[RESOLVED] vpforums down

[whynotpizza]

Sorry guys, not sure where to turn on this, hope it was ok to post here.

Does anyone know why www.vpforums.com is down?

Was attempting to download a few new tables when it suddenly went dark!

David

[DazzleHP]

Seems fine to me?

If you can't access it try deleting your cookies and/or performing a hard refresh - press CTRL+F5 on your keyboard.

[whynotpizza]

Thanks for the suggestion, although still doesn't work.

I get the following error:

"www.vpforums.org Driver Error. There appears to be an error with the database. If you are seeing this page, it means there was a problem communicating with our database."

[whynotpizza]

I still fail with same error on a different computer (still on my home network)

So for kicks, I logged into my work computer and tried it.

Works like a champ.

Did something happen where my home IP got blocked? I was only downloading a few items.

Not sure who to contact here.

[Draco1962]

Not sure what browser you are using, but I would also recommend deleting any temp internet files along with cookies, close the browser, reopen and try again.

[whynotpizza]

Tried multiple browsers, even an iMac computer. Same error from home network. Only works from a different network.

[Draco1962]

Have your tried power-cycling your router and modem or checked to see if vpforums is showing as a blocked site in your router's firewall?

[whynotpizza]

I just tried to post (from my work network) to ask for help, and get this same error from work when attempting to do any post to the forums on the site.

Maybe the account is corrupt?

[whynotpizza]

Even worse, now the site won't come up at all from work.

[whynotpizza]

ok I tried your suggestion at the work computer and it now is fine, was able to post to the forum.

This is really weird!

[Draco1962]

Yeah. I have had to troubleshoot this kinda stuff for a long, long time. Cookies and temp files are the simplest, but when you start getting to routers and firewalls, it can be a little dicey. So all working OK now?

[whynotpizza]

works ok at work, still fails from home.

at home, attempting from multiple PC's and even a Mac and all fail with same error even after clearing caches and cookies,

[Draco1962]

Have you looked into your router's firewall settings yet? Tried power-cycle?

[whynotpizza]

Just tried power cycled on the router ... and retested. Still failed.

[Draco1962]

Looks like you will need to troubleshoot your firewall settings on the router. Not much else I can suggest at this point. You will need to login to your router using your admin settings. If you are leasing a router (i.e., Comcast or the like) and cannot accessx it you will need to contact your ISP to hep you troubleshoot. if it is affecting all machines connected to the same router/network, then that is likely the issue. Good luck!

[tthurman]

Try manually setting some public DNS servers in your network adapter settings.

Google public servers

8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

OpenDNS

208.67.222.222

280.67.220.220

[whynotpizza]

Good idea, tried both (after each change, I performed a "ipconfig /flushdns", cleared browser caches and restarted IE) -- same result.

Next I took fiddler to watch packets going between my PC and vpforums. (see attached)

vpforums is answering with a 503 in all cases.

To me this seems to be an issue at their end? This thing is really weird.

Tried all three browsers and no-go. (IE, Firefox, Chrome) -- all same result.

Open for other ideas.

I think if I ask my ISP, they will look at me with 2 heads. The website answers as a 503 which is "service unvailable"

Something is happening at the server end based on my ISP or specific IP.

[whynotpizza]

Success!

I decided to go into my router configuration at home and perform an "IP Address Renew" ... which seemed to keep the same outward facing IP, but reset something inside the unit. Now vpforums comes up just fine. Go figure! I would have thought a power cycle on the router would have done the trick.

Back to table configurations...

(thanks for the suggestions and moral support!)

[Draco1962]

Glad to hear ya got it sorted!