What "brand wall"? Is the date / time set correctly in Windows XP?

A possible cause is security software (firewall) that blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program. Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process. See: *https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Server+not+found *https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Firewalls