I have long held off asking for help 'cause I figure it's pretty cheeky to ask for help with one 3d site from members of another.  However, I am so frustrated and figure many of the Renderosity members probably are members of 3dCommune as well so I've decided to be bold.

Here's my problem - I cannot for the life of me connect to 3dcommune.com.  I have tried using all three computers from my home, using three different browsers and two different OS (Vista and XP).  I've disabled the firewalls, and the virus programs - I have cleared the cache, I've removed the temporary files - everything I can think of.  I still get a Connection Time Out message and never get connected. 

I do get the newsletters from 3dcommune but of course none of the links work nor do the images in the newsletter download.  Does anyone else have this problem?  And if so, what might be the solution?

I should mention that I've been able to connect to this site for years with no problems at all, and I haven't made any computer changes that should have caused this problem.

Maybe your firewall is blocking all traffic from that site. Did you try checking your firewall configuration? If you're not sure about it, you can temporarily (for a very short time!) disable it, try it and enable it again, just to make sure this is the reason.

Some times is your ISP blocking the 3DCommune IP... try to contact the service that provide you acess to internet.

Quote - Some times is your ISP blocking the 3DCommune IP... try to contact the service that provide you acess to internet.

Actually, I've done that too, however, I received no response from my ISP.  That's why I was hoping there might be another solution.  I'll try my ISP again though.  Thanks!

In their last newsletter I saw that they're moving servers and getting new software.  That could cause some disruption for a day or three

I can get to the site ok so I copied this from the NL ::

**Moving Day!

**3DCommune is MOVING.... yes that's right finally we're moving to our new software and servers this week so we'll be shutting down new membership sign ups and freebie uploads and new product uploads starting now.

We won't be taking gallery images so if you want to keep your gallery posts please do so now.

Our new software is Amazing and we can't wait to show it to you so we'll say very little for now other than hold onto your hats...

I forgot to mention in my last post that I did have problems connecting to parts of 3DC earlier this year - mainly the store.   That was apparently due to some silly thing that Vista set as default that older OS's didn't

The DEP (Data Execution Prwvention) was on by default - I turned it off and everything worked fine (including my Xero plugins - which is how I found out about it !!!)

Thanks Gill - I was able to get that much from their latest newsletter as well.  By now, that's about the only thing left to hope for.  I just got off the phone with my ISP and they have no clue what's wrong either.  They can access 3dcommune with no problem.  So - hopefully, by the time 3dcommune gets their new server, I'll be able to connect with them.

Quote - I forgot to mention in my last post that I did have problems connecting to parts of 3DC earlier this year - mainly the store.   That was apparently due to some silly thing that Vista set as default that older OS's didn't

The DEP (Data Execution Prwvention) was on by default - I turned it off and everything worked fine (including my Xero plugins - which is how I found out about it !!!)

Thanks - I just learned something new - had never heard of DEP before.  But -alas - that wasn't it either.

If you are running Norton software it may have declared 3D Commune a Spammer by accident and sent it to the Blocked Senders List. 

Norton SUCKS, get rid of it, ugh!! ;)

Quote - If you are running Norton software it may have declared 3D Commune a Spammer by accident and sent it to the Blocked Senders List. 

Excellent idea - although, I'm afraid in this department I'm totally ignorant.  In checking the Norton 360 Firewall Prevention Settings, the only ones I don't recognize which are blocked in the Traffic Rules area are the following:

Inbound Net BIOS
Inbound Net BIOS Name
EPMAP
UPnP Discovery
Web Services on Devices
LLMNR
Web Services Discovery
SSDP

Under Intrusion Prevention section, 3dcommune.com is not listed

Does this make sense - was I checking the correct area in Norton for the Blocked Senders List?

Quote - Norton SUCKS, get rid of it, ugh!! ;)

Now, now - calm down ;)  Those nice people at Symantec have to earn their money too somehow....

I am with Silverblade... norton did a lot of changes in the system and I had softwares blocked by it. Now I am a happy user for free version of Avast or maybe AVG too.

I switched to buying ASUS laptops since I don't have to spend a day uninstalling Symantec products from them. Best Buy actually has a service where they will uninstall all of the "craplets" from your new purchase. I think it's $30 or so.

I ended up buying the AVG five machine license.

Norton

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nip.nsf/0/080a42c32127085888256f490059508d?OpenDocument&seg=hm&lg=en&ct=us

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nip.nsf/docid/2003082718123636?Open&src=con_gsnis_us&docid=2005091213334536&nsf=nip.nsf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=&seg=

Microsoft

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/267305

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/276511

You'll find a lot more help on Renderosity.  There is a lot more traffic here.

I am happy to report this morning that my problem is solved, and I can connect to 3dcommune.  Their new servers must be in place, and somehow, that was my problem.  I am suspecting somehow my router had a case of the hickups (or maybe the mumps) because that is the only thing that our three computers have in common.  I do have an old b router.....

and I do want to thank everyone who tried to help me!

I had a similar problem a year ago (different site).
Finally tracked it down to my router hardware. I could connect with no router, but not with router in the circuit - all else remaining the same.
 
Bought a newer model of the same router (Linksys - burning new firmware didn't fix it) and that fixed it.

So, when all the obvious stuff doesn't fix it, try connecting without a router.

BTW, I've been putting down Norton Anti-virus for years (I use AVG), but I hear their brand new AV is a total rebuild and (surprise) quite good.

That's good to know, Art.  I've been holding off upgrading our router and will if any more problems pop up.  We live out in the boonies where I can't even connect to our network from our barn, and it's closer than any neighbor so I figure I'm safe from any unauthorized connections.

And....when it gets time to renew my antivirus program, I've been toying with the idea of trying AVG since I've heard nothing but good things about it.