Unable to access news server socket 11004

Been using newsgroups no prob till my six year old shut down Xnews one day. Now unable to access newsgroups. Called optonline and set it up through Outlook Express. "server could not be found".

Running XP2. Shut down firewall on XP and McAfee.
Shut down all background programs.
Ran Adaware and Spybot and cleaned.
Rebooted......Problem still present.

I can check my email fine thorough optonline but can't access the news server. And yes I am using the right news server name.

So the question is what could be blocking my access to the 119 port for news servers? My ISP says everything should work from their end. I am truly at my wits end. Usually good at trouble shooting but this is strange.
Thanks in advance.

 

Are ye behind a router?

Can you ping the news server?

Instead of putting in the FDN, try an IP instead.

 

No I am not on a router. Just regular cable modem.

We tried to ping throught the command prompt and it wouldn't work.

Worked ok with yahoo.com but not news.optonline.net

What did you mean by using IP?

 

So, you do not get this?

By, IP, I mean: 69.28.186.158

Can you ping:

optonline.svc.highwinds-media.com

 

If I ping news.optonline.net I get
"Ping request could not find host news.optonline.net. Please check the name and try again."

If I ping optonline.svc.highwinds-media.com...

Pingping optonline.svc.highwinds-media.com with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 69.28.186.150 bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=50
Reply from 69.28.186.150 bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=50
Reply from 69.28.186.150 bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=50
Reply from 69.28.186.150 bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=50

Ping statistics for 69.28.186.150:
Packets: Sent=4, Received=4, Lost=0 <0% loss>,
Approximate round trip time in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 9ms, Maximum = 21ms, Average = 15ms

So the news server is still unavailable. Why?

 

To get to your newsgroups, try using the address: optonline.svc.highwinds-media.com

I know it is a pain, but give it a shot. It seems, that the address you are given, is re-directed to this other IP (FDNS).

 

That did work. Newsgroups are now loading and visible.

Thank you. But I am still perplexed by the problem itself.

Do you think it is something on their server

or my computer?