(cross-post added to Vista Networking)
"Baffin" wrote in message
...
IE7 works fine for hours, then stops being able to find web sites. It's been
happening for months, usually in the evening after the computer has been
active all day, as a minor annoyance, and I wonder if anyone can provide a
clue to the solution.

Here's the situation:

Hours of browsing, then suddenly IE7 gets stuck on "Waiting for
http://www.google.com" (for example). Meanwhile, WLM can check for mail, and
ssh works. If I open another window and talk with my gateway, the gateway
says everything is fine, including DNS.


That will just be a local address, so the DNS isn't really being tested.


If I open Firefox2, it also cannot
reach web sites (it gets stuck on "Looking up www.google.com"). This
persists for maybe a minute. Then (perhaps after closing all IE7 windows)
IE7 will trigger a ZoneLabs alert saying it wants to be a server.


What does that mean?


This isn't
normal, but if I say Allow to it, IE7 will function properly. From then on,
IE7 and FF2 will upon start-up ask to be a server. A computer restart will
reset that -- both browsers will go back to just being clients.

I've obviously got ZoneLabs ZoneAlarm installed. It is configured to ask me
if IE7 or FF2 want to be servers.


Have you asked ZoneLabs about this symptom?



If this problem is happening to other people who are not running ZoneAlarm,


You haven't identified a problem yet. All you have is a few unanalysed symptoms.
In order to find out what symptom your unidentified problem would cause
"other people" why not try using the Windows firewall only instead? ; )


it would presumably appear as if IE7 and FF2 suddenly stop for a while, then
start again (unknown to them, as servers).


FWIW one thing that happens to me with my DSL is XP loses the PPPoE
connection and tries to connect locally through my modem (configured as
a bridge). Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't but it usually
at least has performance problems (such as slow or unattainable lookups)
with it when it is trying to connect locally. What I do now when this happens
is force OE or WLMail to make a connection (e.g. check for mail with Ctrl-M.)
I have both of them configured to connect only on the PPPoE connection,
(instead of "any" connection) so if it isn't there I then get an automatic redial
and everything starts working normally again.



Of course the source of this behaviour could be anything in the internet
chain. I don't think it is external, however (ie., I don't think Google and
all other web sites are simultaneously going non-responsive for minutes).

Since mail and other (non-http?) protocols seem to be unaffected, I don't
think it's my internet provider.


You would have to do a packet trace to find out what the real differences are
but what you might see is that no lookup is being done, e.g. if those apps
save the IP address and reuse it or you might see different timeouts being
used by the different protocols, etc.



Since IE and FF are both affected, I don't think it's the browser (but I'm
posting here anyway, as a starting point) (and it's traditional to blame the
thing you see ).

Here's the chain in my system:

DSL to a SpeedTouch gateway, 585 v6 (firewall on)
Dell Inspiron 531 desktop running:
Nvida network controller
ZoneAlarm (firewall)
Vista Home Premium (firewall off)

Any ideas? Any suggestions on things I could check during the dead time?


What does ipconfig /all show? If you never see any sign of your PPPoE
connection (e.g. if you have your modem configured as a firewall) then
you should connect to its admin panel and verify you still have that connection
and prove that it is working that way.


BTW I don't have Vista and this is probably better addressed to its
Networking newsgroup anyway. Cross-posting for convenience.


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---