Forum Discussion
Being redirected to Chinese msn
This is a strange one. I started my laptop yesterday and noticed that the news feed on the taskbar was in Chinese. Clicking any of the news items brought me to msn.cn/zh-cn. Manually trying to go to msn.com redirected me to msn.cn/zh-cn. I thought it was malware on my computer, so I malware checked and deleted my cookies. There was no malware found and deleting the cookies didn't help. Then I tested all the other devices in my house. All the computers and all the phones act the same way. What's more, if I switch my phone over to AT&T towers, msn.com works normally. So, it seems obvious to me that the problem is with T-mobile. I rebooted the gateway and that didn't fix the problem. This may not be a serious problem, but, then again, maybe it is. I don't like that I'm somehow being redirected to a Chinese site. Does anyone have any suggestions/solutions concerning this?
Have they tried factory resetting the gateway? I would think that would be worth trying before requesting a replacement gateway.
- syaoranTransmission Titan
Have they tried factory resetting the gateway? I would think that would be worth trying before requesting a replacement gateway.
- not-a-numberTransmission Trainee
Thank you syaoran! The rebooting of the gateway that I did wasn’t enough. It needed a factory reset. After the reset, everything was back to normal. Thank you to everyone! This is a wonderful community!
- gramps28Router Royalty
Maybe @bocaboy2591 or @copz1998 have an idea on why this is happening.
- copz1998Connection Curator
@not-a-number to help diagnose your problem I would ask you to do the following:
Open a tablet, smartphone and your PC and ensure they are connected to T-Mobile Internet. Then open up the MSN window on all three devices. do you get the same results (all Chinese)? If so, I would suspect an issue with the gateway. You need to explain your problem and ask for an exchange unit. Otherwise, if your table and smartphone are ok, then you need to reformat the PC and reinstall Windows (assuming that is the OS you are using). What you are describing sound like a virus that you picked up. I know that you said you scanned the PC and found nothing, but the malware or visor is highjacking your browser.
Please let us know the results.
- bocaboy2591Bandwidth Buddy
This is a head-scratcher for sure! I'd try checking DNS on the machine that’s connecting to the Chinese version of MSN. You can't do that on the gateway, but if you're on Windows, you can change the DNS under Network Settings. (Full disclosure, I'm a Mac-guy.)
If the gateway is your first listing (192.168.12.1), replace it with OpenDNS’ servers: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220 and then the third entry would be your gateway’s IP. That will remove T-Mobile from doing the DNS look-up and hopefully force your computer to go to the correct site.
Just to make sure that you're working with the right credentials, reboot your laptop AND the gateway, then try accessing the site.
For the record, I live in S. Florida, but my external IP address (issued automatically by T-Mobile) is Seattle, WA. I use the DNS settings above and don't have a problem with address resolution, so maybe it can help you too.
If that doesn't work, I'd download a VPN client (Mullvad VPN or Nord VPN) and see if forcing your location to be local might not also work. A VPN will replace your existing T-Mobile external IP with theirs, and could also potentially solve your problem.
If neither of these solutions work, I would guess there is something on your local computer that’s redirecting this site.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
- gramps28Router Royalty
Mine is fine.
- not-a-numberTransmission Trainee
Thanks! My son in California tells me that his is also normal. It makes me wonder if the problem is regional or a problem with the local tower. I’m in western Arkansas.
- gramps28Router Royalty
Have you recently downloaded a new app?
- not-a-numberTransmission Trainee
No, I haven’t.
- not-a-numberTransmission Trainee
This is what I see on my taskbar newsfeed:
Related Content
- 2 years ago
- 2 years ago