[Closed] Please help with a weird problem.

[oats]

I'm having a weird problem with one of the domains I have on jeep (maybe 2 sites now as I just had a user on a second one reporting a similar issue). The site is www.visportanswers.co.uk

It may be the same issue as was reported in this thread http://forum.hostgator.com/viewtopic.php?t=927 - now locked which is why I didn't just add this there. The last time I talked to support about this they said they had never heard of a similar problem. That was on 15 June and this thread didn't start until 18 June. Howevr, I have been emailing support regularly since 28 May about this problem. Mostly, the answers I get are just 'your site is working fine for us'. Occasionally something like 'may be an ISP problem, I suggest you contact them'.

This post is loooooooooooooong - sorry, but I've tried to include all the clues as you may need them lol.

The symptoms:

1. The site in question is one of several on the same reseller package.
2. It was set up 11 May and gave no problems until 28 May. I was working on it daily during this period building the site.
3. Starting on 28 May I have had a problem with it every single day.
4. Sometimes the site loads fine, and everything works perfectly.
5. Every day at some time the site stops loading for me – ‘Page cannot be displayed’
6. When this happened first I was emailing you to moan about it, you said it loaded ok for you, and when I checked again it loaded for me too.
7. I have since checked with other people and it appears to be loading ok for everyone else except me when this happens …
… except the 3 PC’s on this local network. When the site stops loading for me it also stops loading for all 3 PC’s on this network (i.e. on this IP).
8. The problem therefore SEEMS to be somehow related to this IP, but it is not a permanent problem with it.
9. The site comes back again each day some time later – maybe many hours later, sometimes sooner.
10. I have tried rebooting my PC. Twice the site has come back after this, mostly doesn’t. The reboot may therefore be just coincidence.
11. When the site comes back for me, it also comes back to the other 2 PC’s on this network too.
12. I can’t see any particular pattern to when the site will or will not load, or when it comes back.
13. Even when the site won’t load for me I can still access cPanel for it, and access by fpt.
14. When the site won’t load for me, I can’t send or receive emails from it either. This is usually the first indication I have that the problem has recurred, as Outlook generates an error message.
15. When it won't load for me I can access it via www.megapoxy.com though this only allows me to view, not log into the forums etc.

Some facts and stuff I have tried so far:
1. It is one of a number of sites I have on the server. The rest are working fine – the problem is unique to this site.
2. It is a phpnuke site, though it has html pages too. When the problem occurs, no pages will load.
3. On whm, when I list accounts and click on the IP beside this account it loads the first page (index.html, located in the public_html folder of the site), except for one of the images. For this image it looks as though it is looking in the server root directory for it – properties display the URL as xxxxx.websitewelcome.com/images/sport/welcome.gif . The other image on the page and the images on all other sites I have on the server show a URL path to the specific site, e.g. xxxxx.websitewelcome.com/~user/assets/images/main_r2_c2.gif
4. The welcome.gif image is in the /images/sport/ folder in the public_html dir of the site ok.
5. The welcome.gif image also contains a link to an index.php file (also located in the public_html folder of the site) that is the front page of the main site – a phpnuke. When I click on this link (i.e. on the missing image) I get the following error …
Not Found

The requested URL /index.php was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

That also happens when the site is loading normally, so may not be significant.
6. At one stage I suspected that the site had somehow blocked my IP. If so, it doesn’t show up on the IP Deny Manager in cPanel. Also, the problem clears without me going near the cPanel.
7. The network configuration I have here is an ADSL line into an ADSL modem, from that modem to a router, then each of the 3 PC’s from that router. Any of the times I rebooted my PC and the problem cleared I did not reboot the other PC’s or the modem, or router.
8. I have tried clearing cookies, temp files, and history in IE 6, but this doesn’t make any difference.
9. I have tried closing down antivirus etc. I do have a hardware firewall that I have not disabled (for obvious reasons) but the site loads fine some of the time with this in place, as do all other websites including others on the server.
10. Every time I ask support to look at it and they come back saying it looks fine to them, it is fine when I look ... almost like the action of them looking at the site clears the problem. Could be coincidence of course. Also, it isn't much help telling me it works for them when I have explained that I know that - I want to know why it works for everyone else except me.
11. I have asked for help in a couple of other forums because I lost the will to see support just telling me again that it works for them. Some of the suggestions are:
- something to do with nameservers/DNS (I have nameserver ns1.bigpinkhippo.com set up and in some reports it's gettting ns13.websitewelcome.com still - so maybe I've done something wrong there ... BUT it does work sometimes and it's set up the same as other domains that work fine)
- this http://dnsreport.com/tools/dnsrepor...rtanswers.co.uk suggests some problems ok, but I don't know what they mean or how to deal with them. I pointed these out in an email to support but they didn't comment.
- I was asked in one reply "Do they have mod_dosevasive or mod_security installed for Apache?". I don't know, nor do I know what it means.

I can’t work this out. A problem that appears to affect only my IP and only this site on the entire planet, and only sometimes. It occurs and clears for no apparent reason - certainly nothing I am doing here.

You have to admit it’s interesting.

Look forward to your thoughts! My gratitude and possible a hug to anyone who can tell me what the problem is.

[GatorJustin]

oats, I realize this may not be the answer you are looking for, but it sounds to me like a definate ISP/router issue.

We can eliminate the server or the HG network as a possible cause, because your site is accessible to everyone but the 3 machines on your LAN.

Next time this happens, head over to www.visualroute.com and run their slick tracert application. This will tell you where the connection is dropping off.

[oats]

I don't care what the answer is Justin, as long as I find it. Appreciate the reply.

I have visualroute, but hadn't thought of using it for this. DOH!