I think my IP address has been banned from MW

[VT 1010]

I have not been able to access the site from any of the computers on my home network for almost a month now. I got back from vacation on the 12th and have not been able access the main page or the forums. At first, I thought the site was down. When I used another computer at a different location, I found that to be false. I have only now been able to post using a proxy server. I didn't change any network settings before I left. I haven't had any problemsgetting on here for the past three years. I don't know what else it could be. Did my IP address get banned or something?

[Dangard Ace]

I have not been able to access the site from any of the computers on my home network for almost a month now. I got back from vacation on the 12th and have not been able access the main page or the forums. At first, I thought the site was down. When I used another computer at a different location, I found that to be false. I have only now been able to post using a proxy server. I didn't change any network settings before I left. I haven't had any problemsgetting on here for the past three years. I don't know what else it could be. Did my IP address get banned or something?

What's your home network IP?

[VT 1010]

I believe it's 192.168.1.1

[Dangard Ace]

That's your routers ip. What's the IP that your ISP gave you?

[VT 1010]

Sorry about that. This one should be it: 74.130.94.131

[Dangard Ace]

Your IP # isn't in the ban filter. Your not being filtered from this end.

Check with your ISP and see if they're not filtering the MacrossWorld servers on their servers.

[VT 1010]

Okay, will do. Thanks for your help.

[Hurin]

Please do let us know what your ISP says!

[Wes]

I was just about to ask the same question. I've not been able to even get the mainpage up for over a month, without anonymizers. I've tried IE and Opera. It's only this site. I use Comcast.

[Dangard Ace]

You can't get the mainpage? That's strange since it's only html...I think. I don't have access to that part of the site so I'll leave this for Hurin or Mechamaniac.

[azrael]

Anybody having trouble with OpenDNS's DNS? I couldn't connect to MW last night and switching back to my ISP's DNS seem to fix the problem.

[Nied]

I believe it's 192.168.1.1

If like me you have a Linksys router that might be the issue. I've had some trouble with certain sites either loading extremely slowly or not at all recently and every time re-starting the router (unplug the power count to ten plug back in) has cleared up the problem. Longer term I think I might switch to Tomato firmware to see if that fixes things permanently.

[VT 1010]

Okay, I still cannot access the mainsite or the forums via my router/cable connection. I can get on fine using dial-up or a proxy. I talking to the cable company, they said it's probably a router issue. I talked to Linksys and they said I need to find out Macross World's port number to use with port triggering.

Would it be possible to get MW's port number?

[Hurin]

Okay, I still cannot access the mainsite or the forums via my router/cable connection. I can get on fine using dial-up or a proxy. I talking to the cable company, they said it's probably a router issue. I talked to Linksys and they said I need to find out Macross World's port number to use with port triggering.

Would it be possible to get MW's port number?

It's a website. It uses port 80. Like every other website. Port forwarding is not going to help.

Can you (briefly) connect your (fully patched) computer directly to the cable modem and see if the problem persists?

Keep in mind that your cable modem may not talk to your computer unless you first unplug the cable modem from power for a few minutes. Cable modems often remember the "MAC address" (not to be confused with Macintosh) of whatever device it has been connected to and will not accept another device until it is power-cycled (with a rest before you power it back up while connected directly to your computer).

H

[einsamsoldat]

Okay, I still cannot access the mainsite or the forums via my router/cable connection. I can get on fine using dial-up or a proxy. I talking to the cable company, they said it's probably a router issue. I talked to Linksys and they said I need to find out Macross World's port number to use with port triggering.

Would it be possible to get MW's port number?

Let me get it straight :

Able to access when using a dail up, unable to access using router/cable .

1. If your definition of dail up is hooking the modem directly to your machine, then you may need to check your router configuration or have it reset to factory settings.

2. If your dail-up is using another ISP; a different internet connection account. Get the traceroute result from your PC to www.macrossworld.com while you are connected to router/cable connection. Forward them to your cable provider the traceroute result.

*Note : To get traceroute result in MacOS or Linux, type "traceroute www.macrossworld.com" in the command terminal. For windows machine, type "tracert www.macrossworld.com" , rule of the thumb make sure that you get all 30 hops or when the testing end by itself.

Good Luck.

[VT 1010]

Can you (briefly) connect your (fully patched) computer directly to the cable modem and see if the problem persists?

I just did that and it worked fine when directly connected. It must be the router. I updated the firmware a while back to v1.52.2. It worked fine shortly after that. Then, a couple of days later, I couldn't access MW. I recently applied the firmware update again and reset it to the factory default settings. It didn't work either. My router is a Linksys Wireless-G, model number: WRT54GS ver. 6. Is there any way I can revert back to an old firmware version?

[Hurin]

I just did that and it worked fine when directly connected. It must be the router. I updated the firmware a while back to v1.52.2. It worked fine shortly after that. Then, a couple of days later, I couldn't access MW. I recently applied the firmware update again and reset it to the factory default settings. It didn't work either. My router is a Linksys Wireless-G, model number: WRT54GS ver. 6. Is there any way I can revert back to an old firmware version?

I have the non-S version of that router and have no problems. Though, they are different. . . so that doesn't necessarily rule anything out.

Have you done a factory reset on all settings for that router after the firmware update? (Sorry, just re-read your message and you mention a full reset. But try this anyways since you might have done it via software and this is the only method I really trust). Try holding in the reset button in it for 10 seconds (you'll see its lights start to freak out, but keep holding it in for 10 seconds. . . even longer to be sure).

When you release it, the router should be in its "factory state." Meaning, you'll need to set up the router password and any wireless security you had enabled. You'll know that the full factory reset succeeded because the password for the router should be reset back to the default ("admin" for Linksys routers).

If you're still having trouble with that router after doing this. . . well. . . I guess all I can recommend is getting a new router because that one = fail. MW is not doing anything fancy. It's just a website. If a router can't routinely connect you to a website, it's time for it to go.

Short of replacing, here are a few other leads:

1. I seem to recall a brief spate of reported issues with a particular Linksys router and Windows Vista. But I would think the newest firmware should fix that.

2. There is some open source firmware created by the community available for some Linsksys routers. You might want to look into that.

3. If the older firmware worked, you may be able to find it somewhere. You might try seeing if Linksys has an FTP server where you can manually search for it. But really, if my router were this flakey, I'd probably just start thinking about getting a different model or at least replacing it with the same one to rule out a hardware problem.

4. If you have other computers behind the router, try unplugging them from the router and seeing if the problem persists. This is a long shot. . . but try it and let us know.

H

[VT 1010]

I just talked to Linksys technical support and, after trying just about everything (including the hardware reset as you had mentioned, Hurin), I still couldn't get it to work. They told me that me router is faulty and I need to contact customer service to get it replaced. We'll see what they say...

BTW, out curiosty, I logged on to AOL (via cable) on one of my old laptops and was able to connect to MW just fine. When I used IE or Firefox, it didn't work.

[VT 1010]

Okay, I just got the replacement router (WRT54GS v.7, which is probably a refurb too) and it still doesn't work. I upgraded to new firmware, that still didn't help. I'm getting sick of this. I really don't feel like talking on the phone for 45 minutes, doing the same thing I've done before, trying to communicate with someone that doesn't speak english! This is quite irritating!

Would anybody happen to know of a good, fast, reliable wireless router that won't break the bank?

[azrael]

Okay, I just got the replacement router (WRT54GS v.7, which is probably a refurb too) and it still doesn't work. I upgraded to new firmware, that still didn't help. I'm getting sick of this. I really don't feel like talking on the phone for 45 minutes, doing the same thing I've done before, trying to communicate with someone that doesn't speak english! This is quite irritating!

Would anybody happen to know of a good, fast, reliable wireless router that won't break the bank?

Have you considered the WRT54G or the WRT54GL models? Have you considered a non-Linksys model?

[EXO]

Have you considered the WRT54G or the WRT54GL models? Have you considered a non-Linksys model?

I had the same router and it's a POS. It had non-resolvable problems with FTP ports and I had just bought an FTP capable external drive. I searched the web for fixes and all I kept finding were more issues. I'm using a Netgear router now and it works great, but I've been using nothing but Apple Extreme Routers for work (We set up and office every 6 months) and it's the best one yet. I got them because most people have macbooks but they also work so well with PCs. A bit expensive though, but so far very worth it.

[Hurin]

Personally, I'm just surprised that a router has trouble passing standard http content over stanard ports to only one site. Especially now that even the replacement router is also behaving in the same way. I doubt the router make/model is the only factor. To me, it seems likely that there is some other factor at play. Whether that factor be a local issue to your computers/network, your ISP, or even something even less obvious, I have no idea. But hopefully a different make/model router will disperse whatever confluence of factors you are currently having that is causing this bizarre behavior.

I personally use a Linksys WRT54G (rev 2 I think). And I've never had any trouble. I try to use Linksys whenever I can. However, if you'd like to try another brand, I've had decent experiences with Netgear and D-Link.

Here's a couple of cheapies ($40). You might try them:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16833127079

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16833122016

Good luck!

[VT 1010]

Thanks for the help so far, guys.

Time for another update.

I talked to Linksys and they said it probably isn't the router. I can't seem to access MW with my computer plugged directly into my cable modem either. I then talked to my ISP. They said something about it being a higher level problem and would have it fixed in 24 to 48 hours. One week later, I still had problems. I contacted them again; they told me it may be a problem with their servers and it would be fixed within 24 to 48 hours. Over 72 hours later, it remains to be fixed. I called them a third time and after trying several things, I still couldn't access MW. The guy said to contact Microsoft, however I couldn't access MW using Linux, so that won't solve anything. I'm quickly becoming agitated.

I don't know what else to do. Would anybody happen to have any suggestions?

[Hurin]

It sure is odd that directly connecting without the router used to work. But now does not.

All you can do is keep hassling them unless you have an alternative ISP in the area. Unfortunately, for broadband, there are usually only two choices in each area. . . the phone company (DSL) or the cable company.

[VT 1010]

Unfortunately, switching ISPs isn't an option for me. My current one is actually quite good, with this one exception. I'll try calling them again.

I'm tired of using web proxies and dial-up. One way or the other, I'm going to get this fixed.

[Gabe Q]

You know, I had the same problem for a few weeks. I would log on at work just fine but at home I'd have no access. Just recently, say within the past week, I've been able to access it just fine.

I'll just shrug my shoulders on this one...

[VT 1010]

I just talked to my ISP and they said that they will check again. They should call me back in less than two business days. The tech guy said that I seem to be "doing everything right". He suggested either my IP was banned or a range of IPs, with mine in it, were being banned. Is it at all possible I may have been banned or something (IP is 74.130.169.134)?

[Kin]

... maybe you are banned by the ISP because someone is trying to hack your computer and use it to hack others?

Strange

[cowie165]

Is it at all possible I may have been banned or something (IP is 74.130.169.134)?

Sidebar: this IP you've listed is different to the one you listed earlier in the year.

[Dangard Ace]

I just talked to my ISP and they said that they will check again. They should call me back in less than two business days. The tech guy said that I seem to be "doing everything right". He suggested either my IP was banned or a range of IPs, with mine in it, were being banned. Is it at all possible I may have been banned or something (IP is 74.130.169.134)?

That IP is not in the ban filter either.

[VT 1010]

I talked to the cable company again and they said there's nothing else they can do.

It isn't OS/Settings problem. It shouldn't be my router either. My ISP claims everything is fine on their end. That would leave the site itself as a part of the problem. If my IP isn't banned, what else could it be?

[Hurin]

Refresh my memory: When you took your router out of the loop, the problem went away, correct?

[Shun]

OK, i'm now experiencing similar problem with the topic starter.

I started experiencing very slow loading times about 2-3 days ago, and today, i totally cannot load the MW forum and homepage.

I can ping to MW with 0% loss but the browser will time out when i try to go MW. I'm don't have any problems with other websites. Using a temp proxy to post this now.

is there anything wrong with the network/server that's running MW?

Edited May 13, 2008 by Shun

[Sulendil Ang]

Well, happens to me a few months ago, and strangely, the problems also gone as sudden as it happens. I guess it's a quite random event.

BTW, would you mind if you post which browser, modem/router, firewall, and ISP are you using? Might give us much more clues about your problem.

[VT 1010]

I doubled checked again to see if I had problems directly connected to the cable modem. I had trouble previously, but it seems to work fine now without the router. I guess it is a router issue. I'm using the replacement router (Linksys WRT54GS v.7, with the latest firmware update), and it still isn't working. I have no idea why the router is having problems with just this site. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with this one for the moment. Any suggestions?