OptimumOnline → [help] News Server Connection Refused

I can't connect to the OOL news server. I use X-news, and had no problems connecting prior to this weekend. Other computers on my wireless network can connect, but I keep getting the 10061 Connection Refused error message. We use a D-Link 614+ router. Here is the URL from my tweaktest:

»monitor.dslreports.com/t ··· a=normal

The only thing that I can think of is that maybe my machine is blocking port 119 traffic for some reason. I ran some TCP optimizers this weekend, and since have been unable to get on the news servers, so that might be part of the problem. Somebody help me out, please.

Thanks
Mike

are the other computers on the network still connected? x-news still running somehow.

sometimes these news software proggies have a hard time 'releasing' the connections.

also, OOLs news servers(crappy,shi*ty,worthless,good for notin)only allow 2 connections per host.

No, they aren't connected at the same time, I simply checked the other machines to see if the problem was with the connection or my computer.

No problem connecting here. Attempting more than two connections doesn't result in a TCP/IP "connection refused" - you'll connect to the server, but get an error via the NNTP protocol.

i have the exact same problem. it doesn't seem to be related to the news client, the operating system, or connection/port. it's almost as if the news server has banned certain mac addresses on my network. check out my screenshot, i could connect from a remote xp box, a virtual xp box, but not from a virtual linux box or the local xp box itself. anyone know what's going on here?

Are you running a router like the first poster? If so the MAC address will be that of the router and OOL will not have any idea which machine is being used.

One possibility is that somehow a firewall with rules preventing the connection is running on the problem machine.

said by langl3y:

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i could connect from a remote xp box, a virtual xp box, but not from a virtual linux box or the local xp box itself. anyone know what's going on here?

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is the virtual XP box and local xp box on the same machine? if so shouldnt that MAC address be the same because its origination from the same machine?

said by hambone6666:

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is the virtual XP box and local xp box on the same machine? if so shouldnt that MAC address be the same because its origination from the same machine?

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yes they are on the same machine but the virtual pc emulates a hardware nic with its own mac and ip. but regardless, it really shouldn't matter because as TheWiseGuy said, ool will only see the router's mac address.
there's also nothing wrong with my firewall rules, i can connect to other news servers on all my boxes. and if this wasn't confusing enough, i loaded linux (dual boot, not emulated) on the xp box that had a working ool news and guess what? -- it also has problems connecting to ool news.

so in summary:
* all linux boxes, virtual or real, can't connect to ool news
* 1 xp box can connect but breaks when dual booting to linux
* 1 xp box can't connect but virtual xp can
* 1 xp laptop connects fine (wireless or wired)

this problem started 2 days ago and i haven't changed anything on my end.

well, as you know OOL's news server is probably one of the best!
hehehehehe.

Strange I have the same exact router and Im having the same problem too. I just got off the phone with OOL and they said everything should be ok. Ive tried it from different workstations with no luck. Ive tried a number of different newsreaders also. This has been going on for about 2 days now. Anyone have a clue whats going on?

said by hambone6666:

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well, as you know OOL's news server is probably one of the best!
hehehehehe.

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sadly if you compare it to other isp's it is.

I just installed a newsreader on my wireless laptop and oddly i was able to make a connection to OOLs news server.

Just as a start to troubleshooting check the server names on the computers that can't connect and try to tracert to the name and to the IPs 167.206.3.2 or 167.206.3.3.

Check to make sure that the url news.optonline.net resolves to the previous addresses.

Ok, here's an update:

I've totally reset everything - router, modem and all settings on my computer. I plugged my computer directly into the modem and had no problem connecting to the news server with x-news. Logically, it would seem that there is a problem with the router settings then. The only thing that I can think of is that maybe when I have to clone the MAC address for my wireless adapter, that OOL is blocking that MAC address for some reason. Maybe I have to use their MAC from the modem in my router configuration? The quest continues, I guess...

Just to add to the thread...at the time of this writing I'm also having the same problem. Can connect to the news server(s) fine straight to the modem, but no dice going through my router.

Haven't changed anything in my router setup since it last worked.

*shrug*

I am having the same problem, I've always been able to connect to the news server except for the past 5 days or so. I have a D-Link DI604 router

For the heck of it I decided to try from some other systems on my LAN. My 2k box can connect fine behind the router. Rest of my XP boxes can't.

I'm also using a DI-604 for any interested.

Edit: 30 seconds later the 2k box can't connect either.
[text was edited by author 2003-10-26 01:46:48]

Edit:At time of this edit every PC on my LAN behind the router can get to news server(s) fine, except this one.

Only thing I can find different among them is, using ProPort, this one times out on a SYN Sent whereas on the others it doesn't even show a SYN Sent.
[text was edited by author 2003-10-26 02:03:29]

good catch Daeymien. it seems recent changes to ool news causes problems with dlink routers when tcp/ip window scaling is enabled, i never would have guessed.
for people affected, you can simply delete the "Tcp1323Opts" registry key under

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]

or use a tool such as drtcp to disable that tcp control.

if you are using linux, you can disable window scaling by typing:

echo > 0 /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_window_scaling

That seemed to have fixed the problem! Thanks!

You're absolutley right about the day the news server went bad.

>this problem started 2 days ago and i haven't changed anything on my end.

Up until Wednesday 10-22 I wasn't having any problems with the news server either and the speeds were very good. On 10-22 the thing went to hell in a hand basket! The speed sucks so bad it's hardly even worth the effort of trying to connect to it!

I'm also getting a lot of timeouts when trying to d/l anything or even just scan for new message headers and high latency when doing a trace to it. I don't know what happened but it's pretty much all but useless in the state it's in right now.

I've seen some other people posting saying that they've called tech support and complained about it, but from what I've read OOL seems to be playing dumb with the usual... "we're not seeing any problems" typical response.

I could care less if they don't want to admit that they're having a problem with it just so long as they get it working right again..and soon!

That reg fix seems to somewhat work. Im still getting really poor transfer rates (around 300k) and half the other time I cant even connect. Something is definately going on. Ive been on the phone twice with them and they say there are no problems there..

Alright, I can connect now! Thank you for the window scaling tip; that seemed to fix the problem. The Server is still realllly slooooow, but I guess I can live with that for now. Thanks everybody.

Mike

I have a linksys router and right now the connection is refused. I don't have any idea what you guys are doing and I was wondering if I did what you did will help me. THank you.