Comcast is my ISP, and I'll be darned if I can find anything else wrong. Gotta be it. Any idea if Comcast knows about it? I can't imagine trying to explain this to one of their "tech support" folks :(

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I have the problem discussed here. Before you start re-installing software and generally tearing apart your Windows machine, please be aware that I cannot connect to mcafee.com using a Linux machine or small "device server" running no operating system. My hypothesis is that one of the hosts in the route between me (and others) and mcafee's server is not routing properly or mcafee is rejecting packets from that host. I am also using Comcast, so that is starting to look like the source of the problem. I might be able to try an experiment by conneting one of my "bad" computers via Verizon DSL and see if that works, but won't be able to try in until tomorrow at the earliest. BJB

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Hello all; and thanks Tufenuf for that info. I too am on Comcast; so there must be some kind of connection here. As I ws able to obtain the latest update a few days ago, and I have not made any changes or setting adjustments here at all, I think that either Comcast or McAfee must have did something. I'll look at those recommendations above, Tufenuf but I'll hold off on making any setting adjustments until Brian tries that experiment. Maybe that will shed some light on it. At this writing, I have not looked yet into those settings that you mentioned, but I do know I have Microsoft Java installed. I have not made any setting changes for a long time, so I think the problem lies with the server or routing. I also noticed that when I was able to connect for updates, as soon as I clicked "search for updates", my Zone Alarm would normally pop up and ask permission; to which I obviously say yes. But now when I click to "search for updates", my Z.A. does not even pop up any more. It seems as though it is not even trying to access the server; or is trying but cannot connect..... I'm baffled...... Thanks all; we'll stay tuned and hope for the best... somehow it will get fixed (I hope). ~Tommyo

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Yessss. I have determined that this problem is not related to Windows, etc. so don't start re-installing and ripping out your systems. As mentioned earlier, I cannot connect to mcafee.com using any of my Windows machines or Linux machines, so I figured the problem must be in the network routing between me and mcafee.com. I use Comcast, so I took my computer down the street to a Verizon DSL connection and it worked OK. So the problem appears to be with Comcast. Maybe someone with a better knowledge of network diagnostics can suggest some ways to isolate the problem further. BJB

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I, too, am on Comcast. however, my problem is slighlt more complicated. You see, I noticed my copy of McAfee fail and break down, finally, the service did not show in the toolbar. I had plans to buy myself three copies of Panda for christmas anyway, so I went ahead and downloaded three copies. Two copies installed perfectly. One machine(win XP media cntr) had no AV on it before. Second system(same OS) had virusscan 2004 pro 8 and that uninstalled just perfectly. However, the third machine(just happens to be my prized machine, my Alienware w/ XP pro SP2) refused to uninstall mcafee. I decided to just install panda and not have mcafee on startup. that didn't work, either. I tried to install and it came up with an error print off a statement saying the RPC server is unavailable. I know what you're thinking, but my RPC services ARE started, and I made sure of it. I tried every trick I could pull, but nothing. AND on top of it all, McAfee goes and fails on me? I just love them now. Christmas is made better by unreliable AV companies and crappy ISP's. No complaints. Hope we get a solution. J.I.M. dandy!

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Well, ladies and gents, a tracert scan has come up with some results that I'm not exactly a pro at, but I get the general gist of it. Tracing route to www.mcafee.com [216.49.88.12] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 8 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.254.253 2 * * * Request timed out. 3 9 ms 9 ms 7 ms ge-2-1-ur01.rochester.mi.mich.comcast.net [68.87 .62.237] 4 11 ms 9 ms 9 ms srp-1-0-ar01.taylor.mi.mich.comcast.net [68.87.6 2.3] 5 11 ms 24 ms 11 ms 12.118.112.17 6 15 ms 11 ms 14 ms tbr1-p012401.dtrmi.ip.att.net [12.123.139.53] 7 24 ms 27 ms 26 ms 12.122.12.186 8 23 ms 25 ms 24 ms tbr2-cl2.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.9.142] 9 40 ms 40 ms 41 ms tbr2-cl6.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.10.90] 10 51 ms 37 ms 38 ms ggr1-p380.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.12.94] 11 39 ms 39 ms 40 ms att-gw.dfw.broadwing.net [192.205.32.78] 12 43 ms 40 ms 41 ms 216.140.4.229 13 76 ms 76 ms 76 ms 216.140.17.98 14 77 ms 76 ms 76 ms 216.140.3.106 Do notice that it stops, 14 hops later, at 216.140.3.106. An IP that is unresolved, and while that might seem ok, the IP of mcafee.com is 216.49.88.12. Slight problem there, huh? Let me know what ya think. J.I.M. dandy!

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And the adventure continues.... An interesting adendum to all of this is that I am able to connect to Mcafee.com sites when using AOL's browser, but NOT with IE or Mozilla Firefox. Encountered a similar scenario when blocking sites using the hosts file some time ago (i.e. AOL vs IE). But....my hosts file is currently default with no sites listed (my choice as of late). So the behavior is certainly similar. Based on Jared's recent post, it is obviously NOT a problem resident to anyone's OS or computer and that the problem is much farther down the line. Hope this gets resolved. I will make a point to contact Mcafee using AOL and will direct them to this page.

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I am having the same problem. I spoke with Comncast, they are blaming McAfee. I called McAfee. They know of the problem and here is the solution they gave me. Search computer for a a file named "hosts" then rename it to anything you want, ie: new_hosts. Then restart the computer and you should be able to access McAfee again. I have not tried it yet becuase I am at work. I will try it when I get home. If anyone can do this in the mean time, I 'm sure we will be all anxious to find out. Good luck to us all, Fetrunner

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Wow. I just tried to get in touch with Mcafee at first to no avail only after randomly punching in someone's direct extension (100). Otherwise, you have to pay via a 900# for customer support! I was told by someone that seemed to barely speak English that McAfee is aware of the issue and that is should be resolved in a few hours. We'll see. Comcast also said that it was on McAfee's end.

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I was having the same problem. I run XP and Zone Alarm with McAfee. I restored my windows firewall settings: start control panel security center windows firewall "Advanced" tab restore defaults then turned it off again. I don't know if this was what solved it or if comcast and McAfee started "talking" again, but I can now connect.

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The response above (number 16) is the ticket. That fixed it. I mentioned what to do in response number 14, but when I tried it at home, it did not work. Thanks to the good work above from jdaldorf, the problem is finally solved. Thanks to all. Fetrunner

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Hello all....I don't know if anyone is still following this thread, but at this typing here (Wedneday morning) my McAfee is able to finally update. I have not attempted to alter or change any settings here on my pc; it appears that the problem has been fixed by McAfee. Now we'll see if we get the weekly automatic updates.... This has certainly been one hell of a mess so hopefullt it is all resolved. ~Tommyo

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Well, it looks like #16 was NOT the solution. The problem was resolved on McAfee(or Comcast)'s end. I did nothing with my firewall and was able to access it perfectly today. Good thing, too. Hope everyone else can, too.

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Does anyone have a spin on this thread? I have Windows XP pro running SP1 and IE 6, McAfee SC Build 9.0. I launch "Updates" in the Security Center and it opens the typical message box to "Check Now", "Configure", etc. I go ahead and check and it the message says that the Security Center is checking for updates. The message box and status sits there for nearly 20 minutes and then returns a message that McAfee Security Services are up-to-date; HOWEVER, when you look at the latest DAT file the version is old...like August 2004 (4318) - the update NEVER occures. Most of you cannot connect to the Internet for updates. But has anyone experienced being able to connect, but McAfee doesn't supply the updates or provide an option to download the latest version?

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I am also a Comcast user with this update problem. I believe that my McAffee subscription is expired. The McAffee updater continually searches for updates, and (or so I thought), since my scrip was up, kept searching aimlessly, making it excruciating to get onto any web browser. I ran ms config and tried to shut off the McAffee updater that runs at start-up, but that isn't doing the trick. Does anyone else in the thread have an expired subscription? If so, is there anyway to disable just the virus scan updater, without killing the firewall? If I want to switch to PCCillin or some other security suite, will I be able to delete McAffee entirely or will its remnants be causing havoc? I feel disinclined to spend money on McAffee at this point. I find their website communication to be confusing and misleading--but I'm not sure what choices I have.

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