New ISP can connect to only a few sites

[beng1]

I have an odd Linux problem. Changed ISP recently -- Windows NT4 & W95 work fine. Linux has worked fine on previous ISPs, but on the newest ISP, I can connect successfully on Linux, but can only communicate w/maybe one out of 10 sites (Google, for ex.). Mostly I get "cannot connect to site". Some points:

-Linux is Slackware w/kernel build 2.4.26.
-No settings changed from Linux setup that worked fine on previous ISPs.
-/var/log/Log file says PPP connects via CHAP successfully & no problems..
-I don't see any similarity on the few sites I can connect to -- seems random.
-ISP is useless -- say they "don't support Linux".
-Using Firefox & Konqueror browsers.

[ph34r]

What is in /etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf

/etc/hosts only needs a reference for localhost and your hostname, /etc/resolv.conf should list valid nameservers for you to use.

[beng1]

Like I said, nothing is changed from a previously working (w/another ISP) setup. The HOSTS file isn't the problem.

[ph34r]

What about your nameservers?

[beng1]

No Linux gurus on a Linux forum?

The /etc/HOSTS file was one of the first things I looked at, to see if it was corrupted. It's fine & the same file that worked fine on Linux w/previous ISPs.

I connected w/an old Peanut linux version on another computer (that always worked fine on other ISPs) and got the exact same behavior. So I'm thinking that the problem isn't on my end. Perhaps some change in PPP settings might help, but I have no idea what to try.

[beng1]

ph34r, the connection works fine on a few sites, so I don't see that there's any problem w/the nameserver assignment -- if there was, it wouldn't work at all.

For what it's worth, resolve.conf shows:
nameserver 207.69.188.187
nameserver 207.69.188.186

This matches what I see in /var/log/messages after a successful connection:
primary DNS address 207.69.188.187
secondary DNS address 207.69.188.186

[E1PHOTON]

I would check your routing table on your machine.

Open up a terminal and issue the command

route

Then fire up another terminal and just start pinging random sites. You should see your route table populate as you try pinging. It will also state what gateway you're exiting -- mke sure this matches what your ISP gives you over PPP.


Cheers,

James

[beng1]

Thanks, EIphoton. This is stretching my limited knowledge. I can actually connect to this site w/Linux. Below is a readout of route -C -N while connected here:

Kernel IP routing cache
Source Destination Gateway Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
4.249.192.240 63.236.73.208 63.215.28.133 0 0 2 ppp0
4.249.192.240 63.236.18.117 63.215.28.133 0 1 1 ppp0
127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 l 0 0 1 lo
63.236.18.117 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 1 90 lo
4.249.192.240 207.69.188.187 63.215.28.133 0 0 4 ppp0
63.215.28.133 224.0.0.1 224.0.0.1 ml 0 0 3 lo
4.249.192.240 206.191.173.64 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 l 0 0 3 lo
63.236.73.208 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 1 265 lo
4.249.192.240 207.69.188.187 63.215.28.133 0 0 4 ppp0
206.191.173.64 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 6 lo
4.249.192.240 63.236.18.117 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 206.191.173.64 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 63.236.73.208 63.215.28.133 0 1 3 ppp0
207.69.188.187 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 4 lo

Here's another readout from a "bad" site:

Kernel IP routing cache
Source Destination Gateway Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
158.136.64.201 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 4 43 lo
4.249.192.240 63.236.73.208 63.215.28.133 0 0 2 ppp0
4.249.192.240 63.236.18.117 63.215.28.133 0 0 1 ppp0
4.249.192.240 74.201.118.102 63.215.28.133 0 0 2 ppp0
4.249.192.240 74.125.47.165 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 8.18.94.113 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 l 0 0 1 lo
4.249.210.32 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 0 lo
4.249.192.240 64.236.144.228 63.215.28.133 0 0 2 ppp0
75.126.162.205 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 90 lo
63.236.18.117 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 92 lo
4.249.192.240 63.247.132.19 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 8.18.94.113 63.215.28.133 0 1 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 207.69.188.187 63.215.28.133 0 0 22 ppp0
4.249.192.240 63.247.132.19 63.215.28.133 0 1 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 74.201.118.102 63.215.28.133 0 0 2 ppp0
8.18.94.113 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 10 lo
4.249.192.240 75.126.162.205 63.215.28.133 0 0 3 ppp0
63.215.28.133 224.0.0.1 224.0.0.1 ml 0 0 13 lo
4.249.192.240 206.191.173.64 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 158.136.64.201 63.215.28.133 0 4 4 ppp0
4.249.192.240 74.125.47.164 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 158.136.64.201 63.215.28.133 0 0 4 ppp0
4.249.192.240 75.126.162.205 63.215.28.133 0 0 3 ppp0
4.249.192.240 63.118.175.191 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
74.125.47.164 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 5 lo
4.249.192.240 63.118.175.191 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 74.125.47.164 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 64.236.144.228 63.215.28.133 0 0 2 ppp0
74.125.47.165 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 25 lo
127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 l 0 0 3 lo
63.236.73.208 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 266 lo
74.201.118.102 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 25 lo
4.249.192.240 207.69.188.187 63.215.28.133 0 0 22 ppp0
206.191.173.64 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 6 lo
4.249.192.240 63.236.18.117 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 206.191.173.64 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
4.249.192.240 74.125.47.165 63.215.28.133 0 0 0 ppp0
64.236.144.228 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 11 lo
207.69.188.187 4.249.192.240 4.249.192.240 l 0 0 22 lo

This doesn't mean much to me.

[beng1]

Another oddity -- a few sites that I couldn't connect to, I find that if I drop the www. from the start of the address, I can connect! But just a few -- doesn't work on most.

[Suramya]

This kind of issue is usually caused by nameserver issues.
Try adding the following entry to the /etc/resolv.conf

nameserver 208.67.222.222

This is a nameserver from OpenDNS.org.

Hopefully this helps.

- Suramya