Calling all Computer Ghurus... Please help.

a
I know just about enough about computers to be extremely dangerous…. I will appreciate any help here….

The situation is:…. I recently got a new laptop with Windows 7…… (and I also have a desktop computer).

My modem is with Atlantic using a Vodacom card, which worked perfectly whilst I stayed In Thabazimbi, but I’ve subsequently moved to Amandelbult, where the Vodacom signal is intermittent and poor at the best of times.

I found, however…. That if I insert my MTN card into the Atlantic modem…. It works perfectly and that is how I’ve accessed Internet (and in particular – TASA) up to about 3 days ago.

Since the laptop came with no programmes installed, I purchased Microsoft Office (professional) 2010 and had someone at work install it for me.

When I got back home…. I could access all my “favourites†as usual, except TASA…. (at first I thought that the forum bombed out and was under reconstruction)…

I kept on trying to no avail for about 3 days, so I contacted a friend who lives in Miami Florida, (who is also a member on this forum – “eyecandysingsâ€) and asked her if she had access…. (getting worried about you guys by this time)…. And she could, so I assumed the problem was with my laptop, so….. I tried my desktop and could also not access.

I did a lot of troubleshooting and it all pointed out that TASA is fine, but not responding …… So, in desperation… I swapped my sim cards and put the Vodacom in, and Whalah!!!... I found TASA again….

Now, my question is why would my system no longer work for TASA (only) when I use my MTN card in the modem…. It used to work for me in the past???

 

Nope not related at all , I am not a boff but can you access other international sites with MTN ?

 

Is your desktop and laptop using the same modem and same MTN sim card when you cant access the forum? If so then I am assuming that when you insert you Vodacom sim you can access the forum on both machines, which means that it is a network related issue with MTN. You have to take into account TASA is not hosted locally but in the USA. So if certain international "routes" are down you might not be able to access TASA. Try the following and see what happens:

Start---->Run---->type in the box "cmd" then click okay. In the black box type: tracert www.tropicalaquarium.co.za and see through how many "hops" it goes before it times at and let me know.

This is what mine looks like:

Code:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\larch>tracert www.tropicalaquarium.co.za

Tracing route to tropicalaquarium.co.za [74.54.134.114]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2   231 ms   280 ms   280 ms  41-132-32-1.dsl.mweb.co.za [41.132.32.1]
  3   307 ms   348 ms   367 ms  tengig-0-0-0-101.vic-ipc-1.mweb.co.za [196.22.16
9.134]
  4   393 ms   434 ms   470 ms  vl-92.vic-hscore-1.mweb.co.za [196.22.189.2]
  5   533 ms   504 ms   574 ms  tengig-0-0-0-0-11.vic-up-1.mweb.co.za [196.22.16
9.225]
  6   615 ms   609 ms   644 ms  tengig-0-3-1-0.mid-1.mweb.co.za [196.22.169.211]

  7   918 ms   904 ms   957 ms  pos-0-0-0-0.lon-1.mweb.co.za [196.22.163.230]
  8  1018 ms   970 ms  1062 ms  79.141.38.37.available.above.net [79.141.38.37]

  9  1115 ms  1205 ms  1147 ms  so-1-1-0.mpr1.dca2.us.above.net [64.125.31.186]

 10   681 ms   769 ms   751 ms  xe-0-3-0.cr1.dca2.us.above.net [64.125.29.17]
 11   900 ms   890 ms   994 ms  xe-2-2-0.cr1.iah1.us.above.net [64.125.29.37]
 12   951 ms   990 ms  1026 ms  xe-1-1-0.er1.iah1.above.net [64.125.26.222]
 13  1111 ms  1096 ms  1194 ms  209.66.99.94.available.above.net [209.66.99.94]

 14  1171 ms  1180 ms  1271 ms  et5-4.ibr04.dllstx3.theplanet.com [70.87.253.53]

 15  1319 ms  1305 ms  1336 ms  te7-2.dsr01.dllstx3.theplanet.com [70.87.253.10]

 16  1383 ms  1392 ms  1323 ms  te1-4.dsr01.dllstx2.theplanet.com [70.87.253.114
]
 17  1464 ms  1180 ms  1514 ms  te1-1.car06.dllstx6.theplanet.com [70.87.254.178
]
 18  1570 ms  1599 ms  1598 ms  laser.websitewelcome.com [74.54.134.114]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\larch>

 

All other forums and Internet sites... no problem... Only TASA. and I may add... it is no fun accessing with my Vodacom card as due to the poor signal, I bomb out every 30 secs

and also to add.... even if I Google TASA, I cannot enter it with my MTN inserted.....

 

Check my post again Cheetah updated it.

 

You mean with my MTN card (the 1 that does not work for TASA)???

 

Yes and follow the above instructions I gave you and see what happens.

 

17 Times, but only the first & last one says anything other than "Request Timed out"

Oh!.. sorry I did not see your last post... This was with the Vodacom card that does work... I'll go ot again and try it with the MTN card.....

 

OK.... The MTN card gave me 30 hops, with only the first 5 without a timeout.

 

Okay using the MTN card go start--->run---->"cmd" then type ping 74.54.134.114

what does it come up with?

 

For some reason my MTN blackberry also refuse to open TASA

 

Then it is a MTN network issue, if you receive a "ping timed out" while performing a hop it means that its not connecting to its next destination on the network which means there is a break or some network issue in between.

 

Packets sent+ 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)... (sorry it's taking so long inbetween - changing cards & so on)

 

Mine just say server timeout. HTTP Error 503:Service unavailible

 

Code:

Pinging 74.54.134.114 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.54.134.114: bytes=32 time=614ms TTL=44
Reply from 74.54.134.114: bytes=32 time=583ms TTL=44
Reply from 74.54.134.114: bytes=32 time=627ms TTL=44
Reply from 74.54.134.114: bytes=32 time=635ms TTL=44
Reply from 74.54.134.114: bytes=32 time=607ms TTL=44
Reply from 74.54.134.114: bytes=32 time=650ms TTL=44

This is what I get and if I am right this is were the TASA server is hosted I might be wrong I am currently logged in using my MWEB ADSL and it works fine so its definitely a MTN issue and not your laptop. Basically what is happening is for some reason the MTN network cant communicate with the network were TASA is located so it wont load.