Strange problem accessing Virgin.net servers

Can anyone suggest what might be causing this very strange problem.

I have a SuSE 9.2 desktop PC that I connect to the Internet using an ADSL
modem / router. Currently my Internet access is all working fine, except
that I am not able to access the website www.virgin.net, and I am also
unable to access my Virgin pop account on their server pop.virgin.net.

I am also unable to ping either of these addresses, although ping is able to
resolve the corresponding TCP/IP addresses.

My broadband connection is from another ISP (not Virgin). I have spoken to
Virgin's technical people. They say that all their servers are currently
working fine, and my brother in law also says that his Virgin email account
is working fine.

How is this possible? I can ping Google or the BBC website and access any
other site I can think of, except Virgin.

Can anyone explain?
--
Chris Gordon-Smith
London
http://graffiti.virgin.net/c.gordon-smith/

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 21:43:03 +0100, Chris Gordon-Smith
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Can anyone suggest what might be causing this very strange problem.
>
>I have a SuSE 9.2 desktop PC that I connect to the Internet using an ADSL
>modem / router. Currently my Internet access is all working fine, except
>that I am not able to access the website www.virgin.net, and I am also
>unable to access my Virgin pop account on their server pop.virgin.net.
>
>I am also unable to ping either of these addresses, although ping is able to
>resolve the corresponding TCP/IP addresses.
>
>My broadband connection is from another ISP (not Virgin). I have spoken to
>Virgin's technical people. They say that all their servers are currently
>working fine, and my brother in law also says that his Virgin email account
>is working fine.
>
>How is this possible? I can ping Google or the BBC website and access any
>other site I can think of, except Virgin.
>
>Can anyone explain?

Firewall?

What does traceroute -n www.virgin.net say? My traceroute dies at
213.105.172.153 (inet.ntl.com). Pings are not replied

How about traceroute -n pop.virgin.net ? My traceroute dies at
64.97.128.98 (dia.cp.net).

What message(s) do you see when you http://www.virgin.net or try to
retrieve your mail?

I am able to telnet www.virgin.net 80 and to
telnet pop.virgin.net 110

What little help I can offer is that the problem appears to be that
your firewall is saying NO.
--
buck

"Chris Gordon-Smith" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Can anyone suggest what might be causing this very strange problem.
>
> I have a SuSE 9.2 desktop PC that I connect to the Internet using an ADSL
> modem / router. Currently my Internet access is all working fine, except
> that I am not able to access the website www.virgin.net, and I am also
> unable to access my Virgin pop account on their server pop.virgin.net.
>
> I am also unable to ping either of these addresses, although ping is able
> to
> resolve the corresponding TCP/IP addresses.
>
> My broadband connection is from another ISP (not Virgin). I have spoken to
> Virgin's technical people. They say that all their servers are currently
> working fine, and my brother in law also says that his Virgin email
> account
> is working fine.
>
> How is this possible? I can ping Google or the BBC website and access any
> other site I can think of, except Virgin.
>
> Can anyone explain?

Just as a guess, do you have ECN enabled? (Explicit Congestion
Notification)

DS

David Schwartz wrote:

>
> "Chris Gordon-Smith" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Can anyone suggest what might be causing this very strange problem.
>>
>> I have a SuSE 9.2 desktop PC that I connect to the Internet using an ADSL
>> modem / router. Currently my Internet access is all working fine, except
>> that I am not able to access the website www.virgin.net, and I am also
>> unable to access my Virgin pop account on their server pop.virgin.net.
>>
>> I am also unable to ping either of these addresses, although ping is able
>> to
>> resolve the corresponding TCP/IP addresses.
>>
>> My broadband connection is from another ISP (not Virgin). I have spoken
>> to Virgin's technical people. They say that all their servers are
>> currently working fine, and my brother in law also says that his Virgin
>> email account
>> is working fine.
>>
>> How is this possible? I can ping Google or the BBC website and access any
>> other site I can think of, except Virgin.
>>
>> Can anyone explain?
>
> Just as a guess, do you have ECN enabled? (Explicit Congestion
> Notification)
>
> DS

I don't think I have ECN enabled, and have in any case manually disabled it
with
echo "0" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn

as mentioned on SuSE's website

Here is what I get from tcpdump -p -i any port 80

when I try to access www.virgin.net with the lynx text web browser and
specify 'unset http_proxy' :-

listening on any, link-type LINUX_SLL (Linux cooked), capture size 96 bytes
11:49:31.067426 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2051857
0,nop,wscale 2>
11:49:34.066589 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2054857
0,nop,wscale 2>
11:49:40.065679 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2060857
0,nop,wscale 2>
11:49:52.063859 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2072857
0,nop,wscale 2>
11:50:16.060206 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2096857
0,nop,wscale 2>
11:51:04.052916 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2144857
0,nop,wscale 2>

My reading of this is that absolutely nothing is coming back. Any thoughts?

--
Chris Gordon-Smith
London
http://graffiti.virgin.net/c.gordon-smith/

Chris Gordon-Smith wrote:
> David Schwartz wrote:
>
>
>>"Chris Gordon-Smith" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>>>Can anyone suggest what might be causing this very strange problem.
>>>
>>>I have a SuSE 9.2 desktop PC that I connect to the Internet using an ADSL
>>>modem / router. Currently my Internet access is all working fine, except
>>>that I am not able to access the website www.virgin.net, and I am also
>>>unable to access my Virgin pop account on their server pop.virgin.net.
>>>
>>>I am also unable to ping either of these addresses, although ping is able
>>>to
>>>resolve the corresponding TCP/IP addresses.
>>>
>>>My broadband connection is from another ISP (not Virgin). I have spoken
>>>to Virgin's technical people. They say that all their servers are
>>>currently working fine, and my brother in law also says that his Virgin
>>>email account
>>>is working fine.
>>>
>>>How is this possible? I can ping Google or the BBC website and access any
>>>other site I can think of, except Virgin.
>>>
>>>Can anyone explain?
>>
>> Just as a guess, do you have ECN enabled? (Explicit Congestion
>>Notification)
>>
>> DS
>
>
> I don't think I have ECN enabled, and have in any case manually disabled it
> with
> echo "0" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn
>
> as mentioned on SuSE's website
>
> Here is what I get from tcpdump -p -i any port 80
>
> when I try to access www.virgin.net with the lynx text web browser and
> specify 'unset http_proxy' :-
>
> listening on any, link-type LINUX_SLL (Linux cooked), capture size 96 bytes
> 11:49:31.067426 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
> 2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2051857
> 0,nop,wscale 2>
> 11:49:34.066589 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
> 2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2054857
> 0,nop,wscale 2>
> 11:49:40.065679 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
> 2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2060857
> 0,nop,wscale 2>
> 11:49:52.063859 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
> 2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2072857
> 0,nop,wscale 2>
> 11:50:16.060206 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
> 2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2096857
> 0,nop,wscale 2>
> 11:51:04.052916 IP 192.168.0.3.ff-sm > www.virgin.net.http: S
> 2301224435:2301224435(0) win 5840 <mss 1460,sackOK,timestamp 2144857
> 0,nop,wscale 2>
>
> My reading of this is that absolutely nothing is coming back. Any thoughts?
>

There's something fishy going on at the NTL routers. My traceroute
disappears into a black hole after gfd-dc-d-v300.inet.ntl.com
(213.105.172.157).

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi