Firefox (only) redirects a website to 127.0.0.1

[Darkblade986]

So... interesting issue that cropped up for me just today. I try to visit a specific website and Firefox (v5.0) immediately redirects it to 127.0.0.1. A post back in 2008 on these boards mentioned the Hosts file, which I have already checked and confirmed that the redirect IPs within there are ones that Spybot S&D put there itself (back in 2008, no less). The website in question is not amongst that list, and I could visit the website just fine yesterday and for months before this.

Now here's the interesting part - Internet Explorer (v7), the in-game browser used by Steam (as in gaming), and the browser on my Playstation 3 are all able to connect to the website no problem with no redirecting. I've checked that NoScript and AdBlockPlus aren't messing with this in any way (by both disabling the addon itself and using each addon's respective "off" setting), so I'm really quite stumped as to why it won't let me connect.

At the moment, it's only the one site, but I'm still confused as to why it's happening in the first place. I'm running a virus scan just in case, but the fact that it's letting me access the scanner (avast!), update it, run it, and even visit the website for it leads me to believe it's not a virus. I *CAN* access the site if I use the IP directly, and I can access non-homepage versions of the website. It's just when I try to hit the website's homepage, it redirects. Any suggestions?

[Vitesse]

And the site is?

[Darkblade986]

http://arstechnica.com

[KWierso]

What if you go to http://75.102.3.15 instead? Still redirected?

[Darkblade986]

No, if I visit the IP directly, it loads the website just fine.

[the-edmeister]

Try clearing the DNS cache. I think it is possible for a problem in the DNS cache to affect one browser and not another.
See this
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=330
and
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/233/clea ... dns_cache/



.

[Rudimental]

Hi,

I had exactly the same problem and tried a whole host of things, just like you did. Flushing the DNS cache almost certainly won't do anything (I already tried, plus changing DNS servers), since it does not appear to be a Windows DNS problem, but seems to be about something in the browser's own caching.

This is what worked for me:

Go to your History (Show all History), right-click on http://arstechnica.com and select 'Forget About This Site'

I hope this works for you.

[Darkblade986]

edmeister: Cleaned out the DNS and it still doesn't work.

Rudimental: My firefox is set to not remember any history, so I don't have anything to go in and have it 'forget'.

[KWierso]

What about in either/both Firefox's and Windows's safe mode?

[Darkblade986]

Safe Mode gets it working without having to check any of the check marks. Progress towards the solution, I hope.

[Darkblade986]

and... now regular Firefox works as well. Either that single boot into safe mode fixed it or it solved itself. Regardless, the site works again.

[Fakhru]

Had a similar problem. "Forget this site" worked for me. Thanks a lot Rudimental