Proboards issues

[FarmGirl]

Okay, so I have been trying to access some sites hosted by Proboards, and the comp, she says she doesn't want to do that. "Page cannot be displayed," in better words.
The only sites she won't access are the proboards, no problem with any others.
I just ran a full scan, nothing found.
Any ideas on IDing/remedying this?

[TurkishMonky]

it's probably their server, not your comp, if i'm reading it correctly. try back later.

[FarmGirl]

I forgot to mention that they're working fine for the rest.
My apologies, though I will keep trying.

[Mithrandir]

I've never seen an error message quite like that. Can you cut and paste the error, or maybe take a screen shot and show us. Also, IE doesn't give good error messages. You may wanna look at it in Firefox to see a bit more information.

[FarmGirl]

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/3685/mocking8dv.png
Hopes for that helping at all...
I'm not in a position to change anything on this comp, I'd have to ask Dad (on nightshift) before loading anything. *Prayers for a smooth rebuild*

[Kaligraphic]

That looks like a 404 - check that url that doesn't work, it may be incorrect or have been changed.

[Tringard]

as was said previously, it is likely a server error for proboards. Another forum I frequent was once hosted there, but the problems we had (stability problems) led us to move to a new server.

If it happens again (or is still happening) you can check proboard's server status on their main page. from this thread it looks like at least one server was down yesterday.

[FarmGirl]

To specify further, this is a localized problem.
As far as I can tell, I'm the only one affected- absolutely no sites by proboards will load, not even the mother site.
Is it possible for comps to simply become "immune" to a certain type of thing? Far fetched, but it's starting to make sense from this end (either that, or Norton's pulling a fast one [/outlandish_theories]).

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Perhaps another browser might work? Try firefox (http://www.mozilla.com)

[Mithrandir]

MSP has a point. All IE error messages look the same: What you are looking at above. If you use a browser like firefox, you might get a different error message, might would make it easier for us to help you.

[FarmGirl]

Just to be sure, can I revert back to IE/delete Firefox if needed (have never loaded anything of this nature off the web)?

[Mithrandir]

If you really want to, yes, you can put IE back on instead of firefox. HOWEVER, I would like to point out that IE has many more security holes than Firefox does. When I go to a website I KNOW needs IE, then I'll use it (but only if I've gone there before. If I stumble across a site that just happens to require IE, I typically don't go to that site. In fact, the place I work out has set Firefox as the default supported web browser instead of IE, based mostly on the secuirty issues.

Firefox will not make IE stop working. It's just another browser you can use. I'd recommend against deleting it, but if you really want to, you certainly can. Try using the "Tab" features in Firefox before you decide to delete it, though.

You can download firefox from:
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox

[FarmGirl]

http://xs69.xs.to/pics/06081/webbies.png
Must say, I am impressed with the browser, thank you.

[Mithrandir]

I kind of thought you might like firefox. Everyone I've "converted" has. There's a reason it's got 10% of the market after only a year of official release. And now back to our program...

Hmm...

http://marymoongirl.proboards70.com/

When I go there, I have no trouble getting to the site. I suspect you have a larger issue going on with your computer.

Is this your computer? I ask because some people are very protective of their hardware. I would not want my children doing what I am about to suggest - not because it can mess up the computer, but because I always like to do this kind of stuff myself. If it's your machine, go ahead and do this. If not, you may want to pass this advice on to the machine's owner:

Three things come to mind immediately when I see a site not resolving. You said you "scanned" your machine, but didn't say what for. I'll include both of these below, then.

1. Malware/Adware/Spyware. Try downloading and installing adaware to see if you have spyware/malware on your computer. It's a good program to have around anyway and doesn't noticably slow down any system I've installed it on. I always recommend a program named "Ad-Aware SE Personal" that you can download here:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

2. Virus. If you have virus scanning software, be sure to run it and see if there's something infecting your machine.

3. Bad DNS. Something looks to be mucking with your DNS and that's not usually a good sign. You may have to manually add marymoongirl.proboards70.com to your hosts file (it maps to 67.15.146.40 as near as I can tell).


If you don't understand/can't do/need more info about anything here, just let us know, ok?

[FarmGirl]

It's the family comp, though Dad and I use it most. I'm allowed to troubleshoot/load/delete, as long as I don't do anything incredibly stupid to her (ex.: deleting anything that includes the letters "DOS." This is evidently frowned upon).
The scan found a bunch of cookies and a couple of old, unused software files and deleted them. Looks like it's number three.
As far as I can remember I've never done the task described for this one (just got serious about computing about six months ago). How does one accomplish this?

[Mithrandir]

It looks like you might be able to use the directions at:
http://accs-net.com/hosts/how_to_use_hosts.html
to get there. If that doesn't work for you, let us know a bit more about your setup (what OS are you using, etc).

[FarmGirl]

Thank you! It's fixed now. I saved the code in case I fixed it too much, but the proboards sites are loading now.
Again, thanks.