Why wont website load properly?

I used to be able to access the site (www.game.co.uk) without any issues. In the past month or so however, I have been struggling to get the site to work properly on my PC.

When I try and load the site, in any browser (except IE6) the menu bar accross the top of the screen displays, but then the site hangs, and displays nothing else. If I stop scripts running on the site, the site will display, but not properly.

I have even gone though the process of resetting my machine to factory defaults (its a dell pc) and the site will still not load properly.

I am using the BT home hub which I have reset several times but the problem persists.

Does anyone have any ideas what might be going on here?

Post deleted by Apprentice

I've got a similarly strange problem - I can't access the Packard Bell website.

None of the computers in my household (all running Internet Explorer 8 now) can load the site - I just get a blank page and the message "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage". I have tried turning off the firewall/anti-virus/Ad-Aware and connecting to my router (Netgear DG834N) with a cable rather than wirelessly with no luck.

This applies to both the www.packardbell.com and www.packardbell.co.uk sites and any pages in them that I try to follow links to. I know that the sites are working because I have accessed them at work.

The rest of the internet is working fine for me.

Any ideas gratefully accepted.

Don

To both posters

• install a second browser e.g. Google Chrome
• ensure you have latest version of Adobe Flash Player - note that the ActiveX version for Internet Explorer tends to be a separate install from the plugin for Firefox / Chrome. Untick if toolbars are offered - uinless you really want them
• if using Firefox add-ons, create a separate Firefox profile with no add-ons so you can compare behaviour under a vanilla profile
• try visiting the site via an anonymous proxy
• does your router have any security / blocking features which could be a factor?
• is your ISP giving valid DNS replies for those sites - you can check using OpenDNS
  e.g.

  Text
  1	nslookup www.packardbell.co.uk. 208.67.222.222

Edited by prlzx (Thu 09-Jul-09 01:20:18)

Thanks, I switched to OpenDNS and the problem was cured.

Then I set my router back to using DNS automaticly assigned by my ISP, and it still works.

Presumably something to do with flushing a cache or somesuch, but way over my head.....

Ta

Don

I would add to that good advice that I had similar problems after installing IE8 that I never managed to fully solve.

I eventually installed Firefox 3.5 and it works to all websites, not just some. Firefox is far from perfect but it does work.

In reply to a post by prlzx:

To both posters

• install a second browser e.g. Google Chrome
• ensure you have latest version of Adobe Flash Player - note that the ActiveX version for Internet Explorer tends to be a separate install from the plugin for Firefox / Chrome. Untick if toolbars are offered - uinless you really want them
• if using Firefox add-ons, create a separate Firefox profile with no add-ons so you can compare behaviour under a vanilla profile
• try visiting the site via an anonymous proxy
• does your router have any security / blocking features which could be a factor?
• is your ISP giving valid DNS replies for those sites - you can check using OpenDNS
  e.g.

  Text
  1	nslookup www.packardbell.co.uk. 208.67.222.222

{i}Have tried several browsers now, and it only loads in Opera, although it does take about 45 seconds to load fully.
{ii}Have updated Flash Player, didnt solve the problem
{iii}Have tried creating a new profile in FF, this didnt solve the issue.
{iv}The site works properly when veiwed via we proxy (PROXIFY)
{v}Dont think my BT home hub is blocking it, although I dont know what to check if it is. I have reset the hub several times and tried with the firewall turned off but still no joy.
{vi}Tried the NSLOOKUP feature in a commend prompt using 208.67.222.222 and without. These are the two results.

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>nslookup www.game.co.uk
Server: api.home
Address: 192.168.1.254

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.game.co.uk
Address: 213.221.183.69


C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>nslookup www.game.co.uk 208.67.222.222
Server: resolver1.opendns.com
Address: 208.67.222.222

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.game.co.uk.home
Address: 67.215.65.132


Any more ideas?

So, I tried another router and guess what, it works!!!

The BT Home Hub is the cuplrit. Not sure how this could be as I have reset the thing several times.

How might the hub be causing this problem?

What are the MTU settings of each router you've tried?

Wow! I'm having EXACTLY the same problem and it's so annoying.
Is there any way around this other than to use a different router?
I believe that the MTU is fixed at 1500 on the v2 Home Hub with no way to change it.

In reply to a post by Fantasmo:

Wow! I'm having EXACTLY the same problem and it's so annoying.
Is there any way around this other than to use a different router?
I believe that the MTU is fixed at 1500 on the v2 Home Hub with no way to change it.

You can change the MTU on your PC which will have the same effect.

No. Increase the MTU on your PC and not on your router and you will get fragmentation and a decrease in performance.

In reply to a post by AnotherExPipex:

No. Increase the MTU on your PC and not on your router and you will get fragmentation and a decrease in performance.

Only a fool would increase the MTU above 1500. The purpose is to decrease it.

I'm glad you agree that changing the MTU on the PC is not the same as changing it on the router.

In reply to a post by AnotherExPipex:

I'm glad you agree that changing the MTU on the PC is not the same as changing it on the router.

I agree that increasing the MTU on the PC to be more than on the router is a bad idea but decreasing it on the PC will have the same effect as decreasing it on the router.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

You can change the MTU on your PC which will have the same effect.

Did follow the instructions on Kitz a couple of weeks back to no avail unfortunately.
Very strange and I wonder how a router could possibly stop a website from loading with Javascript enabled.
Not the end of the world and the least of my problems at the moment.
Thanks for the feedback as always.

In reply to a post by hungledink:

So, I tried another router and guess what, it works!!!

The BT Home Hub is the cuplrit. Not sure how this could be as I have reset the thing several times.

How might the hub be causing this problem?

Hi, you could fix your Home Hub as the demonstration here.

A serious demonstration of the BT Home Hub quality capabilities here.