Unable to access any web page

[ListerMint]

Computer Specs
AMD Athlon XP 2500+
Windows XP Home Edition SP2
56K modem dial-up

Web Server: Apache 2.0.50

Browsers:
Internet Explorer 6.0.2900 xp_sp2
FireFox 1.0
Netscpape 7.1

Also have:
Norton Antivirus 2004
Zone Alarm 5.5.062.004

I cannot access any web page through any browser. This isn't just secure sites, it's any site. This started a couple of weeks ago. I can access anything I have on my local server, except it quit interpreting the CSS.

Here's what I've tried for remedies:
Ran Spyware Blaster and Ad-Aware, found nothing significant.
Threw away the network connection, made new one.
Followed all the instructions at Microsoft support page
Pinged 6 different sites, nothing happened.
Turned off Popup Blocker in IE6.
Did a System Restore (went back 3 weeks).
Made sure SP2 Security Center Firewall and Antivirus was turned off.
I unistalled; SpywareBlaster, Ad-Aware SE Personal, Zone Alarm, Norton Antivirus

None of that made any difference at all. What else is there to do?

[IJoeR]

First, check that you are connected to the internet. Does you email program work? I see you are on dial-up. Maybe you aren't making a connection to your ISP?

I have ZoneAlarm, PestPatrol and McAfee running on my machine with a cable hookup. I also have XP Pro SP2 with the windows firewall turned on.

You might want to try uninstalling Zonealarm and turning off the windows firewall. Also uninstall your antivirus software. I saw that you tried all that, but maybe for whatever reason the Windows firewall was preventing you from getting out.

Test your modem. See if after you connect to your ISP if you have an IP #.

When you first installed ZoneAlarm and launched a browser window did ZoneAlarm ask if it was ok for your browser to connect to the internet?

[ListerMint]

On my PC, I use Netscape's email and Outlook. Neither one works.
My connection to my ISP works. I get connection speed and ISP number.
I have already unistalled ZA and Norton twice. Once with SP2 firewall on and once with it off.
ZA did ask me for permissions for IE6, FireFox, Netscape, Netcape email, and OutLook. I checked the preferences in ZA and all those programs preferences are set correctly.

Interestingly, my son's laptop is having the same problem. He does not have SP2 or ZA. His modem works fine, but he can't go to any web site either.

[eagle-guy]

On occassion I have had that problem with Windows XP, i never figured out why. It has something to do with the dialup settings . What I do is use system restore, and restore it to the last time that it would access the internet properly. After that it always works fine. Now any time i install a new program, i create restore points, before and after the installation. That is in addition to XP's automatic restore points.

Just keep in mind though, that any programs, etc that have been installed including some directories might not exist after using system restore. Good luck!

[eagle-guy]

With all the Firewalls running, try to deactivate Mcafee and see if that makes a difference. One thing with XP is that if XP firewall and mcafee conflict, even if you disable mcafee firewall, you can't reactivate it sometimes without re-booting. I would try to deactivate your firewalls one at a time and see if there is a conflict there. Personally i only run Mcafee and Windows Firewall

[ListerMint]

Sorry it took so long to respond. I have 3 computers. The desktop PC and the laptop both had the access problem. I was able to browse using my Mac. Then it stop being able to access web pages. So, I couldn't answer the forum.:'(

Eagle-guy, I only have one firewall, ZoneAlarm, running. The SP2 firewall is disabled.

Regardless, it appears there were data packets being dropped during the "handshake" which which may have been part of the problem. That is just a guess, because for reasons unknown to mankind everything has started working again! I can now access everything that be web related. Bizarre!

All those things I did to try to solve that problem were apparently an exercise in futility. None of it made any difference at all. Don't you just love computers?!?

Thanks for the responses.