DescentBB

I'm working with a friend with Logmein over the phone.

He says he can get on to a site in the morning when he starts up but later on in the day he can't get on to the same sites.

He's going to take the side off, ck the fans and run it for a day or two with the side off.

He's running XP Dell Dim 4700 and I.E.

Here's what he says: \"I’m not aware that it necessarily slows down – it’s just that I either can’t access a link to something on the internet.
(I checked his \"Security\" settings)

Then, when I click on a link – I get a blank page and the cursor just sits there. The page won’t minimize – so I go thru the routine of shutting down and restarting the computer. Sometimes, I can get to the start menu, and sometimes I just have to hit “Alt Ctrl Delete” to shut down and restart the computer\".

Any ideas?

Server side issues.

No, server-side issues don't cause the browser to lock up (the latter part of the post).

Try a different browser?

Foil wrote:No, server-side issues don't cause the browser to lock up (the latter part of the post).

I guess I'm the victim of skimming also

AlphaDoG wrote:Try a different browser

I'll have him try it.

try a free DNS

Look at Browser Settings for a malware induced proxy

Bad Router - Needs to be powercycled

can be tons of stuff

But Seriously, these should have all been checked before posting

BUBBALOU, wish I knew as much as you think I know.

thewolfe wrote:BUBBALOU, wish I knew as much as you think I know.

I'm curious. Please don't take this the wrong way. Why do you try to help so many people with computer problems when you aren't experienced in this type of work? A lot of the questions you ask on here are things my dad would ask me (someone who knows how to do average computer things but knows nothing about why or how it does them). I understand you are trying to learn and that's great but it baffles me that you are always trying to fix other people's computers. How did they come to think of you as the expert? Are you running a business?

Personally, I didn't ever try to help fix anyone else's computer until I was confident I knew the why and how of most of the common problems out there by experimenting with my own computer.

Again, I mean no offense, just curious to find out where you are coming from. I have absolutely no problem with you posting your questions. It just really confuses me as the simpleness of most of your issues contrasts with what you seem to be doing by trying to fix everyone's computer problems.

No offense taken.

It's not that I \"try\" to help a lot of people\", I do help a lot of people.

As you know but may have forgotten, I'm an \"expert\" compared to the average person who knows no more than turning on and off the computer.

I've taken Anti-virus 2009,10 off of 5 or 6 computers. I've taken assorted viruses off numerous computers.

I've helped people recover their data more than a couple of times.

When the average tech can't spend a week on someone's computer, I can so they don't get \"your data is on this disk\" if their data is even saved and \"you'll have to install all your programs again\".

I've helped numerous people back-up their data.

I've added a second harddrive on more than one computer so they could have an automated backup.

I've pointed people to Carbonite who never backup on their own.

I've helped about 12 people purchase computers so they didn't purchase a $1200 computer when a $600 computer would do.

I helped a lady who was in the middle of a paper that had to be published in the morning when her computer went down.

I've helped numerous people setup there first computer.

I've helped people network their computers.

I've taken in, fixed up and passed on older computers to those who either couldn't afford a first or second computer or just wanted to see if they actually would use a computer.

And I do post questions that I have answers but since this is a \"forum\" and I figure 100 \"heads\" are better than one...I ask.

I guess I could go on for a while but the bottom line is that I love to help people and although I'm getting a lot of help from you guys along the way, I do help people.

I'm not sure where all that came from. I wasn't questioning your willingness to help people with their computer issues nor your acquired knowledge. Just mainly wondering why they all come to you. Are you running a business? Do you proclaim to be the computer genius to all your family and friends?

No business, no proclamations, just word of mouth, a good rep and a willingness to help.

Regarding this issue. Like others have said, it can be various different things. Sounds a lot like the person is using internet explorer though. Try a different browser.
-Can you ping these sites that don't work?
-do you get the correct ip addresses of these sites?
-anything strange in your hosts file?
-browser set to use a proxy?
-does it work in safe mode?
-did you try resetting the tcp/ip stack? (netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt)
-is he using wireless? maybe something comes on and interferes at those times.
-what anti-virus/firewall is he running and is it reset and turned off?
-Any recent windows updates installed?

All these things will help us narrow the issue down. They are all common things to try when there is network connectivity issues.

Also, why is he opening up the case for this? The whole computer isn't freezing, just the browser correct? Internals/hardware issues are not the problem. This will likely create a new one though.

\"Also, why is he opening up the case for this?\"

Sorry among his comments, he said that after not being able to get on the net he was unable to get to the Start button and had to restart.

I wanted to be sure the fans were working and that it wasn't overheating.

Also thanks for the questions/suggestions.

Xamindar wrote: -does it work in safe mode?

Safe mode with Networking preferably, can't get online without the network

Also to add into it, one thing that makes troubleshooting pretty easy, or at least makes sure its the OS and not a network issue. Carry around a Linux Live CD, and pop that thing in, and if you can get on, then we know that the hardware is at least functional enough to get online, still possible it could be overheating, but not as likely, usually if its overheating then either one you can do anything, move the mouse or see any life at all. Or it shuts down on you and you need to give it the time to cool off. But I would run a scan with Malwarebytes.

Would Puppy Linix or ubuntu do the same thing?

Have run Malwarebytes.

Thanks for the posts.

captain_twinkie wrote: Safe mode with Networking preferably, can't get online without the network

Haha, yeah, good point.

thewolfe, I would go with Ubuntu. It is pretty mainstream and should have better hardware support than others. The cd/dvd will boot up into a fully usable OS.

He's had the side panel off for almost two weeks now and he can access sites all day w/o any problem.

I suggested he ck out the fans but he hasn't seemed to do that yet.

Probably needs to take it in and have someone ck the fans for him.