Can't Access just one site! Please Help!

[davepnw]

I am unable to access only 1 site (that I know of): https://www.instantssl.com

This seems to be the only site I CAN'T access, when I do, I get a page cannot be displayed error. Here's what I tried:

>>Different browsers
>>Different computers
>>My phone
None of the above can access that site when connected via my RT-N66U running Asus WRT Merlin. But, if I bypass the router and connect directly to my broadband modem, I can access it fine. Same goes for my phone, if I disconnect from WiFi, I can connect to the site fine.

I've also tried:
>>Different DNS settings, OpenDNS, Google DNS, my ISP (Cox) DNS.
>>Upgraded my Merlin firmware to the latest stable version 380.59
>>Fiddled with and checked all settings in the router, including parental controls, firewall, keyword & URL filters, even put my PC in DMZ.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[john9527]

Seems to be a problem cropping up more and more.....the IP assigned by your ISP is probably blacklisted by that site. (and yes, you will get a different IP assigned when connected directly to the modem as opposed to the router). See this thread.....

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/cannot-connect-to-senate-gov.32742/#post-261935

 

[sfx2000]

It's not just affecting AsusWRT - I've seen it crop up in other distributions - something's afoot out there maybe...

 

[RMerlin]

It's not just affecting AsusWRT - I've seen it crop up in other distributions - something's afoot out there maybe...

Router/firmware/hardware has really nothing to do with it, unless you are suffering from an MTU or DNS issue. IP blacklisting and blind reliance of such lists by ill-advised site administrators is increasing, sadly. Those blacklists are often managed by people who couldn't care less about stale data causing legitimate users being blocked. They think they ain't accountable to anyone just because they aren't selling their service.

That problem started years ago when mail servers started blindly relying on such lists, blocking you as soon you were listed on a single list, rather than use a compound scoring based on multiple lists (like SpamAssassin does), or validating that you are on multiple lists.

Those people managing such blacklists should always provide a de-listing method. Sadly, some of these don't, and they either tell you "Not our problem, get lost", or "Pay us if you want us to remove you". And shortsighted server admins still blindly rely on such lists, not caring either about the innocents getting affected.

Yeah, I have a pretty strong opinion about this, 'cause I'm the guy who gets contacted when my customers are having to deal with problems caused by these clowns. Happened again earlier this week, customer can't access a government site where he needed to fill up an online form to request financing (they're a non-profit).

Sometimes, it's because a whole subnet got banned, catching them in the wake. Other times, it's a dynamic IP that gets reused. Or, it's the ISP that gets blacklisted, not the customer himself. Very, very rarely was it legitimately caused by the customer being responsible for being infected by a malware.

 

[sfx2000]

Router/firmware/hardware has really nothing to do with it, unless you are suffering from an MTU or DNS issue. IP blacklisting and blind reliance of such lists by ill-advised site administrators is increasing, sadly. Those blacklists are often managed by people who couldn't care less about stale data causing legitimate users being blocked. They think they ain't accountable to anyone just because they aren't selling their service.

I wasn't implying that it did - and concur on the thoughts related to blacklists...

 

[KenZ71]

Would changing dns to google or comcast help?

 

[RMerlin]

Would changing dns to google or comcast help?

No. If blacklisted, the possible solutions are:

1) Have the ISP take necessary steps to get that IP cleared from the blacklist
2) Have someone at your ISP force your modem to obtain a different IP (if technically possible, depends on how their DHCP server is setup)
3) Use a different MAC address on the WAN page to force them to issue you a different IP
4) Turn everything off for a few hours and pray that your ISP will give you a different IP after that
5) Use a VPN whenever accessing that specific site

 

[davepnw]

Thanks for all the input, everyone. This morning, I tried cloning my mac address in my RT-N66U settings, then rebooted the modem and router...still no joy.

@KenZ71: I already tried changing my DNS as mentioned in my original post...not realizing at the time that is likely a blacklist situation.

Luckily, I have a spare router of the same model. Over the weekend, I plan on setting it up. Does anyone know: If I backup my current router's "settings", does that backup the firmware as well, or do I need to first flash the firmware in the new router to match the current one, then restore the settings to it from my current router?

Thanks again!

 

[L&LD]

No, it will not backup the firmware. Download it and put it in a safe location.

Suggest you use john9527's excellent NVRAM Save/Restore utility instead of the gui's 'restore' option (after doing a reset to factory defaults followed by a minimal and manual configuration to secure the router and connect to your ISP).

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/user-nvram-save-restore-utility-r24.19521/

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

 

[davepnw]

No, it will not backup the firmware. Download it and put it in a safe location.

Suggest you use john9527's excellent NVRAM Save/Restore utility instead of the gui's 'restore' option (after doing a reset to factory defaults followed by a minimal and manual configuration to secure the router and connect to your ISP).

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/user-nvram-save-restore-utility-r24.19521/

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

Are you saying to do the factory reset & min/man cfg to my current router, or the new one?

 

[RMerlin]

Don't copy your settings to the other router, or you will end up also copying its MAC...

 

[davepnw]

Okay, so just to confirm, even if I were to use john9527's utility to copy from the current router to the new one, it would still copy the MAC?

 

[john9527]

Okay, so just to confirm, even if I were to use john9527's utility to copy from the current router to the new one, it would still copy the MAC?

No.....but to be extra safe, run the utility in 'migration' mode (-m switch) which will exclude all router specific information.

 

[davepnw]

Gotcha, sorry for asking dumb questions, I should have read through the Quick Start file sooner. I understand now.

I do have this question though, could I back up the current router, make a copy of the script on the flash drive, edit it to change the MAC, then restore it back to the same router to change the MAC, which would then get me a new WAN IP address without even having to use my spare?

 

[L&LD]

Gotcha, sorry for asking dumb questions, I should have read through the Quick Start file sooner. I understand now.

I do have this question though, could I back up the current router, make a copy of the script on the flash drive, edit it to change the MAC, then restore it back to the same router to change the MAC, which would then get me a new WAN IP address without even having to use my spare?

Can you not simply power down the modem and router for awhile to do that?

Or, simply change the MAC (clone Mac Address) on the running router and reboot?

 

[davepnw]

Doh! All this goofing around, and I finally got fixed up. I thought the MAC address cloning wasn't working, because there was a MAC in the field already (must have been from old PC, but I assumed it was the router's actual MAC), and I had tried clicking the clone button, then rebooting everything, with no luck.

Just a few minutes ago as I was going through the setup process on the new router, and I noticed that field was blank. So, I went back to the current router, deleted the contents of the field, applied the settings, shut everything down, brought the modem back up, then the router, and presto, new WAN IP!!!

Thanks everyone!