Problem Accessing Google/ Gmail from Browser

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karenlea
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Joined: September 11th, 2016, 4:09 pm

Problem Accessing Google/ Gmail from Browser

Post by karenlea »

Hi. I am having a problem accessing google sites (Gmail, Google) on Firefox and on any other browser that I use on my laptop. The Firefox message says "The owner of www.google.com has configured their website improperly". When I click on learn more I get "Advanced info: SSL_ERROR_NO_CYPHER_OVERLAP" It won't let me load the page using unsecure technology -- I get bounced back to the same page.

I did a search and followed various tidbits of advice that I found on Mozilla and elsewhere.
I ran a scan on my security program (BitDefender) and then downloaded a free version of Malware Bytes and ran a scan using that. Neither found any malware.
I tried putting some IP addresses for Google into the toolbar (addresses found on an old Mozilla thread) and got error messages.
I following some directions for "pinging" Google on my computer, and it successfully pinged this IP address: 216.58.193.78

I can search via Yahoo on Mozilla (or other browsers). Alas, I cannot get to Gmail and other services that I need for work.

-Karen
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dfoulkes
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Joined: June 28th, 2008, 10:31 pm
Location: Mesquite, Nevada

Re: Problem Accessing Google/ Gmail from Browser

Post by dfoulkes »

karenlea wrote:Hi. I am having a problem accessing google sites (Gmail, Google) on Firefox and on any other browser that I use on my laptop.

-Karen
So, this is not just a Firefox problem then? ...

If I were you I would reboot your laptop into safe-mode with Network active... then see what happens... just remember that during this test, your AV software is off.

Also, have you tried turning off your Firewall and then tested out your problem?

Is this laptop working off of Wifi or hard wire?

Plus... it sounds like it won't work properly at home or at work...correct?
As you can see she's (The CAT) always alert and on the prowl for Meoware !!
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LIMPET235
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Joined: October 19th, 2007, 1:53 am
Location: The South Coast of N.S.W. Oz.

Re: Problem Accessing Google/ Gmail from Browser

Post by LIMPET235 »

Seeing as other browsers are affected as well as Firefox,
this is being moved to the Tech. Forum...
[Ancient Amateur Astronomer.]
Win-10-H/64 bit/500G SSD/16 Gig Ram/450Watt PSU/350WattUPS/Firefox-115.0.2/T-bird-115.3.2./SnagIt-v10.0.1/MWP-7.12.125.

(Always choose the "Custom" Install.)
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tanstaafl
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Re: Problem Accessing Google/ Gmail from Browser

Post by tanstaafl »

I'd interpret SSL_ERROR_NO_CYPHER_OVERLAP as meaning you disabled some of the ciphers that Firefox supports, so both sides can't agree on a common cipher to use. You shouldn't run into this problem if you use the default settings for the ciphers (i.e. don't touch the security.ssl3* settings, they're used for TLS). My copy of Firefox uses "TLS_TCDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256, 128 bit keys, TLS 1.2" when it connects to the gmail web page, according to the information I get when clicking on the lock icon..

Check whether security.ssl3.ecdhe_rsa_aes_128_gcm_sha256 is true using about:config. See https://duckduckgo.com/?q=security.ssl3 ... a=qa&iax=1 . ECDHE means Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman with Ephemeral keys. RSA means the server's certificate must contain a RSA public key, and the corresponding private key must be used to sign the ECDHE parameters. AES_128_GCM is one of the new AEAD ciphers introduced in TLS 1.2 . SHA256 is the type of hash function.

Are you making a connection through a proxy? If your problem is not due to disabling a cipher setting in the browser, I'd assume its due to something else that gets involved in the connection.

You might find using https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/ to test the connection to gmail.com useful. If you click on the link to the actual host (on the page listing the grade) after it completes the testing it will list the protocols and ciphers that host supports.
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