MicrostockGroup

When I'm at work I still can't find the "new" site since it was moved. I used to get the holding version of the old site, now just an error message to say the site can't be found. I know that there was an issue with having to wait for all the ISPs to update, but it's been a really long time now. I can only access here on my home ISP. Is there something I can do to by-pass waiting for the ISP to update (assuming they ever do) ? Am I the only one with this issue (although I suppose others having the same problem might not have access to an alternative ISP & so can't post  )

hey, caz, i remember you from the holding area.  i'm glad you made it through at least once. here's another thread where others had also found problems getting on the new site and some solutions. http://www.microstockgroup.com/site-related/glitch-or-me/

Thanks guys. Since I posted I wasn't able to open the site with my home ISP either. I was just inspired to try with IE instead of Firefox, and hey presto here I am. I'm not intending to start using IE or changing my settings though    so I guess I'll just read less and work more until it all eventually sorts itself out 

I am not sure if it is still the same problem,
but you can edit your hosts file and force that the new IPs are used for the microstockgroup site:

Open C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

and insert the following:

205.134.239.191 microstockgroup.com
205.134.239.191 blog.microstockgroup.com
205.134.239.191 www.microstockgroup.com

You must open this file as an admin I think to be able to edit it.

This IP is the address of the new server.

Simone

This is STILL happening to me every day in the evening or at night.

It's frustrating! Is it ever going to get fixed?

It's a new decade, after all. 

Me too....I can usually get in for an hour or so either morning or night, but only once a day.  I never know when it will click in.

I will try this as well, since yesterday a few hours after posting my complaint, I was locked out for the ENTIRE DAY.

It was almost as if I had complained on an FT forum.  

ETA: Well, perhaps it's simply a coincidence (like complaining here and then losing access all day?!), but for the first time in a month, I have access to MSG at night.

Thank you, Simone! I owe you one. 

If you're on a Windows system, try modifying the Hosts file as described above. I haven't had a single outage since I did.

so for the mac I found it works like this:

http://practice.chatserve.com/hosts.html

or

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA27291

(and you need to add the hosts in the post above).

Simone

OK so I thought I'd make a small summary of the hosts procedure. If you are interested in what is happening, read this paragraph - otherwise just skip it and go directly to the procedure below.  

Explanation:

Essentially the problem here is the DNS (Domain Name Service). It is usually used to map internet domain name addresses (such as google.com) to IPs (such as 192.168.1.0). So whenever you type www.google.com into your browser, the DNS looks for the IP, and only then can the webpage be opened, because the computers and machines only understand numbers, but for us users it would be kind of hard to remember all those IP addresses instead of memorizable words.
Now there is not only one such DNS server/lookup table in the whole internet, because it would be very slow if all the time for any user it would look in the same table on the same server. Poor server. That's why there are copies all around the world in different DNS servers.
So when you move a site, it means that you keep your same domain name but want to point it to another IP address. This is first stored in only one DNS server, the one of your hosting service, and only with time the new information propagates to all other DNS servers all over the world. Usually it takes about 24-72 hours, but it can also take longer.
It seems that in our particular case there is something like this going on, so that sometimes when you open www.microstockgroup.com, you open the old IP address and get sent to the old address.

So, essentially what you can do is entering the IP numeric address of the microstockgroup site into your own computer, so that the computer doesn't even ask the DNS servers for the IP address but directly takes this information from a file in your computer. This file is called hosts file, and when you enter the correspondence of the microstockgroup website's domain name and its IP into this file, it should theoretically always take you to the right page.


Procedure:

Windows:

1) Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. First of all make a backup of the HOSTS file, which means copy it and save it as HOSTS.bak or similar.

2) You can open the file with Notepad (in Windows) or any other simple text editor.

• Win XP:
  Open Notepad when you are an administrative user on the computer.
  
  
• Win Vista / Win 7:
  Open Notepad with Administrative privileges by clicking Start, All Programs, Accessories, and then right-click Notepad and select to open as Administrator.

 
3) In Notepad, choose File-Open and navigate to the path of the hosts file at C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and open the file.

4) Add the following lines:

205.134.239.191 microstockgroup.com
205.134.239.191 blog.microstockgroup.com
205.134.239.191 www.microstockgroup.com

5) Click save.

6) Reboot.


Linux:

Open /etc/hosts as root:
sudo gedit /etc/hosts in Ubuntu for example

and insert the following:

205.134.239.191 microstockgroup.com
205.134.239.191 blog.microstockgroup.com
205.134.239.191 www.microstockgroup.com

No need to reboot usually.


Mac:

Mac OS X 10.2 or later:

On OS 10.5.8 Leopard:
Log on with admin rights.
At the top menu bar, use the Go menu.
Go > go to folder > type      /private/etc
Find the hosts file (there are a couple, you only want just plain hosts) Drag it to your desktop. Double click to open (will open in TextEdit)
Add microstock groups IP addresses:

205.134.239.191 microstockgroup.com
205.134.239.191 blog.microstockgroup.com
205.134.239.191 www.microstockgroup.com

Save your file on the desktop with no extension
Drag file back to etc folder
It will say it can't be overwritten, but there is an Authenticate button. Click that. Enter your password. Done.

A detailed different description for OS X 10.5 is given here: http://rag.nu/2008/07/06/edit-hosts-file-in-mac-os-x-105-leopard/

Mac OS X 10.0 through 10.1.5:
follow description in http://support.apple.com/kb/TA27291

Well, I'm sorry to say adding the host IPs to my host file didn't really correct the problem. This afternoon I couldn't get on. 

just a thought here...i use two separate isps, one connected via ethernet and the other through wifi. it's only the latter that i have a problem with on occasion. could it be that most of you having problems are connected through wifi or that could be the source of problem.

i'm totally technically challenged, so just throwing out a thought...

Maybe the hotel net doesn't allow you to use another DNS server. They sometimes have all sorts of restrictions because it's a public and hence more risky place. But it is just a guess.
Did you try the hosts file? I think that way it should work.