can't access hotmail through ICS

[viper]

My friend has a problem with his network. The matter could be quite complicated or quite simple.

His network is setup as, Directway modem is hooked into the host computer using a USB 2.0 connection. Then the host computer is hooked into a hub using the ethernet card. Then the 3 client computers are all hooked into the hub using the ethernet connection.

The host computer is using Windows XP Pro. Two of the client computers are Windows 98 SE and the one other client computer is using Windows XP home. All the client computers are hooked in the host computer using ICS. The host computer is setup as a proxy server.

All the client pc's on the network can access the internet using the host pc. The only thing that the client pc's can't do is access Hotmail. It comes up with a server not found error. "The host pc can access hotmail but not the client pc's"

Windows ICF on the host pc has been disabled. The only firewall that the host pc uses is the firewall supplied by Directway and that was disabled for the moment to try and solve this problem. The security settings were brought to it's lowest point on all pc's temporarily but still no access to hotmail.

I tried everything and is about all out of options. Has anyone had this problem before and can give me some insite on what's going on. Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks

[igalan]

I have used MS Internec Connection Sharing with little success. I would recomend you a full featured proxy server. You can get a really good one (freeware) here:

FreeProxy 3.50

It shouldn't be difficult to set up. I don't know if it will fix your problem with Hotmail, but chances are that the problem is the proxy server.

[Dr. Avery]

I always had better luck with ICS when USB was left out of the mix. My ICS was always set up with the modem plugged via ethernet into the hub, and all of the computers 'ethernetted' into the uplink port on the hub. It even let me share a connection with a win 3.1 computer with no complications - though I find windows XP clients are better for it. This is just in my experience.


Again - try taking USB out of the equation, and just pluging everything directly into the hub. Worth a shot.

Have you tried browsing to hotmail via the ip address? Http://207.68.173.245

Maybe DNS isn't propegating all the way into the network for some reason... I dunno

That's just a wild possibility, but maybe something to try.

[viper]

Thanks for the input, appreciated

Unfortunately the USB connection can't be taken out of the equation. USB is the only connection that Directway uses to access the internet with. Of course no adaptor is made to go from USB to ethernet only ethernet to USB. On top of that, Directway is no help since was told that they don't support networking/sharing a internet connection.

As for the Free Proxy, I will let my friend know and give that a try. Will give anything a try at this point. Will also try using the hotmail address on the client's pc.

Will let you know how things go........


Thanks

[viper]

Tried everything, nothing seemed to work. Ended up reformatting the host computer, reinstalling ICS, and now everything seems to work fine. Don't have a clue of what could of been the problem.

Thanks for all the input, much appreciated