Member Avatar for Rob_M

Hi, all

I am running a small home LAN. I am unable to access web pages from a Win 98 machine-
(Tried IE 6.x, and Firefox1.0.2) E-mail, YIM, etc are all functioning correctly,
and I am able to access the web from the two XP machines on the network. Pings to
known web addresses time out.

I am using McAfee Security Center including Personal Firewall Plus 5.0. I've tried
setting the security levels lower in IE, IU've tried re-setting the LAN settings...
nothing.

Be glad for any suggestions of other places to look.

If not, it just so happens I got the new HDD in the mail today- scandisk has been
finding bad sectors for the last couple of weeks...

Thanks,

Rob

  • 3 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 136 Views
  • 1 Day Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Rob_M

Dani AI

Generated

and were right to start with the firewall; since already tried that, the next steps should narrow whether the problem is at the IP stack, name resolution, browser/proxy or a leftover network filter. The checklist below is ordered to isolate the layer that’s failing without redoing obvious steps.

Run these quick diagnostics on the Win98 box and note results:

winipcfg                 # Win98: check IP, gateway, DNS
ping <gateway-IP>
ping 8.8.8.8
nslookup www.example.com
telnet <public-IP> 80
tracert www.example.com
netstat -an

Interpretation highlights: no IP or a 169.254.x.x address => DHCP/NIC problem; gateway ping fails => cable/NIC/driver or link; gateway OK but external IP fails => router/ISP/firewall; external IP OK but name lookups fail => DNS; DNS OK but HTTP/HTTPS fail => browser/proxy, TLS/cipher mismatch, or a blocking network filter.

Targeted remediation (in priority order): confirm browser proxy is disabled; check C:\Windows\hosts for bad entries; boot Safe Mode with Networking — if web works there, uninstall any network-filtering software and use the vendor removal tool to clean drivers; remove and re-add TCP/IP in Control Panel (this rebuilds Win9x stack), then reboot; reinstall the NIC driver; test with another boot environment (a lightweight Linux live CD or a different machine acting as an HTTP/HTTPS proxy) to separate OS vs hardware. If packet-level analysis is possible, capture traffic from the router or another host to see whether TCP port 80/443 is being reset.

Note for readers opening this years later: very old browsers and Win9x OSes often fail on modern HTTPS sites because of required TLS/ciphers. A plain-HTTP test or an HTTPS-terminating proxy on another LAN machine will quickly show whether protocol age is the blocker. Backups and care when removing security software are essential.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for pcschrottie

Disable the firewall for a test.

Member Avatar for Bad Karma[CORE]

Yopp yopp, first thing to disable is the firewall. Always a good step if u got any network connectivity problems

Member Avatar for Rob_M

Thanks, guys

Tried disabling firewall first thing, B4 I started playing with the LAN settings.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.