Can't load Citibank's secure web-sites

I've found LinkSys support to be excellent.

The problem may not be with the router/firewall (which works fine with the other machines), but rather with the computer having the problem. See here for possible clues:

I'd check my browser and security settings. I'd dump my history, temp cache and cookies. Reboot the system after you deep six those files.

Gary,

I do not see how it could be LinkSys issue since two other computers connected to the same router have no problems.

I'm betting you're missing seeing a setting in NIS that is blocking the site or something involved with the site that is needed for it to load. I have found this to be the best way to find the hidden critter that's blocked.

Open NIS Click Statistics > View Logs > Content Blocking Click once on any of the logged entries pertaining to the site and the info of what's blocked will show in the lower frame. Check a few, different items blocked are logged separately.

Once you know what's blocked, back at the main NIS window: Click Status and Settings if not already selected Click AdBlocking > Configure > Advanced button If the site is in the list click it once and add the blocked items set to Permit in the right pane. If the site is not listed, add it and the items needed to permit.

If nothing was found to be blocked in the Content Blocking log, check each other category starting with the Firewall log.

After permitting any blocked items still flops the site, go back to the logs and clear them all. Click once on NIS Click Log > Clear all Categories Close out Retry the site, go back to the logs which are now fresh and may show something blocked.

If that is no help, in NIS Options disable NIS-Not NAV from loading on boot, close out and reboot. Try the site, if still no go it's not NIS and I lose the bet

I didn't mean to imply that it was a LinkSys issue, per se, only that LinkSys support is excellent, and they generally are willing to help t-shoot problems that even tangentially involve their hardware, like knowing what configuration changes might be needed on your problem machine.

Then again, it may be totally outside their realm. I'll admit that I didn't fully think through your case before making the suggestion. But I'd still want to check with them, just to rule out general network configuration issues, whether it's router configuration or individual machine configuration.

I had a similar problem on W98SE and it turned out to be the subnet mask causing the problem.

Glen,

I agree.

I looked at the collection of links you pointed to and couldn't find the exact match to my case.

I use Win98SE. Problem exists with both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106 (Cipher Strength 128-bit). Message: The page cannot be displayed

Netscape 7.2 [Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)] [This version supports high-grade (128-bit) security with RSA Public Key Cryptography, DSA, MD2, MD5, RC2-CBC, RC4, DES-CBC, DES-EDE3-CBC.] Message: Alert Box - The operation timed out when attempting to contact citibank.com

I also can not connect to adobe.com. I Googled for citibank.com problems and found that adobe.com is also mentioned. Tried it and - the same problem. At least I'm not alone though I have not figured out the fix yet.

Nicola,

My ipconfig shows the following:

----------------------------------------------------------------- Windows 98 IP Configuration

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . :

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . :

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.101 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.0.0.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you see a problem?

TIA, Eugene

Thanks. You were right.

IPCONFIG /release_all and IPCONFIG/renew_all - all it took to fix.

IIRC the subnet should be 255.255.255.0 I see you sorted it out. Is the subnet as above now?

I wouldn't recommend Linksys tech support to anyone. My sister-in-law spent eight hours on the phone with Linksys techs with names like Mike, Mark, Brian, etc, who all mysteriously had Indian accents. She was having trouble getting a connection to a Linksys wireless router using the new Linksys wireless cards she had bought.

Eight hours total on the phone, fiddling with all sorts of settings on her computer - bridging network connections, editing the registry, to no avail. It took me about 15 minutes from walking in her door to having it running. The first thing I checked was the firmware revision. All it needed was an update.

I *did* consider adding the caveat, "YMMV" to my original post. All I know is that my own communications, of a few occasions, have all been more than satisfactory.

It took me ages to work it out, as I thought the config on the router was OK and the sites had previously been working. However, when I checked, the router had somehow changed the subnet to 255.0.0.0.

I thought this was wrong, so changed it to 255.255.255.0 and renewed the IP address and all worked OK.

Glad you are all sorted now

Nicola

Yes, Sir.

Wireless Technology as well as Bluetooth is not secure and can easily be hacked by a professional hacker and I would not use Internet banking but it is your life. Have a nice day!

Thanks Gary. I need to contact LinkSys too.

: > I have three computer at home - all connected to the same Linksys : > router/firewall. One have wire connection and two - wireless. : >

: > One wireless computer does not seem to be able to connect to any of : > CitiBank sites, while others have no problem. Sites of other banks : > (for example, Chase Online) work normally. : >

: > This defiant computer is Win'98SE system with the latest version of : > Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator that do support 128-bit : > encryption. It also has Norton Internet Security 2003, however, the : > problem persists even when NIS is disabled. I did not find any places : > where Citi domains are blocked. : >

: > My wireless network currently do not have WEP enabled. : >

: > Any advice on further troubleshooting? : >

: > TIA, Eugene : > ------------------- : >

: > PS. Was originally posted on comp.security.firewalls under with a : > different subject, but got no responses. : >