problem accessing some web sites

gardenboy_2

Most web sites I'm able to access, but some (e.g. www2.uk.bol.com) I get message 'Operation timed out'
(I'm on dial-up and using firefox)
Any ideas what is wrong please?

LincsLad_3

It could be that your ISPs DNS service is a bit flakey, so the 'www2.uk.bol.com' is not getting translated to 84.17.191.141 for your browser to connect to.

Can you connect to http://84.17.191.141 ?

gardenboy_2

I have just tried http//84.17.191.141 and I get same message - 'The Oeration timed out when attempting to contact 84.17.191.141'

LincsLad_3

Give the following a try:

- enter about:config in your URL/Address bar
- enter ipv6 in the filter field
- double-click on network.dns.disableIPv6 to toggle this to true

Sometimes the symptoms you describe are caused by a name server not handling IPv6 very well. You can disable the IPv6 support causing FF to revert to IPv4 that all servers should be able to handle. So this will only help if poor IPv6 support by your name server is the source of your problem, but it's an easy thing to try and should not cause any problems. If you see no improvement, you can always toggle the setting back to false.

You can also experiment with increasing the timeout value:

- enter about:config in your URL/Address bar
- enter timeout in the filter field
- double-click on network.http.request.timeout
- increase the value (mine is set to 120, which I think is the default)

Again, this is easily changed back if required.

gardenboy_2

Thanks LincsLad. Tried your suggestions about ipv6 and timeout value, but still get same result. Note 99% of websites we try to access are OK, just a few, like BOL, give this timeout message - they are also 'unavailable' via Internet Explorer.

NellyLock

could be your firewall, if you have an external firewall(not windows one). BOL may have adverts/popups etc that your firewall does not like.

LincsLad_3

Hmm - from what you say about it just being the odd site, and it also being unavailable in IE, then it is also possibly just some major delay somewhere on the path from your PC to the BOL site.

Give it 12 to 24 hours and it will most likely fix itself. It's just 'one of those things' that happen sometimes on the Internet.