Have not been able to access Facebook for 5 days now:

I keep getting the following message (have deleted cookies, restarted my router, etc):

This webpage is not available
Google Chrome could not load the webpage because www.facebook.com took too long to respond. The website may be down, or you may be experiencing issues with your Internet connection.
Here are some suggestions:
Reload this webpage later.
Check your Internet connection. Restart any router, modem, or other network devices you may be using.
Add Google Chrome as a permitted program in your firewall's or antivirus software's settings. If it is already a permitted program, try deleting it from the list of permitted programs and adding it again.
If you use a proxy server, check your proxy settings or contact your network administrator to make sure the proxy server is working. If you don't believe you should be using a proxy server, adjust your proxy settings: Go to the Chrome menu > Settings > Show advanced settings... > Change proxy settings... > LAN Settings and deselect the "Use a proxy server for your LAN" checkbox.
Error 118 (net::ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT): The ope

5 days??

Any ideas?

 

ping www.facebook.com and give the IP it shows you.

 

All I get is "request timed out", 3-4 times. Then the command box closes.

 

cmd > ipconfig /flushdns

Tried a different browser?

 

Tried this; is something supposed to happen?
The command box opened then quickly closed without giving me a chance to see anything...

Same thing happens with 4 diff browsers.

 

Make sure you open a command prompt box, and not just type it in the Run or Start box. It should say DNS cache has been flushed.

Also do a ping www.facebook.com

 

Just did it direct from the command box; same results. "Request timed out".
I have no idea whats going on.

 

How about /ping 69.171.224.42

 

1. When you do this Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt. Rt-click on it and ‘Run As Administrator’. Type the following and hit enter: ipconfig /flushdns

You should be able to see a confirmation dialog window:

Windows IP Configuration. Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.
2. Have you tried to connect with your OS's and/or Router's firewall disabled?

 

I would consider using a text editor to look at c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.

Facebook absolutely should not be there at all.

 

I haven't read anywhere in your posts that you can get to the internet just fine. Can you? I would assume so but one should not assume

Like S.SubZero said check your hosts file to make sure there are no facebook.com entries that is redirecting you to a bad site or internally 127.0.0.0. Have you been hijacked? Are you getting other redirection when going to other sites?

Change your DNS manually to 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 - which is Googles DNS and see if that works. This is done in Network Settings / Network and Sharing Center > Change Adapter Settings > Ethernet(Adapter) > Right Click Properties > Locate Internet Protocol Version(TCP /IPV4) then Double Click > Click on Use the Following DNS Server Addresses: > Google DNS Numbers

You can also try Open DNS:

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

 

This yielded replies; 4 packets sent and received with 0% loss.
106ms roundtrip.

 

Did both; no change.

 

How does one do this?

Tried all of these...no change.
Also, no hijacking and/or redirection.

Thanks for your help.

 

Open a command prompt with administrator rights. You haven't mentioned which Windows you have, and it's different depending on the version.

In Windows 7, click the Start button, then All Programs, then Accessories, then right-click on Command Prompt and "Run as Administrator"
In Windows 8, open the desktop, right-click the lower left corner, then left-click "Command Prompt (admin)"

Run notepad

File > Open > c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Observe file. Normally it's very short, with no actual active entries. If you use anti-virus software or anti-malware it may populate this with blacklisted sites.

Facebook should not have any entry here.

 

There are two Facebook entries here:

69.171.228.74 www.facebook.com
69.171.228.74 https://www.facebook.com

What to do from here?

 

Delete those entries and save, then do a ipconfig /flushdns. Those are dead entries from what i can see.

If you still cant run the /flushdns command, go to run > services.msc. Check that DNS client service is running. Try stopping and starting it also.

 

SUCCESS!

How do i prevent this from happening in the future?

Thanks to all who took the time to help me with this problem. Much appreciated

 

Good to hear.

Your firewall or security software might have fixed those IP addresses for facebook. Basically when you type facebook.com in your browser, it will take you directly to the IP thats listed in the Hosts file. Problem is, those can IP's can change over time.

Are there any other entries on the hosts file? A program will sometimes leave a signature when it writes on the hosts file.

 

Thanks; nothing else in the host file.

 

In the future, try running Ccleaner to see if it cleans those entries out for you, so that you don't need to navigate and do your own searching and destroying.

I wonder if typing the IP address in the address bar would have worked? I've been able to get around the firewall at my old A+ prep course class by either changing a HTTP address to HTTPS, and then - if need be - using the IP address rather than the domain name.