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[DippyDappyCow]

I've been trying for days now to download something via Rapidshare, just to check out the lyrics for someone, but all I get is 'Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage'.

After some comments from Dash regarding the ISP, and that maybe it's them maybe blocking it, I decided to go a googling.

It seems BT and TalkTalk users are both having intermittent problems with this website, and also zshare.net.

One suggestion made was to put in the URL figures ie http://195.122.131.46 and lo and behold I get to their main webpage. I don't understand why though!. What is the difference between typing in the numbers or typing in their name?

Also once I'm into their website, their homepage, I can't get anywhere else. If I click on Support etc., all I get is the 'Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage'.

Anyone got any ideas as to why I can access this site (just the one page) using numbers but not letters and also why would it be happening at all.

Thx.

Pictures below show:
1. Connecting to Rapidshare via numbers.
2. Trying to connect to Suppport.
3. Not able to connect, shows Internet Explorer comment.
4. Trying to connect to Rapidshare.com using their name.

This post has been edited by DippyDappyCow: Feb 8 2010, 17:05

[DippyDappyCow]

I did wonder if someone out there that can access this website, could get through to their Support and let them know that many TalkTalk people are having this problem right now, and could they check it out their end.

I'd do it, but I can't get thru grrrrrrr

[Dash Rendar]

If you can get to it by IP address, but not by host name (i.e. rapidshare.com), then the issue is with the DNS servers. These servers have the responsibility of mapping IP addresses to hostnames, so that end-users can use friendly names and not numbers. It's kind of like a telephone directory.

How it works, in a simplified fashion, is like this... You enter a hostname (e.g. www.rapidshare.com). Your ISP has it's own DNS server which knows the addresses of a set of 'root' DNS servers that are responsible for... er, the Internet. So, your ISP's DNS server will direct your request to one of these root DNS servers, which knows how to return the IP addresses for the host name you've just looked up. (Other servers will typically be involved further down the chain.)

However, once your ISP's DNS server has successfully resolved a hostname in this fashion, it caches the result locally. I.e. it stores the IP address->name mapping for a period of time. This means that if you (or any other user of the ISP) request this page again, the ISP's local DNS server immediately returns the correct address.

However, if the actual IP address of the hostname changes, it's possible for the root DNS servers to be updated, but for the cached copy on the ISP's DNS server to lag behind, still having the old incorrect IP address.

Got it?

Right, so I can resolve the hostname fine. This means that the DNS server I'm using works, but the one you're using doesn't. This probably means that the hostname entry of your ISP's local DNS server is wrong. It's their problem.

A quick scout on the Internet about rapidshare.com supports this theory... It seems this problem happens a lot. The reason is that the site frequently gets shutdown for providing illegal content. I suspect that when they get shutdown, they move to a different host. At this point, your ISP's cache becomes out of date, maybe.

You could speak to your ISP to try and get this resolved.

Now, if I do an nslookup command from the command prompt for rapidshare.com, I get the following:

195.122.131.20
195.122.131.21
195.122.131.22
195.122.131.2
195.122.131.3
195.122.131.4
195.122.131.5
195.122.131.6
195.122.131.7
195.122.131.8
195.122.131.9
195.122.131.10
195.122.131.11
195.122.131.12
195.122.131.13
195.122.131.14
195.122.131.15
195.122.131.16
195.122.131.17
195.122.131.18
195.122.131.19

As a workaround for your problem, you can actually add a local DNS entry to your OWN MACHINE. What this means is that whenever you enter www.rapidshare.com in your browser, your own machine will give you the IP address, without going to any DNS server first. To do this, you need to edit the following file:

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

(E.g. open it with Notepad or something.)

Below the last line, enter a new line that looks like this:

CODE

    195.122.131.17    www.rapidshare.com

The entry should look exactly like existing lines above in the file, but it should NOT include the leading '#' character. (This is the character used to comment out an entry.)

I can't remember if Windows automatically picks up the change dynamically, or if you may need a restart for the change to take effect. Once this entry is added, with any luck, you'll be able to go to www.rapidshare.com without any issues... Well, until they change the IP address again!

[DippyDappyCow]

Thanks for that explanation. Still taking it in, but getting there


Thought I'd try the Notepad option... but errr it can't find the file?

If I go to it direct, :\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, it exists, although there's nothing in the hosts file.
If I open it in Notepad, well, see for yourself

[thebristolbloke]

As mentioned it's a DNS issue, this is the resolution of website IP addresses to web URL's - read the explanation above as it's a good background to your problems.

To fix i'd go to a command prompt (start, run then type cmd and hit return) and type "netsh winsock reset"

There is a space between the words but no " " speech marks.

Hit return, read the words, type "exit" and restart the pc, this refreshes your IP stack (including DNS cache) to default and then you can try going into rapidshare from that.

I'm loathe to mess in the hosts file (I do it at work to deny access to websites locally) when the issue is something more fundamental.

Usually i've found it's caused by an external server (your ISP's fault) or Malware (on your computer so your fault!).

Let us know what happens!


phil

[DippyDappyCow]

Thx for that Phil.

I think I found what I was doing wrong. I really don't use Notepad much, so don't understand it very well. I was using Notepad, then open... nope, wrong.

I clicked on the 'hosts' and got nowhere.

But I've just realised that this is the time I use Notepad to open it... and it did.

So gonna start again grrrrrrr

[DippyDappyCow]

Well I did it, but it won't let me save it grrrrrr

I AM the Administrator grrrrrr

So now what?

One other comment, in the actual 'example hosts file' it shows you what to do, but there's no 'www' against the name of the companies used!

So I'm guessing I just put in rapidshare.com!

How do I get round this 'Administrator' problem.

Thx.

[Dash Rendar]

The problem was that when you opened Notepad, the file types box specified *.txt as the document type. But the hosts file doesn't have a .txt extension, so the file was not showing. If you had changed the dropdown to 'all files', then the hosts file would have shown and you could have opened it from there.

The network stack reset is a good idea, though it will only work if there's a problem on your machine, rather than a problem with the ISP's DNS server.

[Dash Rendar]

First, DON'T save it as 'hosts.txt', which is what you're doing. It's supposed to be called 'hosts'. Also, remove the read-only attribute on the etc folder first and allow windows to cascade the change to all the files in the folder when prompted.

P.S. and take a backup copy of the file first, just in case you screw it up!

[DippyDappyCow]

OK, I've changed the 'etc' folder... no longer 'read only' and it cascaded through the files in folder.

I've taken a couple of back ups.

Question : Do I start my row at the very beginning.... ie under the #, or do I move it over so there's two obvious columns, the first one starting about an inch in?

And as you can see, there's no 'www' there!


I just tried again, and it still saves, or wants to save it as .txt..... the only options I get are .txt or *all files*, and both put the name as hosts.txt... and then it wants Adminstrator rights?


WTF.. thought I'd just try to load www.rapidshare.com and it's working just fine. Works within the website too! Coincidence or what? It's certainly not listed in my 'windows' directory. Very odd indeed.

Just tried zshare.net, and I can get that one also. How odd.

Even stranger is I can't load the TalkTalk webpage for Broadband... I can load the general TalkTalk page, but I can't then load my account. Hmmmm......

This post has been edited by DippyDappyCow: Feb 8 2010, 19:47

[DippyDappyCow]

It was coincidence

[Dash Rendar]

So, it all worked itself out in the end. That makes sense... just took a little while for your ISP's DNS server to be updated.

[DippyDappyCow]

Yes looks that way , but I would like to have been able to do it my end.. if only for use in the future. But it wasn't having any of it