A desperate plea for tech help!

[glennab]

Hi OPR-sters

It's the ever-missing GK, still trying to figure out why I can't get on our forum at home.  Everything logical I've tried has been a bust.  I feel like the personification of the definition of crazy: "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

Here's the situation: I can get on the forum at work with both my MAC and a pc laptop.  No problem, no slowdown, perfect.  At home, I can't access the forum on my MAC or my husband's PC and I get an error 404, which means the page is missing - which it obviously isn't.  I googled error 404 and got WAY more information that I could ever use, and no help with my issue.  I suspect it's a Firewall or Permissions problem originating at my MAC, because Lon has to access the internet through a router that's connected to the MAC.  If any of you has a suggestion as to something I might try, I'd be grateful.  I've gone through all my preferences for the operating system (which is, I think, the culprit, since I have the same glitch with both Firefox and Safari), and can find nothing to indicate a problem.

Pleeeze, pleeze help me.  I'm overwhelmed with withdrawal!  All that's keeping me going are the "impossibles" I'm trying to restore, and my few minutes with you at lunch.  Oh woe!

Hugs

GK

[Mhayes]

Hi GK,

Did you try Christine's suggestion of a new router? Do you have any Mac stores where you live that you can call. Also, do you have any Best Buy stores close as the have Geek Squads that make house calls and they now carry Macs?

Sorry I can't be of more help--hope you get the problem fixed soon!

Margie

[schen]

GK, did you get 404 only from OPR forum? all OPR pages? some other websites? all websites?

[glennab]

Margie, The Geek Squad caused us so much hassle when Lon got his computer that I wouldn't go there. And they know nothing about Macs - or at least they didn't the last time I tried to engage one of their crew in a conversation about one.

Shujen, so far I've been able to access everything I've tried except our forum.  Nothing else gives me the Error 404. Even sites for which I've allowed automatic use of my user name and password are okay (I thought that might be the problem).  Some sites are a bit slower than normal, but other than that my only problem is the forum.

Thanks for putting your thoughts into this.  It's probably something simple that I'm overlooking, but it's making me bananas!

GK

[Mhayes]

GK, you didn't say whether you checked out the router? Any luck posting to the NAPP site with you problem?

Margie

[glennab]

Margie, I did check the router. Unplugged everything for about 45 minutes.  Still NADA.

I'm about to go on NAPP's forum and any other I can think of.  I was pretty arrogant thinking I could solve this baby alone.  TOOOPID!

GK

[lurch]

Glenna,

Are you using the same service provider at home as you do at work? The problem maybe could might be a glitch in your ISP's domain name server. If your home and work provider aren't the same, try Open DNS (www.opendns.com).

[Hannie]

Glenna, If you get a 404 error it actually means that whatever you're trying to load just isn't there anymore, has been renamed or hasn't been mapped to be available externally.  
Making a change in the preferences I don't think will do anything.

Maybe your IP is banned?
I don't think it is anything simple that you can fix from your side.  Either your hosting provider or system administrator (John) can help you fix this.

Good luck!

Hannie

[cmpentecost]

Glenna,

Is your computer linked DIRECTLY to the modem, or is it linked via the router?  If it's linked via the router, try plugging your computer internet cable DIRECTLY into the modem, so it's a direct modem connection.  If you can then access the forum page, then you will know it's a router problem.  I had this EXACT same problem, and it turned out to be a router problem.  Keep us posted and good luck.

Christine

p.s. Another option is to call a small, local computer business, versus the big box stores.  I think you'll get much better service.

[schen]

I am wondering whether you are blocked from access to the page or failed authentication.  Your browser may have stored the username and password and tried to authenticate when you click on the forum.  Did you try to clear the cookies?  Try a computer had never been used to access OPR forum on your home network?

[battleaxe]

This is what I did one day.....maybe you are doing it.

Are you using you drop down  or retyping the site link.  If you are always using the drop down in your browser , you may have typed it wrong and are reusing it.   Try retyping the site name again.

[VBrestorer]

Glenna:
I think "Battleaxe" is on the right track.  Here's what I'd do:

While at work, access the OPR forum.  Then 'copy' the URL that got you there, and paste it into whatever Mac's equivalent of a Notepad file is (just a plain text file editor) -- I'm a PC user so I don't know my way around a Mac.  Then email the file with the copied URL in it to yourself at home.  Once you get home, open the email attachment, copy the URL from the file, then paste it into the address field of your browser on your home Mac.  If that doesn't work, then you at least know that it is not the URL that's causing you the problem.  If it does work, then I'd look at the Properties of the icon you use to access the OPR forum to see if the URL there is different, and change it if necessary.

Good luck.

Larry

[glennab]

BA & Larry

I'm about to leave for home, and I've copied the url from here to try at home.  Good thought.  I retyped it earlier on, but didn't think to copy and paste.

Shujen, I've cleared cookies, cakes, chocolates – history, personal history - heaven knows what I've wiped in doing that.  But no cigar.

And Chris, I'm hooked directly into a router, and Lon's access is wireless.  I'm not sure I have an actual modem.  But I did disconnect for 45 minutes per your suggestion and still no difference.

Thanks so much for your input.  You're all awesome troubleshooters, and I so appreciate your sharing your expertise with me.

Later this evening look for either fireworks or tons of blue smoke!

Hugs

GK

[cmpentecost]

Glenna, you have to have a modem...that's what connects you to the internet!  If it's like my set up, you should have a cable running from the modem to the router.  Disconnect that cable from the router and plug it directly into your computer.  Or, perhaps it's the router plugged into your computer, but you need that ethernet cable going directly between modem and computer.  Unplug the router if you need to, to totally eliminate that aspect of it all.  IF you can access the forum this way, then you know it's the router that is causing you problems.  Because you cannot access the forum on your computer and Lon's computer, I believe you have a router problem.

Chris

[John]

this is the link to the forum in case you didn't get a chance to copy and paste: http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/