Tech Issues

[Quitbuggingmeandgoaway]

Hey all, long time no see!

I'm having problems with my Compaq/HP Presario A900 laptop. Internet Explorer works (although it quits from time to time) but Mozilla Firefox won't connect at all. I've reinstalled it to no avail. Can anyone provide any suggestions? Thanks

[Evil Queen]

...How's the firewall?

[clowninasack]

Sounds like your firewall is blocking it. If you're about to say "fire-what?" it's probably the Windows firewall. Try using this guide from Microsoft. Just scroll down to "Add a Windows Firewall exception".

[otakuneko]

Windows firewall on XP is incapable of blocking outbound, so no need to even check it if you use XP's built-in firewall. Vista's firewall defaults to blocking inbound only and depending on flavor, may not be capable of blocking outbound at all.

Proxy settings should also be checked. Should be under Options, under a tab named Connections, Network, or Proxy, something to that effect. I use SeaMonkey, and its config dialog is completely different from Firefox.

[otakuneko]

Ugh, my laptop runs Vista. It's also relatively new and the ubuntu livecd I tried on it couldn't make my wireless work. Vista's power management options blow XP out of the water though, so I think I'll put up with it until I find a way to make the wireless work under linux. With Aero and crap turned off, Windows classic theme, and UAC disabled, it's not TOO bad.

[Broomjockey]

This is a tech support thread, not an OS bashing one. You wanna do that, you go to Fratching.