404 Not Found - solution for Microsoft Window

[Hugh Thompson]

Hello,

I'm the son of Hugh, one of your members, and have been able to figure out what's going on.
Basically, the Brit-Gen website has moved to a new home from what I can see, which means its address has changed.

It takes time for a change of address to propogate around the world, which explains why it works for some people, and not for others. The problem should all go away in the next couple of days, as the new address finishes its trip around the internet.

For those who are adventurous (or technically-minded) enough, here is what you can do to temporarily fix the problem in the meantime...

If you open a command-prompt (go to Start Menu -> Run, then type "cmd" and press Enter), then type the following command & press Enter:

ping www.british-genealogy.com (http://www.british-genealogy.com)

You will get one of two addresses in response:

82.165.104.65 or
91.215.180.170

If you get the "82" address instead of the "91" address, your computer is still pointing to the old address, and you won't be able to see the website.

There is a system file you can edit, to temporarily fix this problem until the internet sorts itself out...

Go to "Start Menu -> Run" and type:

notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

This will open up a file, the last line of which should read:

127.0.0.1 localhost

UNDERNEATH that line (ie: right at the very end of the file) type in the following:

91.215.180.170 www.british-genealogy.com (http://www.british-genealogy.com)

Basically, this forces the computer into going to the correct address when looking for the Brit-Gen website.

Save this file, exit Notepad, then go back to your web browser, try again, and viola!

Of course, this temporary fix should be removed at some stage, once everything has settled down again (say, a week from now). To do that, just re-run the "notepad" command above, delete the "www.british-genealogy.com" line, and re-save the file.

If you don't feel comfortable with editing system files, then I would recommend you just wait it out, and the site should be back within a day or two anyway.

hope this helps some of you. Apologies for the over-technical nature of this post, but there isn't any easy way to explain the issue without using some technical terms :-)

-Ben (Hugh's son).

[Procat]

Thanks Ben & Hugh,

Got me back on again.

[deeree]

What's the problem? I'm also in Australia, does that explain why I can log in OK?

[Procat]

What's the problem? I'm also in Australia, does that explain why I can log in OK?

Hi Deeree, a large number of people are experiencing issues logging on. See here (http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?58895-Page-404-not-found!) and here (http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?58896-DNS-problem&highlight=problems).

Ben has found a solution.

And whilst I am also in Australia i could only log on using the solution provided by Ben.

[Hugh Thompson]

Hi Doug, I'm glad that he helped someone out as it was driving me batty, I even asked on of my cousins in Brisbane to see if she could log on, in case it was just me, but she had the same problem, it pays to have an IT consultant in the family.
Hugh.

[Procat]

it pays to have an IT consultant in the family.
Hugh.

Worth their weight on gold at times like this. Buy him a beer for me. :cheers2:

[Hugh Thompson]

Thank you Pam.
Hugh.

[RobinC]

Hello, I've pinged www.british-genealogy.com and got the IP address beginning with 82, I then ran the notepad command and typed in 92.215.180.170 www.british-genealogy.com.

All is going well until I try to save it when I get this message "cannot create the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file. Make sure that the path and file name are correct".

I am now being redirected to advertising pages for malware and trojan viruses or FMP & Ancestry!

[Hugh Thompson]

Hi Robin, did you put a dot after the www.british-genealogy.com or is it just part of your sentence.
Ben will be back in an hour or so if you still are having problems.
Hugh.

[RobinC]

Hello Hugh, the dot is part of the sentence on here, I didn't use it when I tried to put the 92 IP address in to notepad.

[Procat]

Hi Robin,

This is a copy & paste of what worked for me (the 127.0.0.1 localhost was already there):

127.0.0.1 localhost
91.215.180.170 www.british-genealogy.com

[RobinC]

Hi Robin,

This is a copy & paste of what worked for me (the 127.0.0.1 localhost was already there):

127.0.0.1 localhost
91.215.180.170 www.british-genealogy.com

I've got 127.0.0.1. localhost but underneath that is the following "::1 localhost" which shouldn't be there according to Ben's original post?

[Procat]

I've got 127.0.0.1. localhost but underneath that is the following "::1 localhost" which shouldn't be there according to Ben's original post?

I certainly didn't have that there before I made the change.

I would suggest waiting for Ben. Or if you are feeling really brave copy what is there currently, save it to a word doc or similar so you can retrieve it then paste what I have and see what happens.

And perhaps have a couple of these handy:cheers2:

[RobinC]

I can edit the notepad in order to put the 92 IP address in but it won't let me save it for some reason! I've posted the error message I get earlier in this thread.

[Procat]

Have a look here:

Put http:// at the front

maximumpcguides.com/windows-vista/edit-the-windows-vista-hosts-file/

[Hugh Thompson]

Hello Robin,

If you're running Windows Vista, or Windows 7, the "::1 localhost" entry might also be there. My original post was from a Windows XP machine, so I didn't really think about Vista/7. That's OK though, just put the 91..... line in below the "::1" line, save and it should still work.

-Ben.

[Hugh Thompson]

Thanks Doug, I didn't really think about Vista when I posted this. The link you provided is, indeed, the correct way to edit the HOSTS file for Vista (and probably for Windows 7) as well.

For anyone wondering about the "::1" bit, that's for IPv6, which is a new feature in Vista and 7. Windows XP only has IPv4 by default, so you won't see the ::1 bit.

I'll ben in Melbourne for a wedding next week, so you might be able to buy me the beer in person :-)

[RobinC]

Hello Ben,

Thank you for your advice, I am using Vista but can't save the changes in notepad after putting the new IP address in!

[Hugh Thompson]

Robin,

Did you try the link that Doug posted?

http://maximumpcguides.com/windows-vista/edit-the-windows-vista-hosts-file/

Basically, the issue with Vista (and possibly Windows 7 as well) is that it tries to protect system files (such as the Host file). Normally this is a good thing, since malware and/or virus cannot edit the file to redirect you to malicious websites.

In this case, though, the security features are working against you. The instructions at the webpage above will show you how to run Notepad as the Administrator, thus allowing you to save the changes.

Hope this gets you sorted!

Cheers,

-Ben.

[RobinC]

I've followed the instructions on the link that Procat provided and have saved the new IP address but when I click on the link to Brit-Gen, the internet cannot display the webpage. I have tried to ping www.british-genealogy.com and the requests keep timing out!

[Peter Goodey]

Although not stated in the title, casual readers should note that this thread applies to Microsoft Windows only.

At the time of writing, the correct IP address is being returned by Google's and BT's DNS servers (both of which which I normally use). It has filtered through to only one of Sky Broadband's DNS servers, which is a bit weird!

[Procat]

I'll ben in Melbourne for a wedding next week, so you might be able to buy me the beer in person :-)

Considering how helpful you have been I think we can make an exception and let a northerner cross into the southern state. :biggrin5:

[Procat]

Although not stated in the title, casual readers should note that this thread applies to Microsoft Windows only.

Good point Peter. I have updated the title.

[Hugh Thompson]

Hey, I went through all that when I moved down then in 1999. I lived in Melbourne for 8 years, so I think I've earned the right to come and visit once in a while ;-)

[Hugh Thompson]

OK Robin, let's try a more direct test. Type the following URL into the address bar of your web browser:

http://91.215.180.170/

This should take you to a "Parellels Plesk" webpage. If it doesn't then you're not getting a connection to the website, which points to some other possible network problem...
If you do get the Plesk page, then try the following address:

http://www.british-genealogy.com

And let us know how that goes...

-Ben.

[RobinC]

Just seen Ben's latest post!

[RobinC]

I typed in http://91.215.180.170 and it did take me to a parallel plesk panel but I still get the "cannot display page" when I use http://www.british-genealogy.com.

I also get the message "You see this page because there is no Web site at this address"

[Hugh Thompson]

Although not stated in the title, casual readers should note that this thread applies to Microsoft Windows only.

At the time of writing, the correct IP address is being returned by Google's and BT's DNS servers (both of which which I normally use). It has filtered through to only one of Sky Broadband's DNS servers, which is a bit weird!

Thanks for pointing that out, Peter. I don't to much non-MS support work anymore, but I believe for a Mac/*nix user the equivalent would be:

Run Terminal/xterm/whatever
su -
vi /etc/hosts

Of course, someone who knows how to do that would probably have already figured this out anyway :-)

With regards to the differnet behaviour of various DNS servers, I would point out that DNS propogation by its very nature is quite erratic. The reason most organisations have two DNS servers is not only for redundancy, but it's also best practice to have redundant DNS servers pointing to different tier-1 DNS root hosts, so it's quite common for one server to be updated when the other one hasn't yet. This propogation seems to be taking quite some time though, I've never seen one take more than a couple of days...

Also, someone seems to have been quite remiss in not explaining all of this to the website owners/admins, so they could notify their subscribers in advance of any possible outage. Not only that, but all they had to do was keep a skeleton site going at the old address for a few days, with a simple redirect to the new address, and all of this hassle could've been avoided!

Ah well, live and learn.

[Hugh Thompson]

OK. There's a couple more things to try. Firstly, clear out your "Temporary Internet Files" and cookies, etc. Secondly, run a command-prompt again (you should be getting good at this by now :-) and type the following command:

ipconfig /flushdns

It should say something about "clearing the DNS resolver cache" or similar...

Failing that, the old cliche of "Reboot and see if it still happens" probably holds true here, I'd certainly try restarting Windows if all else fails...

Hope this works,

-Ben.

[RobinC]

I've just deleted my temp internet files, e.t.c. and tried to run the command prompt ipconfig /flushdns but get the message "The requested operation requires elevation"

What does that mean?

I pinged www.british-genealogy.com again and got "replies" so am now able to access the forum on my laptop!

Thank you Ben!

[Hugh Thompson]

Hi Robin, Ben's out at the moment, I'll have to ask him tomorrow about "The requested operation requires elevation", way above my head I'm afraid.
Hugh.

[Procat]

I am delighted you can now access the forum, RobinC.:biggrin5:

Hugh, can you please persuade Ben to remain on standby for any and all techie queries?|bowdown|

I wonder if he wants to develop some sort of forum software?:biggrin5:

[Hugh Thompson]

Pam I'm sure whenever he is available he will do what he can for you, as he said that you sound like nice people, Doug you might have to twist his arm a bit I think.
Hugh.

[Raffaele]

I saw this one and checked it out a bit.
First Parish Chest was working fine and they are probably with the same server farm.
I pinged www.british-genealogy.com and it replied fine.
That means the network card on the server is functioning and so is the dns server.

The ping first calls the dns (domain name server) to identifiy the IP address of the domain
It then pings the IP address of the server which hosts the domain.

So everything is fine as far as the server network card.
It had to be a problem with the server and until the hosting comany rebooted it, not a lot we can do except be patient.

[Peter Goodey]

Anyone who has made the temporary change to the hosts file needs to make a note to set it back the way it was after a couple of days.

IP addresses can change for perfectly valid reasons and if B-G's IP address changes sometime in the future, the amended hosts file will prevent you picking it up.

If you're unhappy or suspicious about the performance of your current domain name server, you may want to think about changing it. My ISP's domain name servers are sluggish particularly at peak times and I've had noticeably better performance since reconfiguring my PCs to use different servers.

[Raffaele]

Domain Name Servers

These provide the look up from a domain name ie British-genealogy.com to an IP address ie the unique World wide internet address where the domain exists.

There are thousands of domain name servers throughout the world and if there is any change, ie when a domain is moved, this has to propogate globally to update all the servers. This used to take a few days but now is much quicker as most DNS now refer back to the masters for update on a more frequent basis. Old servers are still out there which do not refer as fast. It is possible that someone in Australia could be updated before someone in the UK. The last one I had worked with two hours but it was on a UK server and I have no knwledge of how long it took world wide to get updated.

It is normal to warn someone when they are moving a domain that this process will cause this problem. There is nothing that the new provider can do to improve this, except warn in advance but I guess the downside of that is when you are told in advance that some of your users might be disconnected for possibly 2-3 days you might just change your mind.

[Raffaele]

Someone's brain cell's were not lined up with that one then. The best laid plans of mice and men can all be undone with one person clicking without thinking, and it is just that. One click and there is no going back and its too late to publish a warning.

For years I had my own servers on the web, all under my control. The moment it is outside, someone will c**** it up for you.

In the defence of these people, and I have a domain at 1and1, I think the move was in error, not planned. I don't think the new site was up when they started the move. For just UK I think it was out for too long to be just DNS so someone hit it in error.

Isn't the internet wonderful. Good luck, it should settle down now, like your blood pressure.