Sorry to post this here, but... is WotC down?

[karossii]

I have not been able to log into the WotC 4E forums for 2 days now (well, 30+ hours at least)... I can access all of their other site functions, but the forums just don't load.

I had similar but different issues before in one beta version of Firefox 3 that couldn't handle the third party cookies; but then all I had to do was clear cookies and cache and the forums loaded. And that also affected several other websites.

This time, no browser betas/updates are involved, and that is the one and only site that I cannot access. I still tried to clear cookies/cache/etc., restarted, everything I could think of, even tried loading up the horrid IE browser, and still can't access them.

So it makes me think their forums are down and have been for at least 30+ hours. But if that were so, I would think some kind of announcement would have been made on their website, or I would have found SOMETHING about it on one of the several various searches I tries through google and localized searching (like searching these forums here)...

So... just curious; is it just me somehow? Or are their forums down and no one else but me has noticed/commented on it until now?

Thanks!

 

[aurance]

Hello. I'm using Firefox 3.5, and the WotC forums load just fine. Normal speeds.

Are these forums the only websites you can't access?

 

[karossii]

Yup, forums.gleemax.com or any other similar address (including the older boards1.wizards.com) just refuses to load for me, but everything else I regularly use, and everything random I could think of that I rarely/never visit is all loading up just fine!

Very weird!

[edit] I even opened a command prompt and tried to ping the forums; it shows the ip is actually 69.8.198.225, and all 4 requests time out with 100% packet loss.

[edit 2] The actual error message I get is one I have never seen before;

Connection Interrupted
The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.
The network link was interrupted while negotiating a connection. Please try again.

 

[ForbidenMaster]

Works for me: http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/8444/forumsareup.png

 

[aurance]

Oddly enough, when I ping forums.gleemax.com, I get 100% packet loss as well. But the site loads.

Well, I have no idea why you can't load it, but did you try power cycling your modem / router?

 

[karossii]

Okay, on a wild hair, I tried to surf to the forums using a web proxy (proxify) and it loaded up just fine!?!?

So now the big question, that I suppose I must troubleshoot elsewhere, is what the heck is blocking me from their site?

 

[aurance]

Another guess - do you have any software that intercepts / scans links? Spyware detectors or antivirus? They can sometimes cause specific URLs to time out.

 

[karossii]

I use Avast, and Malware Bytes, along with the occasional scan from Spybot... will try deactivating them one at a time, and see which, if any, might be a culprit. But all have been on the system for a long time, not sure why it would have done this out of the blue for no reason!

 

[karossii]

Well, the error message changed, at least... this time I got

Network Timeout
The server at forums.gleemax.com is taking too long to respond.
The requested site did not respond to a connection request and the browser has stopped waiting for a reply.

* Could the server be experiencing high demand or a temporary outage? Try again later.
* Are you unable to browse other sites? Check the computer's network connection.
* Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy? Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing.
* Still having trouble? Consult your network administrator or Internet provider for assistance.

 

[gnorman]

I, too, am having this same problem, with the exact same symptoms and workarounds.

Any help would be appreciated!