Can't get through security

[bruce]

Yes, you need to file a formal trouble report with your ISP. Your ISP has to have somebody who can support those sites. I don't buy either (A) the "improper" website or (B) the change of IP address. explanation. Though I doubt it will fix the problem, tell him you need a new modem/router as this one must be defective. It might get the trouble call escalated to somebody who knows what they're doing.

[Hughesy26]

Thanks Joe/Bruce.

Wow...I didn't know it was going to be this hard! That last call to the ISP was nearly an hour, and it sounds live I've got a way to get yet!

At least I've managed to install a few clients on work PCs so I'm contributing in the meantime...

[Hughesy26]

So another 30 minute call to the ISP and not much closer sadly. Nearly time to give up I think.

They were adamant that it was not a problem at their end, as changing my ip address gave me access to assign2.stanford.edu.

I've tried downloading a programme called hide-my-ip and whilst that seems to let me access the websites, it doesn't actually get the client to work (and pings get 100% lost)

So close but yet so far...

[bruce]

Ask them how you can expose your computer directly to the internet by disabling whatever security they're providing other than NAT, which would still be required. Maybe that will give us a clue what we're working with.

[I changed the title of this topic to more accurately reflect what we're talking about and moved the topic.]

[Hughesy26]

Thanks Bruce. I'm not sure if the problem is with a setting on my router now. My dad uses the same ISP and has the same router and he can access assign2.stanford.edu using the out-the-box settings on the router.

Think that changes the question I need to ask my ISP, but not sure how lol

[bruce]

Do you have any add-on security software on your computer?

[Hughesy26]

Yes normally I have an AV program, but I don't think it's that because mylaptop can fold fine when I'm at work, but as soom as I go home it can't connect. I've also tried uninstalling the AV and that didnt help.

[rwh202]

Do you have any proxy servers or configurations under Control Panel> internet options > Connections > LAN settings ?
I only ask, because when I had a work supplied laptop, it would use a script to configure these settings depending on whether I was connected to the work or external network - it would sometimes either get confused and try and route through an unreachable proxy or just block certain domains etc.

[Hughesy26]

Nope nothing in there, but thanks for the suggestion

As my personal desktop won't connect either (and I have never taken it to work!) I can't imagine it's something to do with my work internet settings

All I can come up with is that either 1) my router is somehow faulty or 2) my ISP is indeed blocked by Stanford. I have a dynamic IP so wil try and force it to reset overnight.

[7im]

Try taking your laptop to your dads house and see if folding at home works over there. If it does work with out-of-the-box settings on his router, you may need to do a factory reset on your router at home.

In the network settings for the laptop, is the IP address and DNS set to obtain automatically, or are there specific settings in those fields?

[Hughesy26]

My dad lives 130miles away so not easy just to go there to test. But I just tried doing a factory restart on my router and still no joy

I've not been able to force a new IP - after some googling it seems that whilst I have a dynamic IP my ISP gives out fairly sticky IPs, so they rarely change

The DNS settings ony laptop are filled in when I'm at work (8.8.8.8. To get around the openDNS filtering at work). But when I'm home the laptop DNS settings are blank

The PCs DNS settings are blank. It was new a couple of weeks ago so windows freshly installed and everything is default settings

[bruce]

I think that an undefined DNS setting uses whatever the router is using, and that might be an important observation.

You should be able to manually set the DNS to point to 8.8.8.8 (google) or to any other DNS supplier that you can connect to on the internet, which would eliminate at least one more variable.