Sky Hub SR101 - can only connect to Sky websites, DailyMail.com and Bing ??

[glamtaff]

Hi,

I have searched the forum and cannot see a similar problem and am confused! have also posted on the official Sky Help forum.

We are on Sky Unlimited ADSL connection in GU35 (local exchange THHN).
Internet seemingly went down last Friday 3rd May when the kids came running in aghast that their internet wasn't working!. Nothing has changed in the hardware, wire or wreless setting for at least 6 months. I spent a lot of hours on Saturday talking to Sky second line support. The Sky Hub sr101 had all 4 white lights and happy smiling face showing connected to the internet and the router status page confirmed this. Line tests were run and Hub reboots performed and reset applied. The tech support agreed that all download and upload speed were fine and noise levels acceptable. I swapped microfilters and also used the test port on the master socket. No line noise or clicking when listening on the test port either.
During this time we discovered we could get a connection to Sky websites such as SkySports, Sky.com and SkyNews and DailyMail.co.uk and Bing. Every other site we tried, using DNS address or IP address, timed out whether using Mac or Windows or Safari, Chrome or Internet Explorer. We tried to ping Google IP address and could not connect, all packets lost.
And the support agreed they were stumped and sent out a new Hub, which arrived yesterday, which i have connected and same problem exists.
This problem occurs on:
Wired - Sky+ HD box, 2 PC's (XP and Windows 7), Xbox 360 and PS3.
Wireless - Macbook Pro, ThinkPad 400, ipad, Nexus 7, 3 iphone 4s
So i think we can rule out a device problem and a Hub problem; i am unable to try a different router as i cannot get on the internet to access tools to extract Mac address as i beleive that the Sky hub uses MER to validate.
Am at a bit of a loss on this now as my knowledge is exhausted, but I need a connection before Monday as i have to support my company from home; and the kids are bored of reading and using the great outdoors!

I am posting from work so do not have immediate access to the router until later when i get home, and i shall be calling Sky support once again i suspect.

Anyone who has any idea as to what might be the problem or advice on what to try next would be greatly appreciated!

Edit : Typo in title.. Sky Hub SR010 should read SR101 .. sorry!

[Scubbie]

Could you boot a PC (desktop or laptop) in 'Safe Mode with Networking' and see if you can access a site which otherwise you can't?

Also you say that you reset the Sky Hub SR101. To do this did you press and hold the Reset button on there rear whilst the router was powered up for 10-15 seconds?

I suspect that some parental control software has been installed or something has managed to hack the DNS servers. Thinking of the DNS servers, could you double check what they are set to on you PC and on the router?

Click the link below and scroll down to where the DNS details are shown.

http://192.168.0.1/sky_router_status.html

They should show:

Domain Name Server	90.207.238.97, 90.207.238.99

Check at work for the instructions about changing the DNS server settings on your PC as it varies between Windows versions. I know that you have other devices, but I am just checking easy things first.

Another thing that I am thinking about is if something has been set to 'share' it's Internet connection. Again this will need some research.

P.S. I corrected the heading for you

[glamtaff]

Hi Scubbie! thanks very much for your kind and very timely reply.

We reset the Hub via the logon page and then i reset it manually using the reset button for 30 seconds (though i saw it reset quicker than that i was following tech instructions to the second.. :P)

I shall try all you suggest as soon as i get home post back as soon as i can (no 3G signal at home).

Will be interested to check the DNS settings; no software i am aware of has been installed that would affect them.. though it is Windows so i should not be surprised if it has..

Also not aware of any device that has been set to share. Will check the little people's devices when i get in too. can you advise me on anything in particular or not obvious i might miss?

Big hug for correcting the heading!!

[Scubbie]

No problem there.

It is possible that something is sharing it's Internet connection. Depending on how things are setup, the default is to set a Windows computer to share with the IP Address 192.168.0.1, which happens to be the same as the Sky Router default.

If only you can navigate to a site which give you the WAN IP Address and the check this on the WhoIs database to ensure that it is Sky's. That might help.

[Isitme]

I wonder if this is another case of the IP address not being recognized by other sites?

[Scubbie]

Possible, but a little extreme as even Google doesn't like it.

[glamtaff]

Ok update.. Sent from phone so excuse sausage finger typos..

Checked Hub and DNS, both DNS enties are as Scubbie said they should be. Then checked windows and DNS set to automatic. I did try changing them to openDns ips for primary and secondary; instead of web pages timing out the error changed to cannot find DNS server. Changed back to auto.

Booted windows 7 into safe mode with networking. Same result. Sky pages no problem. Google and others timed out.

I have a spare router. Would it help if I tried the turn off wifi on hub and use openDns on an attached router to the hub? I am sceptical after changing the PC to openDns and getting the cannot find dns server error.

stumped! O,o

[glamtaff]

Oh! I also powered off the pc and hub, disconnected all Ethernet connections and restarted the hub. Tried connecting wirelessly using iPhone 4. Wow! I am bored of sky sports! Google times out and I never want to see a daily mail front page again! So the problem remains..

[Scubbie]

Are you able to use the diagnostics in the router to ping some of the sites which you can't access?

http://192.168.0.1/sky_diagnostics.html

The page offers the ability to look up the IP Address as well as to ping it.

Also I am wondering if you can call Sky again to see if someone has set some Parental Controls on your line. I haven't heard of Sky try this, but some ISPs do offer it.

[glamtaff]

Just got off of the phone to Sky support. Must say they are a decent enough bunch that I have spoken to so far.. Even though i can't get on any sites now and have a nice red X between router and internet on the windows network and sharing centre screen.. not missing daily mail though!

but Hub still shows connected? All settings on the status screen look valid and correct. Sky test returns no error and connected to MER and an IP address..

And so they are sending out an engineer to take a peek at the exchange.. Looks like I'll have to sit tight and wait..

tried the diagnostics page Scubbie and it returns the same as the terminal information I tried last Saturday; the DNS lookup on google.com returns 6 Ip addresses. I chose 173.194.67.103 and entered it in the ping an IP address and it failed, 4 packets sent and 4 lost.. Btw, tracert on 173.194.67.103 goes via 192.168.0.1 thru bm0.thhn-dhcp.isp.sky.com thru 10.245.144.33 before timing out.. So it gets beyond the exchange? But that is just a guess.. Knowledge has run out again..

a big Thank You for your help so far Scubbie, it is much appreciated..

Cheers!