Can't connect to some websites

[pidgezero_one]

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong forum, this problem has a variety of things that could be causing it but I felt it fit best under firewalls since that seems to be the usual solution to this problem.

I'll start this off with a bit of background information, I have two computers in my dorm, a Windows XP desktop Service Pack 3, and a Windows Vista laptop Service Pack 1. I use a D-link WBR-2310 router, to which my desktop is connected via ethernet and my laptop is connected wirelessly. I do not have a modem as I receive internet from an ethernet jack in my room.

Within the past month, my laptop has not been able to connect to some login sites, such as gmail, my university's login site, Mozilla addons.. pretty much any page that prompts for a secure connection. This does not happen with many sites (I'm posting this on my laptop right now) but it is a large problem as I take my laptop with me to my house on weekends and need to be able to access my student login.

When I try to aggess these pages, it immediately gives:

Originally Posted by Firefox

Failed to Connect
The connection was refused when attempting to contact ___.
Though the site seems valid, the browser was unable to establish a connection.
* Could the site be temporarily unavailable? Try again later.
* Are you unable to browse other sites? Check the computer's network connection.
* Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy? Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing.

Originally Posted by IE

Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage
Most likely causes:
You are not connected to the Internet.
The website is encountering problems.
There might be a typing error in the address.

Originally Posted by Safari

Safari can’t connect to the server.
Safari can’t open the page “https://www.google.com/accounts/...” because it could not connect to the server “www.google.com”.

I can load www.google.com, just not gmail or anything google-account related.

This does not happen on my desktop, only my laptop. My laptop has no trouble logging in to the aforementioned sites. Both computers use Firefox 3.0.6

After searching Google I found that the problem was typically fixed by adjusting firewall settings. I turned my firewall off and nothing changed. I disabled Avast Web Shield and nothing changed.

I'm not sure if the following information will be useful or not, but:
-I recently sent my laptop in for repairs, but this was for physical damage and when I got the machine back it had the same battery life as when it left, so I doubt it is anything that would have been changed while in repairs.
-I recently uninstalled Norton 360.
-I run Symantec Antivirus 10.2.0.276 and Avast 4.8 home edition. I use Windows Firewall. Windows Firewall does have Firefox set as an exception.
-All of my browsers are set to enable SSL 3.0, and Firefox's advanced settings is set to "no proxy".


Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

[pidgezero_one]

To update, my laptop has now started to not connect to any page at all. I disabled and then re-enabled Windows Firewall and Avast On-access, and that was when it stopped loading any web page at all.

It can still connect to Digsby and IRC servers (including SSL ports), it just will not load any web site. Disabling firewalls STILL does nothing.

EDIT: Never mind, it's back to only refusing to load secure sites now.