Can't reach google through domain and IP gives HTTP 500 error

I'm using Windows XP. It had a virus and I had successfully cleaned and removed of all of them, and you can take my word for that.

Now, in Google Chrome and IE I can't get to google.com, all other websites work but this one. I'm using a laptop under the same network and it works fine.

In both browsers, I typed in http://66.102.11.104/ to get directly to Google and that worked. Once I'm in Google, I'd use the search bar and bang, again,

500 internal server error.

What can I do to fix this?

To make sure we're on the same page: My Windows XP hosts file is located at C:\WINDOWS\system32\driver\etc – and is the host file is called "host"? In my etc folder I only see:

lmhosts
networks
protocol
service

These are my only four files. So, am I opening lmhosts with Notepad and checking that out. There are only comment lines, and nothing related to "google".

There should be a hosts file here, so I guess it's deleted. I copied the hosts file from another Windows XP I am currently using and wanted to paste it there. It asked me if I wanted to overwrite. I said "no", and now I presume that the file is hidden.

I went to Control Panel > Folder Options and enabled "Show all hidden files". I go back into the folder, still nothing there. So I made a backup copy of the folder and attempted to overwrite the hosts file with the new one.

I get an error,

Cannot copy hosts: Access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use."

What now?

Robolisk

Posted 2011-08-21T17:55:12.900

Reputation: 581

Check your hosts file. – slhck – 2011-08-21T17:58:49.943

Can you explain more on that please? I know where the hosts fires are located but what am I looking for? – Robolisk – 2011-08-21T17:59:51.003

www.google.com. (To make things easier, just clean the whole hosts file, keeping only a single 127.0.0.1 localhost line.) – user1686 – 2011-08-21T18:03:28.300

Answers

google's IP addresses are different to everyone. I think Google uses the nearest location to you. To make sure you might use Google's own DNS servers: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

The static DNS file is "hosts"

Find "Command Prompt" or similar at the Start menu, Run as administrator. Now you have elevated permissions. Type notepad c:\windows\systeme32\drivers\etc\hosts to open hosts file. You might need to take ownership of the file to modify it in Windows Vista/7. In XP it's just a read only, make it not read only to modify & save it.

Nime Cloud

Posted 2011-08-21T17:55:12.900

Reputation: 923

66.102.11.104 is not related to google:

C:\>host google.com
google.com has address 74.125.127.105
google.com has address 74.125.127.106
google.com has address 74.125.127.147
google.com has address 74.125.127.99
google.com has address 74.125.127.103
google.com has address 74.125.127.104
google.com mail is handled by 30 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com mail is handled by 40 alt3.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com mail is handled by 50 alt4.aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com mail is handled by 10 aspmx.l.google.com.
google.com mail is handled by 20 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com.

Try typing one of the above IPs into your browser.

As suggested, try your hosts file, it is likely the culprit, but you could also have a browswer hijack as well (see various posts on SU about malware/adware removal tools). To repair your hosts file you will need to open it with elevated permissions.

MaQleod

Posted 2011-08-21T17:55:12.900

Reputation: 12 560

Those ip's all worked. and okay. I'll check it out. How do I exacly open it with elevated permissions? I can't even see it :/ – Robolisk – 2011-08-21T18:55:25.907

@Robolisk You have to have administrator rights to handle the file. – Satoh – 2013-04-09T13:39:45.913