Windows Firewall/Internet Explorer 7/Connection Problems

[Illidan]

Hey guys, I was wondering if you could help me with this problem. For awhile now, we've been having trouble with our Internet connection.

The two browsers installed on this computer are Internet Explorer (of course) and Mozilla FireFox (which since encountering this problem refuses to browse any sites). With IE, I can still browse most sites, except those that require secure information.

Whenever I try to browse a site that requires secure information (passwords, etc), I'm met with the standard "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage). After running the network diagnostic tool, I'm given this message:

Windows cannot connect to the Internet using HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP. THis is probably caused by firewall settings on the computer.

Check the firewall settings for HTTP port (80), HTTPS port (443) and FTP port (21).

You might need to contact your Internet service provider (ISP) or the manufacturer of your firewall software.

The problem sounds simple enough to fix, but the ONLY firewall running on this computer is Windows Firewall and even disabling it produces the same problem.

Even looking under the exceptions tab in Windows Firewall settings, Ports 80, 443 and 21 are all listed, which means they should be open.

I'm not a complete idiot, but I'm nowhere near an expert, so this has me stumped. I've run every possible tool I have for Adware, Spyware and Viruses, so I'm fairly sure this is just some configuration issue, but I can't for the life of me seem to solve it.

Has anyone run into this problem and solved it successfully?

(I can also post the network diagnostic log, if that would help).

 

[Tina]

What version of Windows are you running..?

 

[Illidan]

XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Version 2002).

 

[Rayne]

Well Firefox and IE7 have been known to conflict with one another if both are running at the same time. I won't say that's the problem, but that's the first thing that came to mind. I can do some research on it and see what I can find. In the meantime try picking up Opera 9 and see if that can get you past those pesky messages for a while.

 

[Illidan]

Eeep. I took Rayne's suggested and went to Opera's site to download, but as soon as I clicked the link to download Opera, I was met with the same error message.

Here is the diagnotic log from the last time I ran the tool:

HTTP, HTTPS, FTP Diagnostic
HTTP, HTTPS, FTP connectivity

warn HTTPS: Error 12029 connecting to www.microsoft.com: A connection with the server could not be established
warn FTP (Passive): Error 12031 connecting to ftp.microsoft.com: The connection with the server was reset
warn HTTPS: Error 12029 connecting to www.passport.net: A connection with the server could not be established
warn FTP (Active): Error 12031 connecting to ftp.microsoft.com: The connection with the server was reset
info HTTP: Successfully connected to www.microsoft.com.
error Could not make an HTTPS connection.
error Could not make an FTP connection.
info Redirecting user to support call



DNS Client Diagnostic
DNS - Not a home user scenario

info Using Web Proxy: no
info Resolving name ok for (www.microsoft.com): yes
No DNS servers

DNS failure




Gateway Diagnostic
Gateway

info The following proxy configuration is being used by IE: Automatically Detect Settingsisabled Automatic Configuration Script: Proxy Server: Proxy Bypass list:
info This computer has the following default gateway entry(ies): 192.168.1.1
info This computer has the following IP address(es): 192.168.1.46
info The default gateway is in the same subnet as this computer
info The default gateway entry is a valid unicast address
info The default gateway address was resolved via ARP in 1 try(ies)
info The default gateway was reached via ICMP Ping in 1 try(ies)
info TCP port 80 on host 207.46.19.254 was successfully reached
info The Internet host www.microsoft.com was successfully reached
info The default gateway is OK



IP Layer Diagnostic
Corrupted IP routing table

info The default route is valid
info The loopback route is valid
info The local host route is valid
info The local subnet route is valid
Invalid ARP cache entries

action The ARP cache has been flushed



IP Configuration Diagnostic
Invalid IP address

info Valid IP address detected: 192.168.1.46



Wireless Diagnostic
Wireless - Service disabled

Wireless - User SSID

Wireless - First time setup

Wireless - Radio off

Wireless - Out of range

Wireless - Hardware issue

Wireless - Novice user

Wireless - Ad-hoc network

Wireless - Less preferred

Wireless - 802.1x enabled

Wireless - Configuration mismatch

Wireless - Low SNR




WinSock Diagnostic
WinSock status

info All base service provider entries are present in the Winsock catalog.
info The Winsock Service provider chains are valid.
info Provider entry MSAFD Tcpip [TCP/IP] passed the loopback communication test.
info Provider entry MSAFD Tcpip [UDP/IP] passed the loopback communication test.
info Provider entry RSVP UDP Service Provider passed the loopback communication test.
info Provider entry RSVP TCP Service Provider passed the loopback communication test.
info Connectivity is valid for all Winsock service providers.



Network Adapter Diagnostic
Network location detection

info Using home Internet connection
Network adapter identification

info Network connection: Name=Local Area Connection, Device=Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection, MediaType=LAN, SubMediaType=LAN
info Ethernet connection selected
Network adapter status

info Network connection status: Connected



HTTP, HTTPS, FTP Diagnostic
HTTP, HTTPS, FTP connectivity

warn FTP (Passive): Error 12031 connecting to ftp.microsoft.com: The connection with the server was reset
warn FTP (Active): Error 12031 connecting to ftp.microsoft.com: The connection with the server was reset
warn HTTPS: Error 12029 connecting to www.microsoft.com: A connection with the server could not be established
warn HTTPS: Error 12029 connecting to www.passport.net: A connection with the server could not be established
info HTTP: Successfully connected to www.microsoft.com.
error Could not make an HTTPS connection.
error Could not make an FTP connection.

 

[Rayne]

There may be a fix for this, but unfortunately people whom I've come across that had the same issue have either given up or reinstalled windows.

I'm sure you won't have to go as far as a re-install, but there may be other things we can do. If possible, maybe downgrade back to IE6. IE7 has been hit or miss and I haven't made the upgrade yet because of that. [also I just stick to using Firefox whenever I can [though the recent build of Opera is a good substitute now]. I know you've said you can't use those, but in my opinion, its better to stick with the latter two rather than solely using IE. [of course there are the occasional few sites that won't work unless you do use IE and it's ok to bring up IE every now and then to resolve those issues.]



Quick question, do you run a router by any chance?
Also, do you remember exactly when the problem started? Anything installed recently or did windows update and force a restart before any of this occured? [ie: did this happen the very next time you accessed the internet after the restart?]