let down, ill give a lil info.

I tried a bunch of different browsers trying to figure if it was browser based or something else. i beat my head against the wall trying to figure it out and nothing i did seemed to fix it. i tried both hardware and software fixes but nothing.

In the end i got lucky, for some reason i went to my computer system page and noticed that windows had failed to validate. i tried putting in my key again and it wouldnt validate again. so i ended up having to call microsoft and go through there automated activation crap. Then voila everythign worked. It seems really weird to me that so many sites would work and others would not. but thats what worked in the end.

 

[Rob Williams]

I don't understand how an activation could affect things like this. Even if you're running a pirated version of Windows, it won't affect things like that. Mind-boggling.

Either way, glad it's fixed!

 

[OriginalJoeCool]

Amazing all the tomfoolery we as customers go through.