Zen - site unavailable problem
Author
Discussion

rene7

Original Poster:

626 posts

113 months

Monday 17th May 2021
quotequote all
Hi there, you lot are my last hopesmile - can you help me sort out this issue:-
Ever since I joined Zen last august I've been unable to connect to their webmail from any computer or location other than on my Hard wired home desktop using MS edge browser. Even at home on my laptop via wifi I can't connect - several phonecalls and many emails to zen's helpline/tech support have been unable to resolve this problem??
Whenever I try to connect I get this screen:-
>

>

Both desktop and laptop have the latest updates to Win10, though I've also tried connecting with a win7 pc and win 7 laptop - again I get the same screen?
Anyone else encountered anything similar on zen or other isp's, and if so how did you resolve it?
Please make any technical suggestions in simple to understand terms please - like Zen's Tech support team I'm no IT wizkid/techie smilesmile
Thx
Rene

babelfish

1,020 posts

237 months

Monday 17th May 2021
quotequote all
You say you use MS Edge on the hardwired desktop. What do you use on the other devices?

Do you have a VPN on the other devices?

Ii you go to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ on the various devices while at home does it return the same ip?

TonyRPH

13,546 posts

198 months

Monday 17th May 2021
quotequote all
It looks as though you are accessing it via a VPN which is presenting an IP address outside of the UK (I'm assuming that Zen block non UK IP addresses).

Try disabling your VPN (if any). It may also be possible to add an exclusion for the Zen webmail.

Also check if you are using a non UK proxy server as that would give the same issue.

All the above assumes you are in the UK of course, and not based overseas.

Mr Pointy

13,414 posts

189 months

Monday 17th May 2021
quotequote all
Zen webmail is absolute rubbish; I can't even get the front page to load in Firefox & it's not a VPN issue as I'm not using one. In Vivaldi it throws an insecure site message. Even when it does connect it's incredibly slow to load: With 1500 messages on the server it takes nearly five minutes to open the first page.

None of this helps the OP of course but it's just crap.

rene7

Original Poster:

626 posts

113 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
No VPN in use at all - no tech support from zen either - Just BS & Krap
At home using laptop NO browser will work??
Any other suggestions - PLEASE, I'm stuck without email until my zen contract expires in August, and I go to another ISP
TA
Rene

Harpoon

2,543 posts

244 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
On the PC that works and one that doesn't, can you go to a command prompt (click the Start Menu, type CMD and press Enter) and type:

tracert webmail.zen.co.uk

Then post back the results for each please?

Mr Pointy

13,414 posts

189 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
Look at using another mail client - even Outlook can be configured to access Zen mail over POP & I'd be surprised if Gmail can't be configured like that as well. Bluemail has been suggested before but I haven't got round to trying it yet.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/blue-mail/9pmhzv...

Just be careful when configuring the client to leave the messages on the server & not delete them.

I trust you are aware that if you move from Zen you'll lose your email address. I've known people lose access to an address they have used for an emergency recovery address which has caused real problems.

sparkyhx

4,200 posts

234 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
I have an issue with Nicehash - I CANNOT access without the VPN, cos the Internet provider is 'blocking it' for some reason. I've been onto them several times and they not resolved it, so I just use my VPN.

However I cant get it to work at all - wired or wifi..........so not exactly the same as yours

If you use someone elses wifi does it work? i.e. another internet provider?

bmwmike

8,762 posts

138 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
the laptop that won't connect via wifi - will it connect if wired? Sounds like a PC will connect via a wired connection, so wondering if its the same for the laptop.

If it does connect wired but not wireless, that would be.. wierd.

king arthur

7,892 posts

291 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
Can you access it from your home desktop PC from any other browser or only MS Edge?

rene7

Original Poster:

626 posts

113 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
Thanks for suggestions here's the results:-
Harpoon:>


>
Mr pointy:>
Don't have anything important on my zen email address I've been caught out by this by ISP's in the pastthumbup

>
King arthur
>
Only MS edge on the desktop so ain't tried any other's - MS edge works OK
>
BMW Mike
Haven't tried hard wiring the home laptop yet cable's a pain to get at and I hope I won't have to get at it.
TA
Rene


Edited by rene7 on Tuesday 18th May 15:39

Harpoon

2,543 posts

244 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
Which devices are those screenshots from? Two that don't work? Or one that does and one that doesn't?

king arthur

7,892 posts

291 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
You say that you can't access it from any computer or location other than your home PC.

Exactly what other computers and locations have you tried? Is it only your laptop and have you tried this from another internet connection somewhere? It will help if you can say precisely what you have and have not tried.

Fishlegs

3,367 posts

169 months

Tuesday 18th May 2021
quotequote all
Looks like a DNS issue. Devices on your network can't find the ip address for "webmail.zen.co.uk".

Try a different DNS server. This will probably be configured in your router.

Use 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 and it might start working.



(My bet is you're using Zen's own DNS servers and they're misconfigured.)

quinny100

1,014 posts

216 months

Wednesday 19th May 2021
quotequote all
In your traceroute screenshots there are a couple of things jumping out:

The top one, the second icon from the right on the taskbar looks suspiciously like the Surfshark icon to me - which is a VPN.

In the bottom screenshot, the WiFi isn't connected - so you won't be able to resolve DNS because it can't see a DNS server.

rene7

Original Poster:

626 posts

113 months

Wednesday 19th May 2021
quotequote all
Harpoon
Sorry for any confusion - one is the desktop which can access webmail, the other my wifes win7 laptop, [which can't] she has a different zen email address to me and she can only connect to it via our home desktop PC, I also tried your suggestion on my win 10 laptop, again the same as the others - 'unable to resolve target system name webmail.zen.co.uk'
>
When on hols I can't connect on any network with my or my wife's laptop. so as I originally posted can only access my email from home desktop.
>
Quinny
Yep the laptop has a VPN but it's not connected/activated smile whenever I try to access webmail, in any case webmail ought to be accessible worldwide, my previous ISP's webmail wassmile with or without a VPN.
>
Fishlegs
Can you explain the dns issue you mentioned - I'm not a IT geek so don't know what you mean? smile can you give an example like harpoon did and I'll try it
THX
rene

Edited by rene7 on Wednesday 19th May 09:50