school's internet access is down

[jepeters]

For a couple of hours a week, I'm a tech coordinator for a very small school. They have an NT network and are connected to the internet with a router and a single 56K connection.

For the last several days, these computers have not been able to get on the Internet. But--they CAN connect to Yahoo Instant Messenger and the Yahoo stock quotes, etc. When the teachers try to get their e-mail (which is actually on a server from a different ISP than the internet connection) they can get a message saying how many messages they have, but it just can't download them.

Our ISP is very slow to help. They told one teacher to unplug one of the devices in the wiring closet and plug it back in (I don't know what it was, other than that it was made by D-link). That didn't work.

What does it sound like the problem might be? Why should we be able to get through to Yahoo IM but nothing else?

[Dave22]

Well, they *can* get on the Internet in some capacity by the fact that you have connections to remote hosts.

When you say they "can't get on the Internet", what are you exactly saying? Can they not browse ANY web site or just a few? Can you not connect to ANY FTP servers?

Try connecting to a web site or other host via its IP address (don't use the name). How about http://209.68.45.231/ (this is the PC Mechanic web site). If you can connect via the IP address but NOT the name, there is a DNS problem.

How is your network set up? Do you use DHCP or are all your IP addresses static? Are you using some type of on-demand connection (modem) or ISDN? What kind of router are you using? Have you tried rebooting the router (perhaps the route table is messed up)?

[jepeters]

it wouldn't connect to PC Mechanic using that method.

I'm not very knowledgeable about this type of equipment, and this school is connected differently than my 'full time' school, but I think it is isdn with static IP addresses. All computers can immediately connect just by starting up IE

I was assuming that the d-link equipment that was unplugged WAS the router, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, after being out since last Thursday, the phone company is actually sending someone out today to take a look at the problem. Thanks for your help.