Has something in classicoldmobile changed recently?
As of Monday afternoon (3-22), I can no longer get any part of this site at home (either as a guest or member). I only get this stupid message:


I can get any other friggin' website i want - the weather site, news, the Furd forums, yahoo, XXXmagic (ok, did not try that one but I should to soften the frustration)... Only this one site seems to be "blocked".

This was on my 3 year old dell laptop, which has been working fine for years. It has XP with IE6 with all the patches.
I tried disabling the zonealarm firewall (never has been updated) and also the ad filters, I changing to a new bare hosts file, rebooted countless times, cleared cookies & temp internet files and still no luck. Same problem!
On a related note, disabling the ad filters changed the screen error from "socket read failed" to a simple common "page not found" error.

I once had a hosts file loaded with websites to block (ad sites mostly) but I replaced it with an empty one. Does this file get stored away or hidden elsewhere??

Yesterday I decided to try it on my 2 year old dell desktop (with XP and IE6) that has not been turned on for 9 months (I like the laptop). SAME dang problem!! It has had no MS updates for that time, so that rules out MS interactions. So it can't really be a corrupt file or such, either. Disabled the firewall and filters, same issue.

I then thought it was the DSL or ISP problem. So with the laptop I tried my old free dialup connection with another ISP - SAME stupid problem!

I called my neighbor to try it on his 2 year old dell laptop and he can get the site fine. He also has XP and IE6, same firewall, ISP, and AV as I have.

I can get the site at work okay, and I have the same XP and IE6 here also.
I have not made any unique changes to either of my computes at home (no new programs or anything.) No spyware or crap like that; both systems are pretty clean. Like I said, i can get any other websites I want.

Can anyone hint to what's going on here?
Looks like I will miss my favorite weekend and nightly hangout place until this gets fixed...

 

I don't have a clue Rob. But please don't take the hammer to it again.

 

never got that error, not sure what that would be.

 

You can do this by opening an IE Window, Go to Tools, Internet Options, Then under browsing history choose Delete. If you like you can delete all or delete only temporary internet files, cookies, and history.

I've had this happen to me in the pass and perform this task and things seem to go back to normal. Hopefully, this will help.

 

I don't have a clue Rob. Hope someone on here is a computer geek. I always look for a 12 year old when I have a problem

 

I have done this many times, usually every time I try the site again after making changes. I even went back to make sure they were deleting.

I will need to have my neighbors take and hide all of my hammers until this is fixed.

 

You also need to reboot computer after deleting browser history. What OS (operating system) are you using? Was any software deleted or added or spyware/malware removed? If so, could have corrupted your winsock settings.

 

I have rebooted countless times during all the trials and nothing has been removed or added for many months (other than the usual MS update crap). No viruses or anything. My other computer haad not got an update for 9 months and it worked with this site then, but not now.

I was reading that my winsocks could be bad, but on two computers at once for just this site? Seems unlikely. Thought it might be my router, but dialup did not work either.
I have some info on checking for bad winsocks when I get home.

Stupid socks...

 

Makes me think about Barry Korbin's idea in War Games when they were have trouble with the computer and he said, "Hell, I'd **** on the spark plugs if I thought it would help". Wish I could help. It makes no sense other than it is a computer which can be more frustrating than a car. Good luck. I am sure you will be up and running soon.

 

You have been targeted by a spy satellite, and it is working fine...after the trials are finished you may carry on (not carrion) keep all impact tools in a locked room until this situation is resolved or the satellite crashes

 

You try restarting them Rob?
Only thing I know how to do.
Maybe Internet Brands cut you off for long resto threads with a lot of pics that use too much bandwidth and the updated power windows thread was the straw that broke the camel's back?

I'm no PC guy at all but shouldn't there be some sort of an error code history retrieval for that problem?
I had to go deep into mine once in the DOS mode but the Microsoft forums help guy walked me through it.
Still doesn't recognize the address here sometimes, say's it doesn't exist then works when I try again, threads are months old that come up as new, can't reply to some threads and others don't show up as new, thing works fine otherwise.
You need to have a big hammer hanging on the wall in a fire extingusher box, break glass to open type so you don't get tempted Rob. But then you would need another big hammer to break the glass to get to your big hammer???
I don't work for the government so I have to go ponder this....

 

You did not hit all the keys at the same time or step on the keybourd did you ? LOL
I have a stack of hard drives from old computers, when they dont work right through them out the door on the concrete and teach them a lesson.

 

Did you try to google in to it then hit cash icon from the search page on the bottom of the web info on co.com

 

Rob, are you using explorer? If so, I heard there is a new virus that microsoft has yet to fix.They say hitting F1 will screw things up. Have you tried using foxfire?

 

I'd most definitely download the latest Firefox & try that!

Ralph

 

I seriously question this, as most of those latest big posts were made from home. Maybe they blocked my IPs. Those big old threads do not get much attention any more, so maybe it is time to leave 'em alone.
In fact MANY internet brands sites do NOT come up. Internetbrands.com itself is one that will not open! There is a trend...


Rocks and ratchets make great hammers.

I guess I need to get out there with the 12 gauge and start shooting at the satelites...

Well, I tried pissing on the computer, but it didn't help; thanks for the suggestion anyway...

I like BFH's more. do a search here on "too many bad apples" to see my preferred method.

Googling it and clicking on it brought up the same blank page. Did not see cash icons though.

Yep, every computer I tried has IE6, just like this one here at work.
In fact, most of my keyboards have the F1, capslock, and INS keys removed so I do not accidentally hit them and cause me grief after typing a whole paragraph wrong or pounding the ESC key.

I had FF at work before but it never worked, so it was removed. I have the same antivirus and IE at home as at work.
Do you know what this virus is? It does not really explain why my other computer on my network would not load this site either (unless it propagates through the network router)...

Winsocks checked out fine last night. Completely removing the firewall and ad filters made a little change. The "Socket read failed" was changed to the standard "cannot find website" screen (as if the intenet was turned off.) All other non-IB sites worked as usual.
I am baffled!!!!

 

I am also experincing problems accessing the site from my main computer at home. I get page cant be displayed. I have tried many times deleting the temp folders and cookies and still get the same thing. I can access the site from the 2 other computers in my home and also from work with no problem.I have checked all of my internet settings and don't see a problem there. I can also access any other site with the computer. Rob, don't know if you are still experincing trouble with yours but I am going to try a couple other things and see what happens.

 

Yep, I am still blocked by both computers at home. If I EVER get access again, I will surely post that I did.
When I remove my firewall completely, I get the classic "page cannot be displayed" message instead of the socket read thing.

Try to access www.internetbrands.com and if that does not open, you might have the same issue I have.

I have not heard from our Admin Paul; he must be out travelling for work.

 

download google chrome and try it - fixed a lot of crap for me - it's all I use now - even did it @ friends' that were having trouble when AOL made changes, IE could not deal

google chrome fixed it all

 

I don't know anything about computers.

 

There are several things that might cause a socket read error. Typically a socket is a port of sorts for the server and your computer to transfer information over. The most used application that uses sockets is Java. I would first try to remove Java and then re download it. Another place to look would be on your router or modem and see if the site is for some reason blocked - check and see if it only allows classicoldsmobile.com to come in on a certain port. Lastly, if you have anti virus that also monitors the web check and see if for some reason it is running a block on the site or on Java.

If need be I have a gotomeeting.com account and we could trouble shoot the problem together from the affected PC.

 

gotomeeting.com is great I use gotomypc.com and love it

google chrome will fix all that

IE sucks

 

Both my neighbors and my work pc both use IE, (same version and patches) and same AV and updates, so i am pretty convinced it is none of those.
I hardly have anything on both my machines. No 3rd party browser extentions whatsoever. No goofy verizon circus software either - I never allowed it.
All worked fine for a year, then all of a sudden, CO, or most internet brands sites will not open.
If I try changing OS's I will prolly kill the machine entirely, forcing me to resort to the BFH fix...

I will eventually do a reset on the modem / hardware firewall and see if that helps. Two PCs directly on my home network are affected - shouldn't be a corrupt file, esp on both...
Computers and big ISPs sux!


UPDATE AS OF 3-15-2011
Still no change.
Only big difference from work and home is work PC has XP SP3 - home has SP2.
Both of my home computers started doing this at the same time, with different XP update levels. So it is not a random corrupt file.
I tried my laptop on my neighbor's network at it still did not work. His laptop worked fine.

I do not wish to install any other browsers that may cause irreversible damage or are incompatible with my ad filters. I will NOT go back to ads! On a related note, disabling the adblockers did not allow the site to work either, so it is not that...

 

Rob Rob Rob trust me d/l google chrome and try it - it is not a new OS, it is an alt to IE or Firefox (which I hate)

google chrome zoomed past tons of errors that IE gave up on

 

any news???