XP SP2 Error: The page cannot be displayed

Contributor Icon Contributed by MickeyMouse Date Icon August 9, 2004  
Tag Icon Tagged: Windows

Some users may see this error when trying to load web pages after the installation of SP2.


SP2 is much more about security. You know, however, that it is going to be about bugs as well.

One bug that is seen is “The page cannot be displayed” errors after the installation of SP2. The bug seems to be related to the pop-up blocker.

If you have this problem, disable the pop-up blocker and the problem should be decreased. Here’s the recipe for turning it off:

Cleaning the dns cache seems to help as well.

If we find a definitive fix, we’ll post it here.

Previous recipe | Next recipe |
 
  • Anonymous
    I am having this problem with one of my clients, just got a new computer and we decided to install sp2 on a clean system before everything went on it... this seems to be the only glitch so far... very annoying though have to release and renew the ipconfig whenever we use the net for more than a few minutes... seems to ping okay
    REALLY looking forward to a solution!!!
    Thanks for the post, i was thinking i was alone, i looked all over to find someone who is in the same boat.
  • davak
    <ul id="quote"><h6>stpt wrote:</h6>I am having this problem with one of my clients, just got a new computer and we decided to install sp2 on a clean system before everything went on it... this seems to be the only glitch so far... very annoying though have to release and renew the ipconfig whenever we use the net for more than a few minutes... seems to ping okay
    REALLY looking forward to a solution!!!
    Thanks for the post, i was thinking i was alone, i looked all over to find someone who is in the same boat.</ul>

    I was having a similiar problem after the installation of sp2. I reset my router to its default settings and everything starting working again. In hindsight, I believe my dns servers were erased/changed when sp2 was installed.

    My pet theory is that routers that have PnP may get confused when SP2 is installed. Try resetting your router and insure that the router has the dns set correctly.

    Good luck... and let us know what you find.

    Davak
  • AlexTheBeast
    Post moved:

    I have 2 computers at home both running Win XP. The both connect to the internet through my router using a cable modem. One of the computers has SP2 installed the other does not. The computer with SP2 installed cannot seem to access particular websites such as abc.com espn.com some www.wisc.edu links and others. The other computer connect to them all just fine. I have tried renewing my dhcp leases and flushing my dns cache and so on but nothing works. I also tries resetting the router. Same luck. Does anyone know what is causing this and how to fix it? Any input is greatly apprciated. Thanks
  • Anonymous
    that's a good thought.... however it is a straight- through cable modem... have contacted the isp to replace the modem... it was geting pretty hot and it may have been a coincidence (Though not very likely)
  • davak
    Wierd... do you have dns manually set in your network setup?

    Ras... Have you tried a different browser to see if that makes a difference?

    Are either of you able to ping external servers or goto webpages by the IP addess?

    Here's microsoft for example:
    http://207.46.250.119
  • Anonymous
    My private msg won't send, just sits in my outbox...
    so i'll post here...

    the cable modem is being dropped off at the isp right now, but when i talked to them they coud ping and i could ping out... they were reluctant to replace it... but since they didn't have to deliver it with a service call i won...
    We have had a bit of hot weather and i have seen 3 other cable modems die in the last few weeks, (along with disk drive flu) one was replaced and the second one didn't work... same model same isp in all cases, so i am a bit suspicious. can't test the ip# but i will as soon as i can get back to it...
  • tag
    http proxy or any proxy solve your problem for the time being.
  • Anonymous
    I have tried mozilla also to see if that would fix it. Nope~Same thing there. I can go to pages using just the IP so the DNS appears to work. I don't get it!

    Raz
  • qmchenry
    If you can get to sites by their IP address but not by their names, that suggests that it is your DNS at fault. Are your DNS settings reasonable? What happens if you go to the command prompt and type

    nslookup abc.com
  • Anonymous
    The Fix for my problem was the modem!!!
    it was coincidental that the modem has an intermittant failure after the insallation of XP SP2
    8O
  • tag
    Hello there,

    sp2 and dns servers actually cause this problem and i have solved this problem. If you look your dns addresses after install the sp2 , sp2 entering another ip addresses like a dns server and this cause " this page cannot be displayed problem " If u delete the ip address everything is ok. First of all you choose obtain dns server addresses automatically and then 3rd dns server address which is different others , delete it or you enter your dns manually.

    Good Luck.
  • bigwilly
    This was a very distressing problem after installing SP2. I thought MS would at least test IE against SP2... surely? That's why I decided, against my better judgement, to enable SP2's firewall and disable my trusty zonealarm pro firewall (5.1). Immediately my paging errors went away. And YES, I had previously had it the other way around (i.e. zonealarm enabled, SP2's firewall off).
  • eohrnberger
    When I first installed XP SP2, I immediately turned off the firewall because I already have a Linux firewall protecting the LAN. I then got the maddening DNS error or server not found error message. I also had a heck of a time using POP3 to pull down mail messages from the Linux mail server (also on the firewall).

    Since I'm running a caching DNS server on the Linux firewall, this made no sense to me what so ever. I should be getting DNS name resolution at the 100 Mb of the local LAN. Additionally, I'm running a squid web proxy server, so if there was a DNS error, I wouldn't be getting the IE error message. I would be getting a squid error message, but no, I didn't get that either.

    I monitored the squid cache access log file, and I was not seeing any web requests being logged when XP's IE was getting the DNS / Server error message. Hmm. So the XP based web request packets were not making through to the squid server. By pressing the Refresh button often enough, eventually the web page would come through, and when it did, I saw the web page request in the squid log, so squid was performing as expected.

    I tried the ipconfig /flushdns and it seemed to help, but the problem came back after a few minutes. I tried setting the NegativeCacheTime http://www.tech-recipes.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=344&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= and give it a value of 0, rebooted, but this didn't fix it either, and really slowed down the web access. So I backed that out.

    I ended up turning on the firewall again, and the problem cleared up, and the web access performance is as good as it ever was, so was the POP3 mail fetching. OK, problem fixed. Well, sort of.

    However, let's consider the XP SP2 firewall's performance here. It will block packets from leaving the machine until some sort of counter is exceeded and only then let the packets though? (hitting refresh a number of times) Hmm. Or is it that it will only block packets from leaving the machine in certain cases, while allowing the same packets through in other cases? (When the web page finally makes it through)

    Neither of these is really desirable performance for a firewall. Access should be granted 100% of the time, or blocked 100% of the time based on the firewall rules as configured. I think I just lost any faith in this firewall implementation. I'm sure glad that I've got my Linux firewall to keep my LAN safe, I'd hate to trust this one.

    The other question I have is what sort of test program did Microsoft perform on the firewall? How could it possible have missed the valid configuration of turning the firewall off? Was this tested?
  • eohrnberger
    Well, keeping the firewall on, or off, doesn't resolve the problem, as I thought. Back to the drawing board!
  • eohrnberger
    OK, so if the dnsrslvr.dll from SP2 is causing the problem, perhaps we can use the dnsrslvr.dll from before SP2 was installed. I ran regedit, went to HK_LOCAL_MACHNESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesDnscacheParameters and replaced the value of the ServiceDll string value with C:WINDOWS$NtServicePackUninstall$dnsrslvr.dll, figuring that it would use the DNS cache functionality before SP2 was installed.

    So far so good. Let me know what you experience.
  • Anonymous
    15 year son old fixed mine. I was asleep, so I am not 100% sure what he did. Says he found references to receive window (RWIN) being set too small & something about MTU. Went to www.dslreports.com "Tests+ Tools" and ran "Tweak Test" and downloaded something to set registry options. Everything works now.
  • DLW
    I cannot turn off the pop-up blocker. I have tried every option in the Internet options dialog box. They say disabled, but it is always enabled. Any suggestions?
  • davak
    <ul id="quote"><h6>DLW wrote:</h6>I cannot turn off the pop-up blocker. I have tried every option in the Internet options dialog box. They say disabled, but it is always enabled. Any suggestions?</ul>

    do you have another pop-up blocker like google installed?
  • eohrnberger
    OK, so I think I have this figured out. You'll never guess what it was.

    I've been running spybot search and destroy to keep spyware cleaned out of the system. Then added XP SP2 and the network connection went to hell, as you can read about above.

    Then I downloaded adware's spyware cleaner, and it found a bunch of crap. Removed all of that stuff, and now it's fixed.

    Guess you have to run both of these spyware tools on a weekly basis to keep things cleaned out and keep the system reliable.

    Hope that this helps someone.
  • eohrnberger
    OK, since last post, I've reverted back to the SP2 version of the dnscache.dll in the registry, done a complete sweep of spyware using both spybot and adware scanners, as well as re-installed SP2 in the hopes of resolving this problem. It doesn't.

    The only way that I've figured out how to recover is to disable the network card and then re-enable it. The repair option does nothing.
  • eohrnberger
    After applying this Microsoft Update for SP2:
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=...
    or
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...&disp...

    The problem seems to haev resolved itself. Very cool, and many thanks to all of those that helped.
  • eohrnberger
    Well shame on me. Spoke too soon. It seemed like it was working. I left my Outlook running all night long and it got email from the Linux server OK, and never failed, but as soon as I started surfing the web, the problem came back.



    So, the hotfix mentioned above does not resolve the issue.



    Erik.
  • Anonymous
    I replaced the dnsrslvr.dll in regedit with:
    HK_LOCAL_MACHNESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesDnscache

    but still no joy.
    any ideas?
  • davak
    You can try this from the command line as well:

    netsh winsock reset catalog
  • JS
    Try giving "Generic Host Process for Win32 Serices" server rights. It worked for me. I never had to in SP1. Am not really sure what bad things can happen giving this process server rights but i had 3 - computers with SP2 and when using this fix all 3 work fine now NO more page reloading. Am using Zonealarm for firewall and linksys router JS
  • eohrnberger
    Well, the winsock fix (Wisockxpfix: http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html) seems to have cleared all of this up. I've been running for hours now without any DNS errors popping up.

    Thanks very much everyone.

    Erik.
  • eohrnberger
    Well, the DNS problem is back. I've run the winsock fix program a number of times (and then changed the IP settings to the proper static IP address again), but it keeps coming back. Do you suppose that it has something to do with the static IP address that I'm assigning the XP machine?
  • eohrnberger
    Well, I went on a hunch and replaced the mswsock.dll in the C:WINDOWSsystem32 with the one from the C:WINDOWS$NtServicePackUninstall$ directory, which should be the one previous to XP SP 2 installation. This worked for a little while, but also failed with the same dam DNS error.

    Will this never end? How could such an error be allowed to escape testing? Dam Mickeysoft!

    Thanks goodness that I have an old trusty Windows 2000 installation to fall back on, otherwise I'd be completely out of business.
  • Andrewww
    Hey gang,

    I've been browsing so many forums so far to find a solution for that sp2 page cannot be displayed problem, and only one solution worked for me...
    As suggested by eohrnberger, I have replaced the file dnsrslvr.dll located in C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32 by the one located in C:WINDOWS$NtServicePackUninstall$
    Everything works fine now.
    I just wonder if that file is being replaced when rebooting or when doing another windows update, but at least, it work for now!!

    Andrew
  • Ozymandias
    I found and resolved the issue for this problem. The instructions I had previously found left alot to be desired so...well, they have been redone and much easier to follow. You can find the instructions here

    http://ozy.scronline.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=26&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

    Hope that helps those of you that find this page. I found this page while looking for a solution myself and I saw there wasn't a solution so I'm passing it along
  • webdexter
    I have tried all ur tips but they r not working :(
  • konikaDell
    eohrnberger thanks a lot my issue is resolved
    did search the dnsrslvr.dll - we found it in
    i386 folder and sytem32 folder.
    I ran regedit, went to
    HK_LOCAL_MACHNESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServices
    DnscacheParameters and replaced the value of the
    ServiceDll string value with C:WINDOWS$NtServicePackUninstall$dnsrslvr.dll, and
    restarte pc. try internet - able to go online
    issue resolved. cust happy i myself is happy.
    :lol:
  • eohrnberger
    Glad to help. I'll wager that someday you'll help me out in the same way.

    Best wishes,
    Erik.
  • prishak
    In Windows SP2, the firewall that comes along with the SP2 creates a problem, just turn it off and browsing through the internet will be easy without any problems. Turning off the popup blocker does not help though.
  • CowDoc
    After installing XP SP2 I could view most web pages, but a few pages gave a "Page Cannot be Displayed" error. I finally traced the problem to the DNS server. Apparently the DNS server I was connecting to did not resolve certain IP addresses properly. After changing the IP address of the DNS server, the problem resolved. The fix is explained under microsoft support 812336.

    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812336

    I'm not sure if the IP address for the original DNS server was provided by Comcast or if XP SP2 changed it. Never had a problem before SP2. Hope this saves someone some time.

    CowDoc
  • Anonymous
  • davak
    <ul id="quote"><h6>Anonymous wrote:</h6>Solution

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=17d997d2-5034-4bbb-b74d-ad8430a1f7c8</ul>

    Appreciate your assistance. However, your solution only affects loopbacks... not the problems that most people have described here.
  • Guest
    I replace the Dnsrslvr.dll in the system32 file with the one that is from the Old system, and it works great.

    For about 3 minutes, then when I search for the Dnsrslvr.dll file, I see that the bad version is BACK...

    Any ideas?

    John
  • RDillon5
    I had the problem of not being able to browse the web after service pack 2 download. I followed the advice posted here, only I feel uncomfortable using regedit. I simply went to C:windowssystem32 and renamed dnsrslvr.dll to dnsrslv.old. I then copied the old dnsrslvr.dll from the serv1 backup directoryl to the system32 directory. I am back up and browsing with my firewall turned on.
    Thank you so much for your great advice.
    Randy
  • inhizeyes
    Hi everyone!
    I have been dealing with this issue for months. Called Dell and Time Warner Cable. Both gave temp. help. Last night I tried CowDoc's suggestion and it worked!!!
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=...
    Thanks to everyone and this forum, it would be a frustrating world without you.
  • HotSpotz2006
    Please help me, I do webdesign as a business out of the home... its not exactly easy to do w/o most internet sites working. The "page cannot be displayed" error has not corrected itself with all the aid provided thus far. I have tried the Microsoft patches, read their help and followed the guides, altered my DNS numbers through my LAN connection, nothing has worked. C'mon Microsoft - until they figure out what to do, anyone else have other ideas... :-/
  • Ozymandias
    Well, with my instructions on the link I posted on the previous page. I have never failed to fix an XP machine with those instructions.

    As far as Microsoft....that's why I don't use them for any of our equipment. I like things to actually work and stay working. Web and mail servers have been up for over a year now without even a reboot. It's a great thing :)
  • HotSpotz2006
    Turned out my issue was with my D-Link router. If anyone else uses a D-Link product, beware - you must upgrade your firmware for the web to work correctly with all browsers...

    Of course, I find this out after hours of tech support. :?
  • Anonymous
    Use another user profile on the affected machine and rename the folder "Temporary Internet Files" inside the Local Settings folder of the affected user profile. It seemed to get rid of that stupid freakin' "Page cannot be displayed" error.
  • Alex
    I have tried all of the above for hours, and nothing has fixed my problem.

    Every time i turned on my machine, i could surf for the first 2 minutes, after that it started to surf slower and slower until i finilly got the "page cannot be displayed" on all pages, no matter if i did a refresh.

    So, frustrated, I thought some program could start running in those first 2 minutes, so i opened the task manager "ctrl+alt+del" and started to end processes that looked as unknow for me. So i finished like 4-5 .exe applications with unknow names. and abra ca dabra, i could start surfing without problems and a lot faster tht before!!

    I still need to find out what those .exe are. I did many scans for spyware and virus and nothign was found...

    I hope this can help someone.

    Just my two cents.

    Greetings
    Alex.
  • jer
    i tried everything people suggested to fix the problem but no luck, but repair the window with the window xp pro disk fixed my problem, hope this help
  • Anonymous
    Try turning off the 'Personal Firewall' feature of Norton Internet Security if you're running that program. That's what fixed it for me.

    My new Dell PC came with Home XP SP2 and that Norton program preloaded. When I connected the PC to my LAN and ran the IE6.0 browser, I could only get to my local web server if I typed in the IP address; I couldn't pull web pages if I used the web server's name. Turning off Norton's 'Personal Firewall' let me access the web server by name.

    The Personal Firewall also prevented me from mapping network drives between the PC and server.

    Hope that helps!
  • davak
    NJNGuy:

    Welcome to the site! Thanks for the information.

    Davak
  • Anonymous
    I know we quite often 'think' we've taken the necessary precautions, but I have seen this happen more than once on XP Home systems that become infected with something akin to a .pif virus.

    Additionally, you should be aware that when a system responds to the DNSRSLVR fix it usually indicates that the system in question is already infected.

    When in doubt, meaning when you've tried everything else, create an AV ERD CD from a clean system and treat your target machine as if you already know it's infested. Save yourself hours. :wink:
  • Isaac
    Thanks helped a bunch
  • Anonymous
    <ul id="quote"><h6>davak wrote:</h6>You can try this from the command line as well:

    netsh winsock reset catalog </ul>

    This worked for me, along with dns registry rollback. Thanks.
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