High Speed Internet (DSL) and Dial-Up

[#1]

I need to use a proxy server in order to access university resources from off-campus.  (This is set up in Firefox using Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Settings > Automatic proxy configuration URL.)  I have been doing this for two and a half years with no problems, but all of a sudden it doesn't work anymore.  I have made no recent changes to my computer (Windows XP laptop) or browser settings.  I get a connection has timed out / the server is taking too long to respond error message whenever I try to access a website via the university proxy server.  This is only an issue for websites that require the proxy, such as databases that the university library subscribed to.  I can access all public websites as usual.

I have tried Internet Explorer and get the same problem.  If I disable the proxy server then my connection does not time out, I just get redirected to the university's "you are off campus and need to enable a proxy server to connect to this resource" page.  University technical support tells me there is nothing wrong with the proxy server and that I am set up properly to use it, and that as far as they can tell the issue is probably with my ISP.

I am pretty sure this is indeed as Verizon issue, as I took my computer to a coffee shop and was able to access university resources via the proxy server just fine using the free wireless.  I also got out my old laptop, reformatted the hard drive, reinstalled the OS (Windows XP), and had the exact same problem trying to use the proxy server via my home Verizon connection.

Incidentally, I am also unable to log in to Second Life using my home Verizon connection.  I get an error message saying the server isn't responding.  Again, I had no trouble with this using the coffee shop wireless.

I have spent about three hours trying to get someone from Verizon to address this problem, but keep being told I need to talk to someone else.  I have now described this problem to ten different Verizon employees but have yet to reach anyone who even seems to know what a proxy server is, much less anyone who can help with this problem.  If anyone out there has any suggestions, I'd much appreciate it.  I cannot do much work from my apartment if I cannot access university resources.

[#2]

#1 When not using a proxy server, go to https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

#2 Below the text that says The text below might uniquely identify you on the Internet is an IP Address.

#3 For security/privacy reasons do not tell what the full IP Address is.

#4 What are the first three octets? For example, mine are 71.242.247

[#3]

I get 72.66.197 as the first part of my IP address.  I checked and got the same thing whether or not the proxy server was enabled.

[#4]

I'm curious, have you looked over your modem Firewall settings? Other than that, I would imagine running a trace route to the Proxy server would probably find something.

[#5]

I've checked and it doesn't seem to be a firewall issue.  I wouldn't know if I'd found anything or not with a traceroute because I have no idea what I should be looking for.

[#6]

If you're up to posting up the trace, I can take a look at it to see if anything is standing out.

[#7]

I really do not know anything about running traceroutes.  All I've been able to figure out is to use the tracert command, and the results do not seem useful.  It gives me the same results for the proxy server address as it does for any other address I try:

Tracing route to [proxy]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 < 1 ms <1 ms <1ms dslrouter [IP address]

2     *           *           *       Request timed out.

and then the same "Request timed out" line repeats until it hits 30 and stops.

If I try "tracert google.com" then exactly the same thing happens, but I have no trouble accessing http://www.google.com with or without the proxy server enabled.

I don't know if I'm doing this wrong or if I'm supposed to be getting the same results no matter what address I enter.

[#8]

That Trace suggests there is a firewall at play somewhere blocking ICMP Echo. Since it's timing out past the modem I do have reason to believe that the modem may be up to something. Visit http://192.168.1.1/ and check the Firewall settings. If it's set to Low or High, disable it. If you are prompted for a User/Pass, try the following:

admin/password
admin/password1
admin/admin
admin/admin1
Your Verizon Username and Password

[#9]

Hmm, none of those usernames or password are working.  Is there some way to reset the password?  I tried the Change Login User Name & Password link, but that also asks me for a username and password and will not accept my Verizon username and password.

Oh, when I said before I'd checked the firewall I meant I'd checked Windows Firewall, I did not check the firewall settings at http://192.168.1.1/

Thanks for your help so far, I feel like I'm actually getting somewhere at last.

[#10]

I did a hard reset of my modem and was eventually able to get in to check my firewall settings.  But while trying to get my Verizon connection set up again, I discovered that for some mysterious reason I am now locked out of the Administrator account on my computer.  I normally use a User account with no admin privledges, which I can still access, but my Administrator password was somehow changed this evening.  Since no one else has access to my laptop, I can only guess that something I've done while trying to get this connection problem sorted out landed me with a virus or Trojan horse.

I managed to get my Verizon connection working again by hooking up my old laptop.  The silver lining, such as it is, is that if I change my firewall settings to "Minimum Security" or "No Security" then I am able to connect via the proxy server.  But given what's happened to my primary computer, I would prefer to have a higher level of protection!

This problem is probably beyond what anyone here can help me with, so I'm making sure everything is backed up and planning to reinstall my OS in the morning.  This has been a nightmare.