Sharing sites that redirect doesn't work

[Guest dataangel]

Short version:

 

Problem: Sites that do 302 HTTP redirects cannot be accessed on my linux laptop. The browser gets stuck saying, "Redirecting..." forever. The laptop is connected by crossover cable to my windowsxp desktop, which has ICS enabled. I get internet access through a DSL modem connected to the desktop. Most sites are visitable on the laptop, just those that do redirects such as freshmeat.net and slashdot.org don't work. All websites work on the desktop.

 

Long version:

 

What I know:

 

-Pinging slashdot.org on the windows box or the linux box gives the error "Destination Port Unreachable." Some googling informs me that this is an error I should never get when using ping.

 

-However, when the windows box (the one directly connected to the dsl modem) pings slashdot.org, although it gets the error, it reports 0% packet loss. The linux box reports 100% packet loss.

 

-There's a microsoft knowledge base article:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;319661

 

that says sometimes client machines can't access different sites because they have a different mtu than the host machine. But I don't think this is the problem because the article is specific to PPPoe, which my dsl doesn't use.

 

What I've already tried:

 

-Static ips

 

-Turning on/off xp firewall

 

-Turning on xp firewall and explicitly saying all ICMP stuff is allowed

 

-"service network restart" then ctrl+alt+backspace, also tried plain rebooting

 

-Setting DNS addresses instead of obtaining them automatically. Tried this setting on both boxes and on both connections.

 

Thoughts:

 

It's possible that this isn't a configuration issue at all and is an ICS bug. Googling showed some people having similar problems but no solutions. I looked for ICS alternatives but the only modern one (for xp) seemed to be Wingate, and that will only work for 30 days without purchasing an expensive license. I need a cheaper solution. I'd also prefer not to spend money on a router, so please don't suggest it (if nothing else works that's what I'll do).

 

It's also possible I've misinterpreted the problem and this isn't a redirect problem but something else specific to some OSDN sites (Freshmeat and Slashdot are both OSDN).

 

I'm pretty much a networking newbie, so I'm probably missing something blindingly stupid, but none of my googling has helped. Not sure what to try now.

 

Any ideas?

Edited August 22, 2004 by dataangel

[Steve Scrimpshire]

What browser are you using? Have you tried different browsers?

Have you tried connecting the laptop up directly to the net?

 

The ping issue could be as simple as slashdot has a firewall set up to drop pings, because I have that issue as well, but I can still access the site. I found one site that may have the solution to your problem, but you have to sign up to see the solution and it may be the solution about PPPoE that doesn't apply to you:

 

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Networking/Q_20790760.html

 

Other than that, I've found nothing more than you've already found. I hope someone else knows more. (Thanks for doing all the homework that you've already done and explaining that in your post).

[Guest dataangel]

What browser are you using? Have you tried different browsers?

Have you tried connecting the laptop up directly to the net?

 

 

I've tried Firefox, Konquerer, and Epiphany. Same result :/

 

I would connect the laptop directly to the internet, except the reason I have it setup this way in the first place is that the modem is an Arescom NetDSL800. It has ethernet and or usb connectivity, but the ethernet never works. So it's setup to use USB -- and only windows has a usb driver for it. I don't think this is where the problem lies though because it sounds like other people are having the same problem who don't have this modem, and because it doesn't use any special software to connect -- it shows up just like a normal network connection in windows.

 

Also, now to make sure this wasn't a mandrake bug I installed Suse 9.1. Has the same issue :/

 

Unfortunately I've seen that link before, it's pretty much related to the PPPoe MTU thing. I tried the proxy suggested on there but noticed no difference.

Edited August 22, 2004 by dataangel

[Steve Scrimpshire]

Could you possibly go to monster.com and click on a search for jobs and see if you have the same problem with that site? It also uses a 302 redirect.

[Guest dataangel]

Sorry, posted saying it worked, then realized it was just monster.com that worked, I hadn't tried hitting search jobs yet. It's trying but I'm pretty sure it's not gonna load...

 

Update: Now certain it ain't.

 

Is there some way to use an external app to force forwarding of 302 redirects to the laptop?

 

Or maybe some solution could be hacked whereby the windows machine visits the site, and sends the result via samba to the laptop if a redirect is detected? :P

 

I'd like to try the netsh trick (resets windows TCP/IP stack) but the person on expertsexchange who it seemed to work for said they ran it on both machines -- the laptop only runs linux :/

Edited August 22, 2004 by dataangel

[Steve Scrimpshire]

Do you have the latest SP for WinXP? Also look in the other non-critical updates for anything related to ICS. Other than that, someone way more knowledgable will have to help you, because this certainly sounds like a WinXP issue.

[Steve Scrimpshire]

aHA...how about disabling the builtin firewall on the modem?

 

http://bespin.org/~merwin/arescom/

[Guest dataangel]

Thanks for your help :)

 

 

I fixed it! netsh did the trick. In case anyone else ever has this problem here is the solution:

 

(Bits taken from this page:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];299357)

 

On windows box:

 

Click start->run

 

Type in: cmd

 

Hit enter

 

Type: netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

 

(Take a look at resetlog.txt just to see that it did something -- if the file is empty it probably didn't work)

 

Reboot computer.

 

Go into network connections in control panel. Go into the TCP/IP properties for the LAN connection (These will have been reset), and set ip to 192.168.0.1 and subnet to 255.255.255.0

 

Click OK

 

On linux box:

 

If Suse:

 

in terminal type: rcnetwork restart

 

If mandrake:

 

in terminal type: service network restart

 

Then hit ctrl+alt+backspace to restart X and avoid any host problems.

 

Tada! redirect sites work! whoopee!

[Steve Scrimpshire]

Wow. Glad I (meaning 'you') could help.