Web pages will not load...

I've looked all over this forum and elsewhere, and can not find a solution...
My iMac will not load certain websites, notably Facebook. I’ve looked for software updates, I've reset my router even though those sites work fine on the PC and smartphones using the same network. I have tried using Safari, Firefox, and Chrome with no luck. I have cleared all browsing data and caches etc, and still no luck. I have even changed my DNS servers and that seemed to help for 5 minutes, but now I am back to square one... I've tried everything for over a month now. Very frustrating. Please help me!

I am running Mac OS X 10.5.8

Copy and post your "Hosts" file for us to take a look at. Here's how to find it:

Open your Finder and navigate to

MacIntosh HD/etc/hosts

Open the hosts file with textedit and copy it to your clipboard. Then paste it here. Here is what mine looks like to give you an idea...

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
fe80::1%lo0 localhost

I was able to locate /etc/hosts
except when I tried to open "hosts" it 1) it seems to be a shortcut... 2) It says "the alias "hosts" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found"

I remember seeing familiar text by typing something in the terminal, when I was trying to figure this out following another post.
I can't figure out where I found out how to do that. I thought it was on this forum somewhere, but I can't find it.

Any ideas?

It sounds like your hosts file doesn't exist. And why do you have an alias instead of the original?

How did you try to open it? It can be opened with any text editor or by just double clicking on it. If for some reason the hosts file is gone, just copy mine and place it where it's supposed to be. Copy it exactly as I posted mine. Then, delete the alias.

haha ya it sure seems that way...
I opened it as you normally would. Double click. Then that message popped up.
How do i make the hosts file?
Is it just a textedit file?

i went to the terminal and typed:

sudo nano /private/etc/hosts

to see the hosts file. No surprise, nothing was in there, so I modified it and pasted what you had in there and saved it. Now when i go to /etc/hosts and open it, it shows exactly what you have shown me.
Seems to still have problems opening facebook though...
I don't get this at all. I don't know what the problem could be.

chscag said:

It sounds like your hosts file doesn't exist. And why do you have an alias instead of the original?

Click to expand...

/etc is a symlink to /private/etc. This is why things in /etc point to the equivalent in /private/etc.

Ghemp: Try flushing your DNS cache:

dscacheutil -flushcache

Click to expand...

It's possible that you've got some weird IP cached for Facebook.

ya, i have tried that before, and i tried again, but no luck

after trying to open facebook, it timed out and gave me this message, i don't know if this helps:

Error 324 (net::ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE): The server closed the connection without sending any data.


ideas anyone?
(Using chrome)

I found this to be curious
When I am using Firefox a message will randomly come up (even though I have not clicked on anything) and I will be on a completely different website...

You have chosen to open
like.php
which is a: php File
from: Welcome to Facebook - Log In, Sign Up or Learn More
What should Firefox do with this file?

Is this another indication that facebook's IP address is being redirected or firewalled or something.
Is there a way to see blocked IP addresses or something?

PHP files, initially interpreted by the PHP interpreter on the server, return HTML which should be parsed by your browser. In other words, you shouldn't be getting the open/save dialog for PHP files. The only time that something like this generally happens is when a server configuration has gone wrong and I doubt this is the case in this instance.

Who provides your DNS settings? Do you just use what your ISP provides or do you use a third party service like OpenDNS?

i recently just switched to OpenDNS in hopes it would solve the problem.
I did their test to ensure i was using their servers, it passed.
But they sent me an email saying there's one more step of adding IP addresses, or a range of IP's
I'm not sure what IP's to submit, if any.
Would adding some help?

If you passed the test, you're fine - you don't need to do anything else.

If you just switched, OpenDNS won't be blocking Facebook. Blocking a domain requires setting up an account with them and explicitly listing FB as a blocked domain so you'd know if it happens.

I want to try something. You mentioned that changing your DNS fixed it temporarily. Have you tried going to Facebook by using it's IP? If not, try going to http://66.220.149.11 (that's FB's IP).

yes, I have tried that.
unfortunately, it doesn't work either.

I was able to get on today, but only for about 5 minutes before facebook wouldn't respond anymore.
It doesn't make sense to me.

I still try other browsers, chrome seems to work the best.
Safari won't even let me on Google half the time.

Just for anybody reading these posts, the problem was never resolved for me
UNTIL
I upgraded my OS from Leopard to Mountain Lion
I am pretty sure all my internet problems were solely from my outdated OS.
A lot of sites stopped supporting updates to software etc.
After getting Mountain Lion, i fell in love with my mac again.
It's like a new iMac!