Cant display websites

[lightning]

I keep getting the "Internet explorer cannot display the webpage" on alot of sites I try to visit.It does not happen always,but alot of times Iam surfing.I have checked my pc and all seems well(no virus or spyware found).I have cable internet and am running Xp with IE 7.What can I do to fix this??

[Ob1]

which sites are you going to that are not displaying?

have you tried a different browser to see if it affects them as well? firefox, opera

[lightning]

The websites are the normal ones(yahoo,Amazon etc,etc).
I have tried Firefox and have gotten the same error message.

[Ob1]

just a thought check your host file for those websites being redirected with the ip address of 127.0.0.1 if so delete them, it should look like this:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc



host file:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

[lightning]

You have lost me OB1,Iam still a young jedi .

[Ob1]

you have much to learn my young patewon.........

copy and paste this into your windows explorer

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

double click on the host file open it with notepad.

your host file will look like i posted above, but if a virus or something has altered your host file then you might see

127.0.0.1 www.amazon.com
127.0.0.1 www.yahoo.com


if you see something like that, then delete those entrys that are redirecting those websites with the localhost ip address, save the changes and then try browsing to the websites you are having trouble with.

[lightning]

Everything looks okay in the host file.I have scanned my pc with many scanners and find no virus or spyware.I tried Ie7 and Firefox earlier and got the cant display webpage on 3 different sites.

[Ob1]

did you have this problem when you were using ie6? before you installed ie7

[lightning]

Yes,That was the reason I updated to IE7.

[Ob1]

type these ip addresses into your webbrowser and see if you can get to them

yahoo
66.94.234.13

amazon
72.21.206.5

try flushing the dns resolver cache

start>run>cmd>ipconfig /flushdns

[lightning]

I was able to get amazon,but the yahoo page said "page not available".
I also flushed the dns cache.
Thanks for your help!

[Ob1]

are you able to get to amazon with the ip address or by using the dns name of amazon.com, or both?

try using this to see if that fix's it
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winsockxpfix.html

[lightning]

Both, and I will try the winsock.