Can't accesss webpage (solved)

[Bolt986]

Hello I have been playing fantastic contraption for over a year now and still enjoy it greatly.

However starting sometime last week the web page went down (or so it seems). I first brushed it off as a temporary outage and didn't think much about it. Then the next day after asking some online friends I determined that they could access the page and I couldn't. This was really strange to me, so I tried connecting on my laptop and some other computers in the house and was still unsuccessful.

Then yesterday when i was talking to one of my buddies on the phone I asked him if he was able to get on the site. (He lives locally and uses the same ISP). Interestingly he also cannot connect. I realized just now by using proxies I can connect to the servers (and also here) but the game's flash will not load. (i'm a proxy amateur and am using NewIPNow.com).

Does anyone have an idea what is causing this problem and if there is anything I can do to fix it?
I live in central Missouri and my ISP is Mediacom

-Thanks in advance.

[sk89q]

Go to http://208.100.52.10/ and tell us if that works.

[Bolt986]

Does not work different error however

When I type in the url I get a default Server not Found page from the browser.

When i type in the IP address, I get a page that looks like it is a default Apache page for their cPanel (like they haven't set up anything yet).
I am forwarded to /cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi same thing when I try the IP followed by a level or design ID

This is the page i was redirected to.
http://fantasticcontraption.com/cgi-sys ... ebpage.cgi

I don't know if this means it is a DNS problem or not...
Something along those lines makes most since to me I'm just surprised it hasn't been corrected by now.

Edit: Actually now I'm thinking that is the normal behavior when connecting by IP and would in fact imply a DNS problem.

[sk89q]

So you have a clue on these matters :O

Well, the issue could be your router, your ISP, or it could be FC. I presume you know how to fix it for yourself though?

[Bolt986]

I've got a bachelors in CompSci so I like to think I'm at relatively competent in those areas.

Thanks for your help in chat =)
in case anyone else has the same problem we got the issue resolved by adding
208.100.52.10 fantasticcontraption.com
to the file located at c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

[JaredR26]

I've got a bachelors in CompSci so I like to think I'm at relatively competent in those areas.

Thanks for your help in chat =)
in case anyone else has the same problem we got the issue resolved by adding
208.100.52.10 fantasticcontraption.com
to the file located at c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

A better solution to that is to use a public DNS server instead of your ISP's. All throughout college and since I have used other better DNS servers. These few in particular are very easy to remember:

4.2.2.2 (verizon)
4.2.2.4 (verizon)
8.8.8.8 (google)

http://www.dnsserverlist.org/
and
http://theos.in/windows-xp/free-fast-pu ... rver-list/

also have more listed which may have faster response times.

[sk89q]

I also suggested OpenDNS to him, which is what I use personally.

I wouldn't use random DNS servers though. You don't want to fall victim to DNS cache poisoning.