Forum access

craiguitar said:
It came back with this:
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Try using the tracert command to another site in the same area of the U.S., where Fractal is located...like a local newspaper site. According to a Whois lookup, the server is located in Lansing Michigan. You can use this site to see where a server is located; http://whois.domaintools.com/

Then see what happens after the second hop in the list.
 
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wcfieldskx said:
some routers don't respond to ICMP requests.....hence, you will get a request timeout message..
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This would be an incredibly foolishly configured router if you're in a mid-point connection role and you're dropping ICMP packets. It makes debugging connectivity issues nearly impossible for anyone routing through you.
 
iaresee said:
This would be an incredibly foolishly configured router if you're in a mid-point connection role and you're dropping ICMP packets. It makes debugging connectivity issues nearly impossible for anyone routing through you.
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But it also prevents a whole class of attacks, as well as recon of your network. Maybe not the best idea for backbone routers, though.
 
Rex said:
But it also prevents a whole class of attacks, as well as recon of your network. Maybe not the best idea for backbone routers, though.
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Shouldn't be an issue for intermediate routers like where his is failing though. This isn't cheap little LinkSys hardware we're talking about here. Something is FUBAR downstream from him and he's helpless now. So stupid...
 
iaresee said:
This would be an incredibly foolishly configured router if you're in a mid-point connection role and you're dropping ICMP packets. It makes debugging connectivity issues nearly impossible for anyone routing through you.
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Nope. It's not uncommon at all for ICMP requests to be disabled on routers, nothing to do with them being "foolishly configured"....lol

Read up on it...
 
There's what you do at your end point routers and then what you do at your mid-point and backbone routers. It's not the same thing. But whatever...you guys argue it however you like. If you can't get an traceroute through like this, find a new ISP who isn't run by a bunch of idiots.
 
iaresee said:
There's what you do at your end point routers and then what you do at your mid-point and backbone routers. It's not the same thing. But whatever...you guys argue it however you like. If you can't get an traceroute through like this, find a new ISP who isn't run by a bunch of idiots.
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Not arguing. Just correcting your statement.;)
 
craiguitar said:
it is now more frustrating, knowing that it's the ISP's fault, yet they claim there is nothing wrong.
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There are lots of ways to troubleshoot this.

Contact your ISP and escalate this to an engineer. It's a routing issue and they can resolve this.
 
iaresee said:
Ah! The "I correct things on the internet" personality! Except you're not "correcting" anything -- this router shouldn't be dropping ICMP packets. It's misconfigured if it is.

Maybe try sticking to helping the OP?

And you wonder why no one new chimes in around here...you get jumped on by pundits and smart asses whenever you do.
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No actually. You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. I have just a LITTLE experience with this kind of stuff....

Anyways, good luck. I'm out.
 
Gotta agree with...both of you. :)

Private routers often ICMP disabled—for good reason. Backbone routers often have ICMP enabled—for equally good reason.
 
wcfieldskx said:
There are lots of ways to troubleshoot this.

Contact your ISP and escalate this to an engineer. It's a routing issue and they can resolve this.
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I had a lengthy call with my ISP yesterday. They went through various tests. One was to disable the wifi in my router and put it in 'Modem only' mode. Doing this allowed access to the forum site. However the Wifi would permanently be off. So, flipping it back into normal mode then blocked the site again. The ISP engineer said it was the first such occurrence of this he'd ever known. He had assumed that my router firewall was to blame. He tried turning off the firewall, but this changed nothing.
However, if going into modem only mode temporarily offered up a change of IP address (that then works), then we can conclude that my regular IP address has been blocked by Fractal's server. Reading up a bit on IP addresses, it appears I can't simply change my IP address. So, my ISP were stumped, and unable to help. I'm incredibly frustrated by this now. Each way I turn it seems to be someone else's fault....
 
That sounds familiar. Something similar happened to me on a local music forum a couple of years ago. The admin had recently added some IP ranges to block foreign spammers, but my IP also happened to be in that range. And yes, this was at the forum software level, which also happened to be vBulletin (same as here). He had to break up the ranges a bit and whitelist a small subnet in order to restore my ability to connect to the forum

Maybe send Matt a PM with your current externally facing IP on your routers internet facing interface and see if he can look through the forum setup for a range that would affect you?

Worth a shot anyway.
 
My IP address is 213.105.49.231, but that comes up as being on the blacklist too, so what does that mean, and how do I get it removed from the list? Also, why would any other website seemingly be unaffected?
 
craiguitar said:
My IP address is 213.105.49.231, but that comes up as being on the blacklist too, so what does that mean, and how do I get it removed from the list? Also, why would any other website seemingly be unaffected?
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I haven't read your whole post, but there are a number of blacklist websites. Almost all of them have a page on their site, or a link on the page referencing your IP address, that provides instructions on getting removed.

If you are on a blacklist, you should be concerned about your computer (or any computer on your home network) either having been hacked or having some virus or malware running. Most of the blacklist entries come from email spam-sender reporting, meaning someone or some thing is sending spam from inside your network.

If you look at the page for your IP on the blacklist site, they usually give some sort of reason why you are on it.

Since you posted your address I just looked it up at spamhaus. Here is a link:

https://www.spamhaus.org/pbl/query/PBL098830

The page shows a whole range (aka, subnet) of addresses. If you have a static address, you can request removal. If not, your ISP is going to have to be the involved... The fact that a range of addresses its listed makes your ISP suspect to me already.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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+1 to what unix-guy said! Most likely a spambot or mailbot, probably a mailbot judging by the reason given, hiding on your computer or one of your computers. You can get your IP removed from the list, by clicking on the link provided on Spamhaus, but if there is a spambot or mailbot, you're IP address will soon be added to the list again once they awaken!

Run the free version of this;

https://www.malwarebytes.org/

P.S. To give you any idea how long I've been in IT. I learned CP/M in school! Think before DOS 1.0! lol

Let us know how it goes.
 
craiguitar said:
My IP address is 213.105.49.231, but that comes up as being on the blacklist too, so what does that mean, and how do I get it removed from the list? Also, why would any other website seemingly be unaffected?
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Your address is not blacklisted according to: https://www.spamhaus.org/query/ip/213.105.49.231

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You're not in the SBL and that's what matters. You're in the PBL, but that's okay -- most address ranges are in the PBL. From the PBL FAQ:

Help! My IP address is on the PBL! What should I do?

Nothing, in most cases. Read through this FAQ for further explanations.

The first thing to know is: THE PBL IS NOT A BLACKLIST. You are not listed for spamming or for anything you have done. The PBL is simply a list of all of the world's dynamic IP space, i.e: IP ranges normally assigned to ISP broadband customers (DSL, DHCP, PPP, cable, dialup). It is perfectly normal for dynamic IP addresses to be listed on the PBL. In fact all dynamic IP addresses in the world should be on the PBL. Even static IPs which do not send mail should be listed in the PBL.

PBL listings do not prevent you sending email unless your email program is not authenticating properly when it connects to your ISP or to your company's mail server. This can happen if you have forgotten to turn on 'SMTP Authentication' or if you have switched 'SMTP Authentication' off by mistake.

If you are using a normal email program such as Outlook, Entourage, Thunderbird or Apple Mail and you are being blocked by a Spamhaus PBL listing when you try to send email, the reason is simply that YOU NEED TO TURN ON 'SMTP AUTHENTICATION' in your email program's account settings. That will solve the problem for you. See: How do I turn on SMTP Authentication?

Server admins who need help with SMTP AUTH can find lots of information for most servers such as Sendmail, Postfix, Exim, Qmail, Exchange, etc.
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It's a way to get rid of open email relays in some sort of semi-controlled fashion to limit email spam and it's opt-in and generally not a problem since most ISPs don't run unauthenticated mail gateways anyways.

Your IP address isn't blacklisted at the forum server.

Have you flushed all your cookies and saved settings? Tried a different browser? What about a different computer in the house that's on the same router/modem?
 
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