True, it can't hurt.
I followed instructions at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929852. Went without a hitch except when they said "type 0xffffffff" they meant "type ffffffff" (it displays 0xffffffff when done). Rebooted and all is well.

BINGO! yea that 0xffff vs ffff can be misleading, but the issue is to but
a binary all-ones into the field, aka ffffffff

You'll do fine from here

OK, so back to my original problem now?

I've read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314825 about black hole routers and an article about MTU at http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help/web/how-to-check-the-mtu-setting-on-your-computer?pli=1.

Tried pinging ancho.web.fc2.com with different packet sizes but same results:

Code:

C:\Users\fallinghawks>ping 208.71.106.61

Pinging 208.71.106.61 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 208.71.106.61:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Users\fallinghawks>ping 208.71.106.61 -f -l 1472

Pinging 208.71.106.61 with 1472 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 208.71.106.61:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

mine shows

Code:

C:\Documents and Settings\Jeff>ping 208.71.106.61[B] -f -l 1472[/B]

Pinging 208.71.106.61 with 1472 bytes of data:

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Ping statistics for 208.71.106.61:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

the largest packet I can use is here::

Code:

C:\Documents and Settings\Jeff>ping 208.71.106.61[B] -f -l 1440[/B]

Pinging 208.71.106.61 with 1440 bytes of data:

Reply from 208.71.106.61: bytes=1440 time=26ms TTL=53
Reply from 208.71.106.61: bytes=1440 time=27ms TTL=53
Reply from 208.71.106.61: bytes=1440 time=26ms TTL=53
Reply from 208.71.106.61: bytes=1440 time=27ms TTL=53

Ping statistics for 208.71.106.61:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 26ms, Maximum = 27ms, Average = 26ms

retry your packet size by reducing it by 32 (1472 - 32 ) until you reach the site address. Then set that as the MTU into your router (fixing all attached systems)
or in your own system using Regedit

In the first example, even 32 doesn't work.

try tracert 208.71.106.61 to determine how far you can go

Code:

Tracing route to hps13.fc2.com [208.71.106.61]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     3 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.0.1
  2    17 ms    16 ms    18 ms  adsl-99-173-27-254.dsl.pltn13.sbcglobal.net [99.
173.27.254]
  3    37 ms    41 ms    45 ms  dist1-vlan62.pltnca.sbcglobal.net [99.36.71.1]
  4     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  6     *     ^C
C:\Users\fallinghawks>

btw: that address dosn't produce a web page.

RESET is from the webserver it self

and this shows your ISP (sbcglobal.net) can not access the next node in the path to
208.71.106.61

eg: not your fault and there's nothing you can do about it.

If I ping ancho, it gives me 208.71.106.61 as the ip address, but if I tracert that ip, it displays hps13.fc2.com. What does it mean? Is this something I cannot do anything about?

Edit: Just saw your 2nd post. Thank you so much for the help. I learned a lot.

the address 208.71.106.61 belongs to FC2.com

we do two lookups; one by address and the other by name

Code:

C:\Documents and Settings\Jeff>[B]nslookup 208.71.106.61[/B]
Server:  dns-cac-lb-01.rr.com
Address:  209.18.47.61
Name:    [COLOR="Blue"]hps13.fc2.com     <the associated name[/COLOR]
Address:  208.71.106.61

C:\Documents and Settings\Jeff>[B]nslookup hps13.fc2.com[/B]
Server:  dns-cac-lb-01.rr.com
Address:  [COLOR="Blue"]209.18.47.61  < the ipaddress of this name[/COLOR]
Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    hps13.fc2.com
Address:  208.71.106.61

A ->points to ->B and B->A; ergo the dns has not be poisoned and the results are correct.

What is ancho? that's not a proper domain name . . .

My guess: sbcglobal.net ./ AT&T Internet has that server IP address blocked / banned

> I can access those sites from RCN (my ISP) also. So can jobeard from Roadrunner, his ISP
> Seems you're connected to sbcglobal.net in California?
> i googled 208.71.106.61 which hit someone's tracert which seems to use scglobal.net in Chicago posted Dec, 2010. and looks like the same routing problem with sbcglobal.net
> /* edit */ The last IP addr in tracert 99.164.168.1 is also part of ATT /* end edit */

Code:

traceroute to 208.71.106.61 (208.71.106.61), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets                                                      
       1  192.168.123.1 (192.168.123.1)  0.229 ms  0.207 ms  0.221 ms                                                                
       2  192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)  1.430 ms  1.449 ms  1.466 ms
       3  adsl-76-193-167-254.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net (76.193.167.254)  45.731 ms  50.040 ms  52.983 ms
       4  99.164.168.1 (99.164.168.1)  56.675 ms  59.802 ms  63.728 ms
       5  * * *
      ...

Yes, I have AT&T. I guess that answers the question. Not the answer I would have liked, but at least I know there are no issues with my router. Thank you

@jobeard: ancho = AT&T sneezed.

I had some idle time and was curious to have one more look! I don’t know this will help but at least provide what I found.. Though maybe you can present your own case to ATT Helpdesk with proof to see if they’ll help (or at least acknowledge it's an ATT issue)

1. Re: The other person with ATT and the same routing problem to 208.71.106.61
> Their chat with AT&T Helpdesk
> Their post to a forum
Of course, ATT Helpdesk denies its their problem and tells them to contact the domain provider. But...

2. I remembered i also have remote access to a machine using sbcglobal.net. So, i remote connected and ran routes to:
> ancho.web.fc2.com [208.71.106.61] (which fails)
> pi3141592c147.web.fc2.com [208.71.106.39] (which works)
> fc2.com [208.71.106.124] (which also works)

It looks like swbell.net (Southwest Bell) is the upstream router to sbcglobal.net. (Try these routes yourself.) When the route fails, it's failing within the ATT network!. It may be futile but if you sent ATT Helpdesk the traceroutes maybe they'd at least agree it's their routing issue? and hope against hope they might fix it?

Code:

C:\Users>tracert ancho.web.fc2.com

Tracing route to ancho.web.fc2.com [208.71.106.61]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.254
  2    41 ms    42 ms    42 ms  adsl-68-255-111-254.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net [68.255.111.254]
  3    42 ms    42 ms    41 ms  dist2-vlan52.chcgil.sbcglobal.net [99.164.168.130]
  4     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 16  ^C
C:\Users>tracert pi3141592c147.web.fc2.com

Tracing route to pi3141592c147.web.fc2.com [208.71.106.39]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms     1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.254
  2    41 ms    42 ms    43 ms  adsl-68-255-111-254.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net [68.255.111.254]
  3    42 ms    44 ms    41 ms  99.164.168.2
  4    41 ms    43 ms    42 ms  ppp-151-164-55-168.eulstx.swbell.net [151.164.55.168]
  5   111 ms    49 ms    48 ms  ppp-151-164-55-178.eulstx.swbell.net [151.164.55.178]
  6    42 ms    42 ms    42 ms  xe-0-2-0-5.r06.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.8.53]
  7    43 ms    42 ms    82 ms  ae-7.r21.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.201]
  8    67 ms    71 ms    67 ms  ae-4.r21.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.200]
  9    67 ms    67 ms    72 ms  ae-0.r20.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.58]
 10    94 ms   102 ms    95 ms  ae-5.r20.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.168]
 11   102 ms   114 ms    97 ms  po-1.r00.lsanca19.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.6.38]
 12   164 ms    98 ms    95 ms  xe-7-2.r00.lsanca19.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [198.172.90.66]
 13    96 ms    97 ms   100 ms  208.71.106.17
 14   101 ms   106 ms   100 ms  sw1.1732.la3.fc2.com [208.71.104.27]
 15    98 ms   100 ms   100 ms  hps5.fc2.com [208.71.106.39]

Trace complete.

C:\Users>tracert fc2.com

Tracing route to fc2.com [208.71.106.124]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms     1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.254
  2    42 ms    42 ms    41 ms  adsl-68-255-111-254.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net [68.255.111.254]
  3    41 ms    42 ms    41 ms  dist1-vlan52.chcgil.sbcglobal.net [99.164.168.129]
  4    41 ms    42 ms    41 ms  ppp-151-164-55-170.eulstx.swbell.net [151.164.55.170]
  5    47 ms    72 ms    78 ms  ppp-151-164-55-178.eulstx.swbell.net [151.164.55.178]
  6    49 ms    42 ms    43 ms  xe-0-2-0-6.r06.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.9.73]
  7   142 ms   158 ms   181 ms  ae-7.r21.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.201]
  8   118 ms   210 ms   190 ms  ae-4.r21.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.200]
  9   164 ms   135 ms   122 ms  ae-0.r20.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.58]
 10   128 ms   123 ms   137 ms  ae-5.r20.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.168]
 11    99 ms   106 ms   100 ms  po-1.r00.lsanca19.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.6.38]
 12    97 ms   108 ms    96 ms  xe-7-2.r00.lsanca19.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [198.172.90.66]
 13   103 ms    98 ms   100 ms  208.71.106.17
 14    96 ms   102 ms   100 ms  sw1.1732.la3.fc2.com [208.71.104.27]
 15   119 ms    96 ms    95 ms  sata4.fc2.com [208.71.106.124]

Trace complete.

To be honest I'm reluctant to deal with large corporation tech support for the reason you cited. The games I'm trying to access usually get mirrored somewhere I can get to in a few days. It's more fun to play at the same time everyone else is, but I can always play later.