I have the most bizzare problem

All of a sudden (no new installs etc.) my internet connection has started behaving very oddly.

With any browser I have I can only connect to a couple of sites, all the rest simply hang trying to load (same sites for each browser so I doubt a browser problem)

Skype connects fine
kiax connects to my VOIP service
kopete won't connect to MSN
Samaba share broswer can see shares on windows machines but can't browse them

This site (linuxquestions) will not load and I have the correct IP address in hosts

I can ping any site that doesn't load in a browser, I get good responses

So IMHO it can't be a DNS problem, it isn't browser related, it's not hardware as I am currently using XP on the same machine and everything is fine.

It's as if pretty much all the sites I look at are blocked appart from a couple?

I checked and the firewall is turned off.

Has anyone got any ideas? as I am stuck. I can provide any logs/reports needed but will have to reboot to linux to do so.

I am using Mandrive 2007

Trouble is all my work is on the linux system, it's sheer luck I never deleted this XP partition.

OK problem has gone away

it must have been some sort of bizzare hardware issue, XP froze on me and i exasperation I unplugged the computer and nearly slung it out of the window.

Came back to it after a good half hour, plugged it back in and it is now absolutely fine.

no idea what was wrong, but I suspect new hardware may well be purchased soon!