Service Unavailable - Fail to connect

#181 Was working great with no problems since the day after my last post on this thread... until today! Had to go back to using an edited host file again.

DOH!

#182 Yeah i have not been able access anything the last 2 days. Only reason i could find this thread was through google, and even then I had to use the cache page.

I am now using the ip to access the site.

But I cant search, when i try to search, i get results, i click on one of the the results and i get the same service unavailable message.

#183 If you change your hosts file, you shouldn't have to keep putting in the ip address.

Before you do that, though, could you send me the following information?
0) Time and time zone it happened (convert to GMT for Akamai)
1) The Akamai error displayed on the screen (ex: Reference #6.7c7ffea5.1201635804.f491032)
2) Client IP address - use http://checkip.dyndns.org
3) the url that failed (ie http://www.garagegames.com/main/login) (or is it only on POST?
4) traceroute to www.garagegames.com
5) traceroute to a1.g.akamai.net
6) Their OS
7) Their Browser and version
8) if they try to login via origin-www.garagegames.com does it work?

#184 Hate to start a new post for this. So I will ad to this one. I have been getting this for the past couple of days. Today I am trying to place an order and I can move on.


This is terrible, I have money to spend and I can't spend it..

#185 From above:

On winXP you can edit the hosts file in notepad in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

add this line at the bottom
216.116.32.49 www.garagegames.com

save and restart your browser.

#186 Hey Dave,

I appreciate the info. But I never edit my hosts file, and should not have to for accessing websites on the internet. My DNS is resolving the name fine, I just get different errors on different pages. I am also on Vista Ultimate.

However.. Good news.... I switched over from Firefox to IE7 and was able to place the order and now I am $400 poorer..

Thanks,
Randy

#187 You're right, you shouldn't have to. But the problem is with Akamai's proxy servers according to the data that has been sent back, so even though the dns is resolving, the authenticated packets are being munged enroute. Modifying the hosts file cuts them out of the equation.

#188 You do realize people use a lot of machines where editing the hosts files is not allowed? Since this has been going on since Jun sounds like they need to complain to Akamai again:)

Just for info after placing my order, I was not able to retrieve my products. If I had not known about this thread I would not have known what was going on. Finally got everything loaded. But from the outside looking in having trouble accessing a simple webpage gives people a very bad first impression.

Sorry for taking so long to respond, but it seems I am not getting any email alerts from GG. That may be my server trying to "help" me with spam.

#189 Its not Jun, Its actually January. And if I remember well some guys reported this problem since december of 2007.

#190 Yeah. It's been happening off-and-on for quite a long time now. Since it seems to come and go in cycles, I've wondered if it has something to do with update cycles or some such. Since I'm not in the know about Akamai's data center, I don't know.

But it's been a constant and consistent thorn in my side because it's been a thorn in so many user's sides!

#191 I have never really had a problem till the past week or so, then it was almost everyday. I haven't had any trouble the past couple of days so you are probably right. Just something on their side that gets out of sync..



Thanks,
Randy

#192 For the love of god, please fix this before this thread has a one year anniversary. I tried editing the hosts file and that doesn't work. I still need to use Tor if I want to get to the forums or the "what's new" page. It's really annoying and no other website has this issue for me so it's definitely happening on your end.

#193 Does anyone know how to edit NetInfo Manager on the MacOS to get this site to work? I'm only familiar with etc/hosts editing, and for some reason NetInfo Manager doesnt work the way I think it might.

Any update from Akamai...this has been driving me crazy for a year.

#194 This might help with that. I haven't dealt with NetInfo Manager, though.

#195 Time to switch web hosts garage games?

#196 Would be nice, but not as easy as switching a blog or forum's host since it is not only a simple web host. There are a ton of back-end services, co-location, and contracts involved.

#197 Why not host it yourself? Buy a server, contact your ISP, get your domain name, and launch it up. That way you can fix it yourself.

Although it may not be a good idea, since keeping the domain names can cost up to $200 a month.

#198 We already have several servers and a data warehouse. Which is what makes it a stickier situation. If it were just sitting on someone's server somewhere and a record change could fix it to point to the next $5.95 a month provider, that would be great. It's a bit more complex than that.

Being charged $200 a month for a domain name is unheard of. Paying for a domain name from squatters for big bucks, however, is not unheard of.

#199 OK,

I broke down and edited my hosts file. After having problems downloading content packs (4 hours) and typing up some long posts I decided I needed to give the other option a try. So far seems to work.

I am curious if the fact I am using a router may be contributing to the packet confusion... Interesting. But so far so good. I am capable of changing old habits:)

#200 Would like to add to this and say oddly enough at work I can access every page fine, when I'm at my house through comcast internet I can access main page and products page, always get the error page when trying to go to a specific content pack page or forums. Very irritating, oh and both places I am using IE