Problems uploading web page

[Hi Ho]

I have recently opened up a PowWeb website hosting account. I have waited over three days like it said. I have installed FrontPage extensions on the server. Now, when I try to upload from FrontPage it says it cannot connect to the server. I can connect using CuteFTP and I have tried uploading my files but when I go to the website (www.runawaytrainbluegrass.com) the "page cannot be displayed". Any suggestions? I emailed PowWeb and have posted a question on their message board but I want several opinions.

[MulderMan]

it doesnt even look like the domains even been registered, i cant see any whois info. Maybe your Nameservers havent gone through yet.

[Hi Ho]

Hmmm.... I guess I'll wait a bit longer. I just noticed that it says the domain name is pending. Thanks.

[mairving]

First mistake is to register your domain with your host. It is always better to register your domain with a registar like GoDaddy first, then go and to the host of your choosing. That way you are guaranteed to get the domain name. I just went to GoDaddy and could have registered the domain since it was available.

When you say that you can get to the site via FTP, I assume that you can get to it by ftp'ing to the IP address rather than the domain name.

[Statica]

Open a command prompt (START > RUN > cmd) and type:
nslookup

Now at the nslookup tool prompt type
runawaytrainbluegrass.com

It is not 3 days that they tell you, the way it works is:
1) You register your domain name (as Mairving said, hopefully you havent done it with a host but with a registrar!)
2) Then you enter the DNS information for your hosting company that they've provided you
3) Then you wait to see that the DNS information propagates. The length of time is not 3 days or 3 hours, but a rather arbitrary number. It depends on the domain name information stored within the various computers around the world getting in their updates (sorta like software users all over the world downloading pattern updates). It also depends on your ISP; or the ISP for the people that want to hit your website.
If you change the DNS servers or domain ownership info then the process starts from step 2

[Hi Ho]

Well I guess I made a mistake. When I signed up it said I would get the domain free and that they would register it. I noticed that it says the domain is "pending". This is great. Any suggestions?

[MulderMan]

i think its about time to email your host now. a person i know that had a 'free domain' of a host, but when he wanted to move because he was unhappy they held it hostage so he had to register another domain himself and go to another company - or carry on with there hosting.

[Hi Ho]

I will contact them. I have heard good reports about this company and that's why I chose them. I sure hope I can get this straightened out.

[Hi Ho]

Ok, I just got an email stating that the domain is now registered and not it says it is active. However, when I go to the website it still says "page cannot be displayed" and I still cannot connect with FrontPage.

[kram 2.0]

Yes, I have also heard good things about PowWeb from my friends and such, who used it for a Warcraft III website. If you can upload to the server using CuteFTP and cannot using FrontPage, I would suspect you have filled the settings incorrectly or such. FrontPage is too user friendly for its own good - it often complicates the process. Remember that your first file needs to be named "index.htm" or "index.html", not "deafult.htm" as Frontpage usually does. Default should work, but index is more standard. Write an easy website using index and upload it using ASCII format on CuteFTP.

Hope that helps,
kram

[mairving]

Originally Posted by kram8806 Default should work, but index is more standard. Write an easy website using index and upload it using ASCII format on CuteFTP.

Default.htm won't work by default on Apache servers which is most likely the ones used on PowWeb's servers. You can alter what your index page is if you want using .htaccess.

[Hi Ho]

Hey! I got it working! It turns out that the domain wasn't registered until yesterday and now it works fine. FrontPage connected and uploaded without a problem and updating pages is really easy. It only took about 30 seconds to upload the entire site. Thanks to everyone that helped out in this thread. Check it out HERE. It is nowhere near finished and is still in "beta" stage but any suggestions are welcome. The website is for my dad's band.