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Can't access home pc from outside 3

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acl03

MIS
Jun 13, 2005
1,077
US
I've been using VNC and running a webserver on my PC for about 3 years with my cable internet service. All of a sudden I can't access my home pc outside via ping, web or VNC. I had a lengthy conversation with my ISP and they told me nothing has been changed, they block no incoming ports to home pc's.

I even went as far as changing my cablemodem out. I have NO firewalls on that I know of, and i haven't changed anything on my local pc. I have my PC hooked up directly to the cable modem, no switches/routers in between.

Any idea why this could all of a sudden stop working?

Oh, and I can ping a friend's router who is on my ISP as well. Also, the ISP technician successfully logged into the remote admin on my router once i enabled remote administration. As i said before, though, the router is currently not connected.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.



Thanks,
Andrew
 
Windows Firewall any other Firewall app?

Perhaps an update to either modified some setting.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
 
Any clues in event viewer (run eventvwr.msc)?

Have you scanned for viruses/spyware?

Try running something like winsockfix?
 
Hmm the only thing that I could think of is maybe a windows update did this....

I will spam for viruses/spyware but I'd be very surprised if i had any.

What's winsockfix do?



Thanks,
Andrew
 
winsockfix resets some of XP's network parameters. Bit of a magic wand in some situations.
 
One of my XP auto updates turned on XP's firewall and turned off my ZoneAlarm firwall, alot of thing stopped working until I figured it out.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.


 
I don't use any firewall other than the Windows one normally. For testing, I plugged my pc directly into the modem and turned it off (unsafe, I know).

I have a router that a friend was able to ping, and I could ping his router in his house.

It does seem that this is something on my PC. Better than my cable company blocking it.

Can that winsockfix program screw anything up?



Thanks,
Andrew
 
Winsockfix will not harm you PC. It is an excellent utility. It resets your TCP stack and corrects your registry entries.
 
Greetings ACL03,
As you mentioned in a previous post, did you uninstall any recent Windows updates to see if that was the culprit?
 
I plan to do that this weekend...I'll keep you posted.



Thanks,
Andrew
 
Hmm I guess another thing to try is to hook up my pc and a second one to the same router, see if I can get in locally. I'll try that this weekend too.



Thanks,
Andrew
 
Run the computer with the server back into your router, and see if you can access it from within your LAN. This is the starting point. If you can't access the server from within the LAN, then the problem must be within. If you can access it, then the problem must be between the computer an the WAN. Use "process of elimination" to cut down the possibilites, and let us know what you find.

Be good. If you can't, don't get caught!
 
Yeah, I gotta get a laptop from a buddy to plug into my router to see if I can access the site internally. Was just a busy weekend :)

i did run that winsockfix.exe and it didn't seem to do anything.



Thanks,
Andrew
 
acl03,
I quickly scanned this thread and maybe missed it, but I have to ask...

Could something have changed on the other end, the network you are trying to connect from? Like if you're trying to connect to your home PC from work, perhaps the traffic from your computer at work has been identified/blocked on purpose.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.
 
cdogg,

Nah, don't think so. I've tried to connect from 2 places myself, and had multiple friends try as well. They can't even ping my IP remotely. I CAN ping a buddy who is on the same ISP as me, so I think that proves that the ISP isn't blocking anything.



Thanks,
Andrew
 
Yes, that's true. I have used both RoadRunner and Yahoo! DSL in the past, and from experience I can say that some modems return pings and others don't, which is why it's not usually a reliable test. It comes down to the model usually or a setting on a particular model.

Of course, if the ping worked for you in the past, then that's a different story. You might ask the ISP if the modem's firmware updates automatically. Perhaps a new setting was introduced without your knowledge.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.
 
Did you try System Restore to when things worked?


What other Security software are you running? Some Antivirus software has hidden firewalling components.

310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

Nvidia Chipsets have caused some Networking problems recently too.

Got Network issues and nForce Chipset...
thread1583-1437402

Some VNC links to check out.

VNC + LinkSys + IP
thread779-1255979

How to disable XP Firewall remotely?
thread779-1038203

Were there any errors in the Event Viewer, especially in the Security log?
 
Finally figured it out. It was my job's VPN software. Not sure why uninstalling it fixed the problem....I've been using it for over a year.

Maybe I just need to reinstall it, but for now it is not installed and I can finally get in. Thanks so much for all of your input. I finally have an excuse to slack off again!!! :)



Thanks,
Andrew
 
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