No connection to any Microsoft website

208.144.232.144 is not a microsoft IP ... it looks like you may have DNS issues.
Try to browse to these IP addresses:
http://207.46.19.190
http://207.46.19.254

sk@sk:~$ host www.microsoft.com
www.microsoft.com is an alias for toggle.www.ms.akadns.net.
toggle.www.ms.akadns.net is an alias for g.www.ms.akadns.net.
g.www.ms.akadns.net is an alias for lb1.www.ms.akadns.net.
lb1.www.ms.akadns.net has address 207.46.19.254
lb1.www.ms.akadns.net has address 207.46.19.190

Also try this on the command line:

C:\>nslookup www.microsoft.com 4.2.2.1
Server:  vnsc-pri.sys.gtei.net
Address:  4.2.2.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    lb1.www.ms.akadns.net
Addresses:  207.46.19.254, 207.46.19.190
Aliases:  www.microsoft.com, toggle.www.ms.akadns.net
          g.www.ms.akadns.net


C:\>

It looks like something is wrong with your resolver or dns.

Dear Scott
Thank you for your quick reply, your answer was very helpful.
What I don’t understand however is the following,
Our DNS /DHCP/FILE server runs smooth and can connect to any computer.
Our Exchange server runs smooth as well and can also connect to any computer
Our XP machines +/- 50 of them runs smooth and connects to any computer
We wanted to expand our business to involve computerized testing for witch we needed 2 more servers, these servers both (at different times, because different people has installed the software) don’t want to connect to Microsoft. I have used the IP addresses you gave me yesterday and can then get those Microsoft pages with errors on them , when I refresh they stay with errors and clicking on any of the links on the pages just result in not connecting
All the settings are the same on all the computers… using the same DNS and gateway settings and setup, the only thing I think that can have a effect is that both the new servers was setup as DNS servers and I had to remove that role????
Any other site than Microsoft works, although I had a short problem with daniweb for a second yesterday
Any suggestions will be appreciated
Thanks
barry

I expected the links would not work when you browsed to the IP address. The reason is those links are for "www.microsoft.com/page.aspx" so it switches back to using DNS names -- which is your problem.

This is a hard problem to diagnose but I can try. It could be a virus so you should run some AVG and www.pandasoftware.com virus scans.

It could be a broken hosts file. Can you paste the contents of: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

It could be broken DNS servers. Can you paste the complete output of "ipconfig /all"? Also -- Paste these lookups. Here is sample output of an ipconfig:

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.2.1.253
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.2.1.3
                                            10.2.1.4

In this case my nameservers are 10.2.1.3 and 10.2.1.4 , so run these commands:

C:\>nslookup www.microsoft.com
C:\>nslookup www.microsoft.com 10.2.1.3
C:\>nslookup www.microsoft.com 10.2.1.4
C:\>nslookup www.microsoft.com 4.2.2.1
C:\>ping www.microsoft.com

Replace the two nameservers with yours, but also run the 4.2.2.1 as-is. This should indicate to us whether the DNS is failing at the nameserver level or with gethostbyname(). Please mark sure to paste ALL output back on this thread.

Scott
Thanks again
Here is the info you asked for
HOST FILE
# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

www.microsoft.com

IPCONFIG /ALL

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : test
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : test.co.za
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : test.co.za
co.za

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet
NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-E8-F1-B0-2D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.224.40
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.224.152
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 196.168.224.52
192.168.224.39
168.210.2.2

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet
NIC #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-D1-3C-11-95
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.3.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>
I use local area connection not 2 obviously lol
the main dns server is the .39 and voffice who is our provider is 2.2 the other one i just aded to try something
OTHERS

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>nslookup www.microsoft.com 192.168.224.39
Server: fire-fly.dambfn.co.za
Address: 192.168.224.39

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: lb1.www.ms.akadns.net
Addresses: 207.46.193.254, 207.46.192.254
Aliases: www.microsoft.com, toggle.www.ms.akadns.net
g.www.ms.akadns.net

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>nslookup www.microsoft.com 168.210.2.2
Server: dnscache1.is.co.za
Address: 168.210.2.2

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: lb1.www.ms.akadns.net
Addresses: 207.46.193.254, 207.46.192.254
Aliases: www.microsoft.com, toggle.www.ms.akadns.net
g.www.ms.akadns.net

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>nslookup www.microsoft.com 4.2.2.1
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Can't find server name for address 4.2.2.1: Timed out
Server: UnKnown
Address: 4.2.2.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: lb1.www.ms.akadns.net
Addresses: 65.55.12.249, 65.55.21.250
Aliases: www.microsoft.com, toggle.www.ms.akadns.net
g.www.ms.akadns.net

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>ping microsoft.com
Ping request could not find host microsoft.com. Please check the name and try ag
ain.

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>ping google.com

Pinging google.com [74.125.127.100] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.127.100: bytes=32 time=976ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.127.100: bytes=32 time=981ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.127.100: bytes=32 time=1118ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 74.125.127.100:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 976ms, Maximum = 1118ms, Average = 1025ms

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>

hope this is all the info you requested
PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU LEARN FROM THIS OUTPUT
thank you very much
barry

Good deal, that is a lot of helpful information -- and please use code tags when pasting in the future.

Try this: ping www.microsoft.com. Notice the period after the dot com. To be safe go ahead and copy/paste what is inside the quotes and post that information back here in code tags :)

Scott
Thank you for your reply
You will have to help me with you previous request .. I don’t understand, I do not know what is code-tags and do not know how to create them when pasting?
RE your second paragraph to ping Microsoft I have done that and the results are exactly the same as when I ping with one period see the following

Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790]
(C) Copyright 1985-2003 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>ping microsoft.com.
Ping request could not find host microsoft.com.. Please check the name and try  again.

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>ping microsoft.com
Ping request could not find host microsoft.com. Please check the name and try again.

C:\Documents and Settings\dts2>

i tried the wrap tagsaround selected text button, hope that is what you wanted

barry

sorry yes you will see i can ping other sites just not microsoft

More than likely this is causing your problem:

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : test.co.za
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : test.co.za

Every time I get on a machine that has a DNS suffix defined it never works properly. Here is how DNS resolution works so its failing at one of these points:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727005.aspx

Go to
Start >> Settings >> Control Panel >> Network Connections >>
Right click on your ethernet adapter which you use to connect to the network and hit "Properties"

You will see a list box titled
"This connection uses the following items"
Find "TCP/IP", click on it, and hit the properties item below the list.

An IP Configuration screen will come up. Hit the "Advanced button" in the lower right corner.

An Advanced TCP/IP configuration screen will pop up, go to the "DNS" tab, take a screenshot, and post it back here. I have a feeling once you remove the DNS suffix search your problem will go away. You could also compare the settings in this DNS tab to a working machine and set this machine the same as the working machine.

i cant paste a screenshot?
i took a look at the server that can and the server that cant connect to microsoft and both have append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes checked with the append parent suffixes of primary DNS suffix checked to and at the bottom register this connectio also checked,,,, they are exactly the same , i just checked both again for connectivity one connects one dont , stats are still like i have posted earlier
lol its about 5hours b4 i must go back to work i will speak again later thanks

When you're posting hit the "Go Advanced" button next to "Post Quick Reply". It will take you to another screen where you can click "Manage Attachments" and upload files. At this point I would install a packet sniffer and see what is happening with the DNS requests because i'm out of ideas.

Post the screenshots from the DNS tab if you can.

O wow hey Scott
sorry man I did not see (know) that I have a second page, thought you gave up...lol, thanks yes unfortunately, someone switched the machine off at work and it is after hours so I cant remote in to get the Dns screenshots, I might only get it on Monday
Thank you for all your input and effort
I was/am also at the point where I don’t know how to fix the problem that is why I chose this forum
Have a good weekend
barry

You do the same. We can do a LogMeIn session where I can examine the machine to get it online if we can't get it solved. There are so many possible points of failure when it comes to DNS...

If you're interested in the LogMeIn then shoot me a private message and i'll get you my contact information here at the office and we can get together some time next week.

thanks
b

The last two screenshots were identical .. is that the good machine or the machine with problems?

thanks
barry

The last two screenshots were identical .. is that the good machine or the machine with problems?

its the machine with the problems, the good machine looks exactly the same exept for the ip address.

i am going to close this thread and start a new one with all my interresting news
thanks sknake
greetings
barry