Internet Explorer cannot display webpage- error message

Lo.j

Hi

I'd be really grateful for some help for fixing a problem with my dad's laptop. He is running Vista. For the past 2 days , when he tries to access the internet, he gets the message " Internet explorer cannot display the webpage". He is getting his email through and can access yahoo messenger. I have typed in numerous sites and they all get the same message. We have been running three wireless devices from our BT homehub successfully for the past 9 months. We haven't made any changes to any hardware or software recently.
I have deleted his temp internet files, browsing history, etc as per microsoft support page. I have run the latest updates and also switched off the hub and switched it back on again. The signal strength to the laptop is strong.
I am at my wits' end. I thought I would ask here as the techical advice ( as well as all the other advice ) is the very best in the world.
Many thanks in advance

Lorna

TonyLisaP

to check that the connection is actually working properly please goto start, run and type in cmd and hit ok. In the black DOS window please type in
ping www.google.co.uk and let me know the result.

Lo.j

hiya

The result says

" Pinging www.1.google.com [64.233.183.147] with 32 bytes of data
reply from 64.233.183.147 : bytes =32 time=58ms TTL=240
" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""91ms
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""53ms
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""55ms

Ping statistics for 64.233.183.147:
Packets :sent =4 , received =4 ,Lost =0 (0% loss)
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds
Minimum = 53ms,Maximum =91ms Average =64ms

Hope this is the info I was supposed to get , thank you for your help.

TonyLisaP

Yes that is fine, it means your internet connection is fine and that the problem is with internet explorer.
If you are using internet explorer 7 goto tools, internet options, advanced and hit the reset button

Lo.j

Thank you. I've done that and then restarted the laptop and opened IE. Still same message.

TonyLisaP

This could be caused by a firewall or DNS, could you please type into the IE address bar 64.233.183.147 and see what happens

Lo.j

hi, i'm so sorry to be a pain.

the address bar changed to [URL]http:///[/URL]

and i got the message The address is not valid.

I tried it a couple of times incase i was doing something wrong and got the same message.

Thanks again.

TonyLisaP

Do you have any firewall software on the machine such as Nortons? Turn the firewall off and then try the internet again.
Goto Start, settings, control panel, security centre to find the firewall.

hjb123

hiya

i had this exact problem yesterday morning and did a system restore and that worked! im on a laptop with vista and ie7

Lo.j

I turned the firewall off and IE is working again ! Is it okay to keep working like that ? It's Nortons.
I am not very confident in doing a system restore - but then I am willing to learn !

Thank you both.

TonyLisaP

Norton's is a pain, just check that iexplore.exe is on the allowed list. I am not an expert on nortons as I just use Windows Vista firewall so maybe someone else can advise you on this. You can leave nortons firewall off and just use the inbuilt one. Don't forget your router should have a firewall too.