Major connection problems, includes Istaria websites

[Gnozzorg]

Greetings.

When I tried to start Horizons half an hour ago, I got this error message that says the launcher can't determine whether it is the current version, i.e. it couldn't connect to the servers at all.

Then I tried to launch the game via play.istaria.com - but it 404'd.
accounts.istaria.com - 404.
support.istaria.com - 404.
community.istaria.com - worked. I checked the news and the forums, but no posting of anyone about connection problems, so I thought it likely for the problem to be on my side.

So I rebooted my PC and the router. When both were back up, I started the game launcher. This time it worked fine up to the patcher - it said "One or more files failed to patch. Please run the Patcher again." I am pretty sure that it couldn't connect to the patch server.

So I wanted to go back to the forums and read up on this - but community.istaria.com 404'd this time as well.

At this point I thought that you guys are having some major problems with your site, but connecting through a www proxy works fine (this is how I am posting right now). The www proxies I know don't support SSL in their free version though, so I can't test play.istaria.com, etc.

So this is the status quo.
- NONE of the *.istaria.com sites I know works on my machine (not with Opera, Firefox or IE, so it's not a browser issue)
- The launcher won't connect to the Patch server
- Everything worked just fine about 10 hours ago and I have not consciously changed anything on my machine in that time

I am posting this in case anyone ever had a similar problem and might be able to tug me into the right direction.

I am going to setup a 2nd machine now to test whether it's my PC or if it's on the router or even ISP side. This will take a while though. Any hints in the meantime will be greatly appreciated.


Gnozzorg Grozzbog, Order Shard

[Takora Drakan]

Did you add istaria to your trusteed site and let it install the active x control?

[Gnozzorg]

Long ago, yes ;-)
Like I said, the issue is the same on all 3 browser I have installed and isn't limited to play.istaria.com, but the whole *.istaria.com domain.


Small update: It's not my ISP. I called my sister (who has the same ISP as me) and everything works fine for her.

[Takora Drakan]

Sorry for silly questions, just trying troubleshooting help. ^^

[Gnozzorg]

Yay! Loading the game right now.
I don't know what the problem was, but here's what I did to solve it:

After a soft reboot of the router (the first one was a hardware reboot), community.istaria.com suddenly started working again (without proxy).

At around the same time my 2nd machine booted (I forgot I had a working one laying around here), and it showed exactly the same problems - so the issue had to be with the router. Restoring factory settings on it didn't solve it, but turning the router into a DSL modem (using Dial up over PPPoE) did. So when I dialed up through the router, everything worked perfectly. The funny part is - after that I switched it back to being a router... and it's still working. Strange stuff, no idea what happened or why, but I'm back.

[Teto Frum]

I used to get the exact samething , plenty!!! Never figured it out but it fixed itself anytime i logged in my account from another computer, after doing that would load fine from mine. Like i said i never figured out what it was or why that fixed it, but it did everytime.

[Gnozzorg]

Well, it didn't work on another computer either - it connected through the same router - so it was definitely a router issue for me. But at least now I know that I just need to toggle the way the router works, toggle back, and be done with it

[Gnozzorg]

Update, in case anyone cares. Or maybe this thread will help someone else some time. You never know.

Anyway. Today, 10 days later, I am getting the same problem again. This time switching my router to DSL modem and back did not work immediately.

At first after coming home tonight, the Istaria https sites (support, play, game launcher) didn't work. So I changed my router to a DSL modem, tried connecting, didn't work. Even the http site (community) stopped working at this point. Switched back to router functionality, still no change. Switched back and forth once more, now I can access the community site and the forums again, but still no https.

To rule out a "temporary, self-resolving problem" I will play Age of Empires 2 over LAN with a friend now
If it's still messed up in a few hours, I will get back to testing.

[Takora Drakan]

The login and auth server where down a while ago, maybe if you try to login again it works?

[awdz]

wowsers, i hope it's not due to backlash from my work to contain firebreath in a flask! i thought i only damaged the machines in my own shop... hope you're able to get back soon!

[Gnozzorg]

Strange, very strange indeed. 3 hours after that posting last night I tried again. Didn't work. Immediately tried again. And it worked. And I am logging in right now. So strange.

So, no news really - still no idea what is causing this and there's still no definite fix. Gonna keep you updated once it happens the next time

[Steelclaw]

Uhm... something really fishy is going on over there.

If you specifically get a 404 error (the web server reports back that it was unable to find the file you requested), someone is intercepting your traffic or redirecting it somewhere else.

A failure to resolve the server's IP, the server refuses the connection, or the connection times out are not 404 errors.

So, what kind of errors are you getting?

[Takora Drakan]

I just tried to log into the game and it says the server is not responding, I think the login server needs some coffee. >_>

[Gnozzorg]

A failure to resolve the server's IP, the server refuses the connection, or the connection times out are not 404 errors.

Ah yes, very true. I am not very fluent in networking, so I just went with "doesn't work, gotta locate the problem". If my problem occurs again, I will do some copy+paste of the error messages.
My guess is that it wasn't a 404 after all since the error message . Impossible to tell right now, sorry.

Okay, I just tried accessing a non-existent document on community.istaria.com and got a 404 as expected. The error I got earlier wasn't a 404. Still, to find out what exactly it was I will have to wait until it happens again. Thanks for the hint, Steelclaw.

[Takora Drakan]

Same problem as a few days ago, DNS server of istaria.com is not responding. Can't log in via the launcher, not via the website, neither with a batch file. >