This problem only popped up two days ago, I've had difficulty getting into the site, when usually it pops up instantly. I thought DLP was down, but when I visited a computer shop to check the site, everything seems to be working.

I guess the problem is with my laptop, but I could visit any other site except for DLP just fine. Does it have to do with my ISP? I don't have any websites blocked in my internet browsers.

I tried chrome, firefox and internet explorer, and the all of them couldn't load the DLP website.

(Right now I'm using someone else's computer.)

 

Are you using a friend's computer at their place, or at yours?

If the former, try unplugging/restating your router. If the latter...I got nothin'.

 

I've heard of a problem occurring that sounds similar to yours: only one website stops working, can be accessed from anywhere else. It's usually caused by viewing a site using the same router from two different places or by two applications at once - that puts your IP address on a band list, and causes the certain site to become inaccessible.

If that's the case try changing your MAC address slightly from your router, reboot and reset your modem.

 

Whereabouts in the world do you live? A lot of people have been having trouble with international traffic since the submarine cables went down after the quake in Japan. Different ISPs route traffic preferentially through different cables, so it's not unknown to have trouble connecting with one ISP, and then jump onto a connection at the computer store with a rival ISP and get a speedy connection.

If it's not that, then here's some trouble shooting steps to take.

Make sure to copy/paste any error messages, and take careful note of what happens and when.

1. Try connecting to all three of these

http://forums.darklordpotter.net/
https://forums.darklordpotter.net/
http://75.126.162.155/

Perhaps your system is having trouble negotiating a secure https connection. If the direct IP address link doesn't work... well, that'd be annoying.

2. Ping forums.darklordpotter.net - you should see a return address of 75.126.162.155

Code:

C:\Users\G73JH>ping forums.darklordpotter.net

Pinging forums.darklordpotter.net [75.126.162.155] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 75.126.162.155: bytes=32 time=303ms TTL=51
Reply from 75.126.162.155: bytes=32 time=299ms TTL=51
Reply from 75.126.162.155: bytes=32 time=306ms TTL=51
Reply from 75.126.162.155: bytes=32 time=323ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 75.126.162.155:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 299ms, Maximum = 323ms, Average = 307ms

If your result looks something like that, then you know that the domain name is resolving to the correct IP address.

If the PING fails, then make sure that you try this:

Code:

C:\Users\G73JH>nslookup forums.darklordpotter.net
Server:  home.gateway
Address:  192.168.1.254

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    forums.darklordpotter.net
Address:  75.126.162.155

If everything is okay here, then:

3. tracert forums.darklordpotter.net and then post the results here

Code:

C:\>tracert forums.darklordpotter.net

Tracing route to forums.darklordpotter.net [75.126.162.155]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  home.gateway [192.168.1.254]
  2    53 ms    51 ms    54 ms  lns20.per1.internode.on.net [150.101.0.206]
  3    57 ms    54 ms    54 ms  gi0-2-3.cor1.per1.internode.on.net [150.101.0.17
7]
  4   269 ms   263 ms   267 ms  gi6-0-9.cor1.per2.internode.on.net [150.101.0.18
6]
  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  6   265 ms   266 ms   265 ms  pos6-0.bdr1.adl6.internode.on.net [150.101.225.4
5]
  7   261 ms   261 ms   263 ms  pos1-0-0.bdr1.syd7.internode.on.net [203.16.212.
18]
  8   384 ms   298 ms   297 ms  pos5-0.bdr1.sjc2.internode.on.net [203.16.213.16
2]
  9   271 ms   267 ms   267 ms  te1-7.bbr01.eq01.sjc01.networklayer.com [206.223
.116.176]
 10   291 ms   288 ms   289 ms  po1.bbr02.eq01.sjc01.networklayer.com [173.192.1
8.165]
 11   285 ms   269 ms   267 ms  po3.bbr02.cs01.lax01.networklayer.com [173.192.1
8.151]
 12   317 ms   292 ms   289 ms  po5.bbr01.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com [173.192.1
8.140]
 13   322 ms   322 ms   319 ms  po5.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com [173.192.1
8.191]
 14   290 ms   301 ms   295 ms  po1.fcr02.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com [66.228.11
8.178]
 15   293 ms   290 ms   330 ms  rave5.com [75.126.162.155]

Trace complete.

 

Thanks yak blaise and palindrome. I live at the edge of the Pacific ocean. (the tsunami actually hit the beach, though its height was only around 60cm.)

I've tried almost everything, ping the website, reset the wifi router, install spybot S&D, antivirus thorough scan, but every twelve hours, I manage to connect to DLP and then it's cut off again. It's like I'm being rationed my DLP time, so I've taken to saving webpages of the stories I follow in wba thread to read later.

When everything connects smoothly like this time, ping works fine and all for data packets were received. When I can't connect to DLP it's always a 100% loss. I guess it's my ISP that has the problem. This started after the tsunami and earthquake struck, but why is DLP the only website affected out of the dozens and dozens I regularly check everyday?

 

Do the tracert.

tracert forums.darklordpotter.net

We need to see the tracert results. Copy/paste. Show us what it looks like when DLP's working. And show us what it looks like when it's blocked.

Also do the nslookup forums.darklordpotter.net when you can't access DLP too. Does it still resolve to the correct IP [75.126.162.155]? If it doesn't resolve properly, then copy/paste the results to this as well: tracert 75.126.162.155

In the meantime, can't you read DLP anonymously through a public web proxy? Just don't login anywhere, including DLP. You won't get WbA and usergroups, but you'll see everything else.

 

Here's the screenshots when I couldn't connect to DLP. Again, thanks Yak.

 

How curious. Your connection seems to be A-OK, up until it tries to change networks from NTT to NetworkLayer [DLP's host's network], where it seems to fall in a hole. Some connections are getting through, though. Of your 4 pings, 3 failed, but 1 made it to DLP.

Your connection goes from PLDT [Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.] to NTT [Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation]. At this point, I thought "Ha! It's the Japanese connection which is dying due to the quake." But that isn't it. You route over the Pacific just fine, and stay with NTT's network through Los Angeles, California, and eventually to Dallas, Texas. That's where the problem happens.

You should be going from a dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net router to a dal01.networklayer.com router. This is internet backbone stuff, and Dallas, Texas is where your connection is supposed to swap from one major internet carrier [NTT] to another [NetworkLayer]. That's not happening.

If you want to see what the connection should look like for yourself, you can use the NTT Looking Glass tool. Many internet providers have them, but I couldn't find one for PLDT, unfortunately. It allows you to check a carrier's network without having to be physically part of the network.

http://www.us.ntt.net/support/looking-glass/

Set the Router as Los Angeles, CA - US
Query: Traceroute
Specify FQDN: darklordpotter.net [or, Specify IP: 75.126.162.155]

You can see from the results, that the connection always gets through. It crosses the border from NTT to NetworkLayer just fine. The connection from LA to darklordpotter.net seems to sit around 30-40ms.

Code:

Tracing the route to darklordpotter.net (75.126.162.155)

  1 ae-1.r20.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.253) [MPLS: Label 676192 Exp 0] 0 msec
    ae-1.r21.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.249) [MPLS: Label 433952 Exp 0] 24 msec
    ae-1.r20.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.253) [MPLS: Label 676192 Exp 0] 0 msec
  2 ae-0.r20.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.33) [MPLS: Labels 411313/518837 Exp 0] 4 msec
    ae-4.r20.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.169) [MPLS: Label 518837 Exp 0] 36 msec
    ae-0.r20.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.33) [MPLS: Labels 411313/518837 Exp 0] 4 msec
  3 ae-2.r07.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.67) 36 msec
    ae-4.r20.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.169) [MPLS: Label 518837 Exp 0] 36 msec
    ae-2.r07.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.67) 36 msec
  4 ae-2.r07.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.67) 36 msec
    ae2.bbr01.eq01.dal03.networklayer.com (157.238.224.226) 52 msec
    ae-2.r07.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.67) 36 msec
  5 po6.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.211) [AS 36351] [MPLS: Label 8004 Exp 0] 36 msec
    ae2.bbr01.eq01.dal03.networklayer.com (157.238.224.226) 36 msec
    po6.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.211) [AS 36351] [MPLS: Label 8004 Exp 0] 36 msec
  6 po6.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.211) [AS 36351] [MPLS: Label 8004 Exp 0] 36 msec
    po1.fcr02.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.178) [AS 36351] 40 msec
    po6.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.211) [AS 36351] [MPLS: Label 8004 Exp 0] 36 msec
  7 darklordpotter.net (75.126.162.155) [AS 36351] 36 msec
    po1.fcr02.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.178) [AS 36351] 36 msec
    darklordpotter.net (75.126.162.155) [AS 36351] 36 msec

We can also try this traceroute in the other direction. By using SoftLayer's Looking Glass, we can go from the Dallas, Texas NetworkLayer router all the way pack to PLDT without issue. http://lg.softlayer.com/

Code:

Tracing the route to 112.202.128.1.pldt.net (112.202.128.1)

  1 cer01.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.128) [MPLS: Label 31 Exp 0] 0 msec 0 msec 0 msec
  2 po1.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.201) [MPLS: Label 10751 Exp 0] 4 msec 0 msec 0 msec
  3 ae6.bbr01.eq01.dal03.networklayer.com (173.192.18.210) 12 msec 0 msec 0 msec
  4 border3.lacp-10.softlayerexempt-4.ext1.dal.pnap.net (63.251.44.49) 0 msec 0 msec 0 msec
  5 core2.tge5-1-bbnet1.ext1.dal.pnap.net (216.52.191.33) [AS INTERNAP-2BLK] 0 msec
    core2.tge5-2-bbnet2.ext1.dal.pnap.net (216.52.191.97) [AS INTERNAP-2BLK] 4 msec 4 msec
  6 xe-0-4-0-1.r07.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (157.238.224.193) [AS NTT-COMMUNICATIONS-2914] 0 msec 4 msec 0 msec
  7 ae-2.r21.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.173) [AS NTT-COMMUNICATIONS-2914] [MPLS: Label 653936 Exp 0] 0 msec 4 msec 0 msec
  8 ae-4.r21.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.25) [AS NTT-COMMUNICATIONS-2914] [MPLS: Label 684011 Exp 0] 52 msec 44 msec 44 msec
  9 ae-0.r20.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.96) [AS NTT-COMMUNICATIONS-2914] 40 msec 40 msec 176 msec
 10 p64-4-1-0.r20.snjsca04.us.ce.gin.ntt.net (128.241.219.222) [AS NTT-COMMUNICATIONS-2914] 184 msec 192 msec 184 msec
 11 210.213.133.10.static.pldt.net (210.213.133.10) [AS IPG-AS-AP] 188 msec 188 msec 188 msec
 12  *  *  *
 13  *  *  *
 14 210.213.128.29.static.pldt.net (210.213.128.29) [AS IPG-AS-AP] 200 msec 188 msec 188 msec
 15 210.213.130.85.static.pldt.net (210.213.130.85) [AS IPG-AS-AP] 188 msec 200 msec 200 msec
 16 119.93.254.202 [AS IPG-AS-AP] 224 msec *  184 msec

I'm not sure why your connection is failing at the NetworkLayer.com border, while NTT and NL's diagnostic tools seem to indicate that things are okay. I'm not sure if this a problem that's entirely beyond your control or not. I'll post these details somewhere else, and see what advice I can get.

Unless you know what's going on, Raven?

---------- Post automerged at 10:12 ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 ----------

Actually, I've got another test for you, Aaltwal. Here are 50 sites which are all hosted by SoftLayer, and are in the same network block as DLP. See if you can reach any of them when DLP is down for you. Checking 5 sites should be enough.

http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/hosted?netname=SOFTLAYER-NETBLOCK4,75.126.0.0,75.126.255.255

Please post a traceroute to any one of them, and just list the 4 or so other sites you checked.

If that link is unreachable, then you might also take a look at some other SoftLayer sites here. I'm not sure which of these are in DLP's IP block though. http://www.markosweb.com/hosting/softlayer+technologies/

 

Another PLDT customer was having similar troubles some years ago. They were able to solve them by using non-PLDT DNS servers. This might help you. Honestly, it's a bit of a stab in the dark.

PLDT Customer: http://www.viloria.com/secondthoughts/archives/00001527.html

If you feel comfortable changing your DNS settings, then I recommend using Google's public DNS servers: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Here's hoping that this gets you some relief.

http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

Follow Google's instructions to the letter. If you screw up your new DNS settings, then you're going to need your old ones in your hand, because you won't be able to get online to find help.

 

(Bows before yak's brilliance)

I changed my DNS settings to Google's advice, and it worked, usually, it's around this time that I can't connect to DLP.

 

Great! I now know far more about Filipino ISPs than I ever wanted to.

It's a little strange. That last link should have worked for you if it was just your DNS server being dodgy. It's why I didn't think this was a DNS problem. Huh... maybe I'm missing something.

Anyway, I'm glad that it's all working now.

Google's DNS is probably going to be very reliable [because it's Google], but it won't be the fastest browsing experience. The DNS servers are both in the US, and that extra distance will add a small delay on every site you're trying to browse to. You could try finding a DNS server closer to home if you want.

There are other problems which using a US DNS will cause. Read this brief LifeHacker article: Why Google DNS Sucks For Aussies.

A slightly longer, and better, article about it is: Why using Google DNS / OpenDNS is a bad idea. These problems are only for people in non-US locations. iTunes, Windows Updates, all Akamai services [and all other global CDN-hosted services] will be negatively affected, sometimes to the point of not working at all.

If you can't find a public Filipino DNS server, then switching to OpenDNS might be a better option for you. They've recently opened a new server in Singapore. I don't know how closely connected Singapore and the Philippines are in a network topology sense right now, but work is about to begin on a major upgrade. http://www.apb-news.com/news/527-asian-telcos-join-forces-in-submarine-cable-deal.html

...Actually, I just remembered that you can set two DNS servers: a main and a backup. Place one of the PLDT servers as your main DNS, and use one of the Google servers as your backup DNS. Hopefully that'll prevent any future issues. 99% of the time, you should be just fine relying on the PLDT server, and the Google one will automatically be used when PLDT fails.

 

Thanks for dropping this knowledge here for the rest of us Yak.