package-refresh-contents successfully checks against elpa.gnu.org and orgmode.org repos. When it comes to melpa, it just hangs at contacting host.

It works in 24.3. It used to work with nightly snapshots. Not sure exactly when it stopped working, but it also failed on 24.3.91.

(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives
             '("org" . "http://orgmode.org/elpa/") t)
(add-to-list 'package-archives
             '("melpa" . "http://melpa.milkbox.net/packages/") t)
(package-initialize)
(setq url-http-attempt-keepalives nil)

It fails with our without the keepalives nil setting.

In GNU Emacs 24.3.92.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin13.2.0, NS apple-appkit-1265.20)
 of 2014-06-27 on builder10-9.porkrind.org
Configured using:
 `configure --with-ns'

Important settings:
  value of $LC_CTYPE: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix

Major mode: Lisp Interaction

Minor modes in effect:
  ido-hacks-mode: t
  ido-vertical-mode: t
  global-undo-tree-mode: t
  undo-tree-mode: t
  global-rainbow-delimiters-mode: t
  rainbow-delimiters-mode: t
  yas-global-mode: t
  yas-minor-mode: t
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  ido-everywhere: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  electric-indent-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
ESC [ > 0 ; 9 5 ; c ESC x r e p o r t RET

Recent messages:
Loading /Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/terjesb/registers.el (source)...done
Loading /Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/terjesb/terjesb.el (source)...done
[yas] Loading for `lisp-interaction-mode', just-in-time: (lambda nil (yas--load-directory-1 (quote /Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140617.1640/snippets/lisp-interaction-mode) (quote lisp-interaction-mode)))!
[yas] Loading compiled snippets from /Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140617.1640/snippets/lisp-interaction-mode
[yas] Loading for `emacs-lisp-mode', just-in-time: (lambda nil (yas--load-directory-1 (quote /Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140617.1640/snippets/emacs-lisp-mode) (quote emacs-lisp-mode)))!
[yas] Loading compiled snippets from /Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140617.1640/snippets/emacs-lisp-mode
[yas] Loading for `prog-mode', just-in-time: (lambda nil (yas--load-directory-1 (quote /Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140617.1640/snippets/prog-mode) (quote prog-mode)))!
[yas] Loading compiled snippets from /Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140617.1640/snippets/prog-mode
Loading /Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140617.1640/snippets/prog-mode/.yas-setup...done
For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a.

Load-path shadows:
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-texinfo hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-texinfo
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-publish hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-publish
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-org hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-org
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-odt hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-odt
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-md hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-md
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-man hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-man
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-latex hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-latex
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-icalendar hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-icalendar
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-html hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-html
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-beamer hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-beamer
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ox-ascii hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ox-ascii
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-w3m hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-w3m
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-version hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-version
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-timer hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-timer
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-table hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-table
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-src hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-src
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-rmail hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-rmail
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-protocol hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-protocol
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-plot hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-plot
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-pcomplete hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-pcomplete
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-mouse hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-mouse
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-mobile hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-mobile
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-mhe hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-mhe
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-macs hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-macs
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-macro hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-macro
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-loaddefs hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-loaddefs
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-list hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-list
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-irc hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-irc
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-install hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-install
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-inlinetask hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-inlinetask
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-info hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-info
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-indent hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-indent
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-id hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-id
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-habit hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-habit
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-gnus hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-gnus
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-footnote hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-footnote
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-feed hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-feed
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-faces hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-faces
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-eshell hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-eshell
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-entities hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-entities
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-element hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-element
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-docview hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-docview
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-datetree hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-datetree
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-ctags hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-ctags
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-crypt hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-crypt
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-compat hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-compat
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-colview hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-colview
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-clock hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-clock
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-capture hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-capture
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-bibtex hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-bibtex
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-bbdb hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-bbdb
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-attach hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-attach
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-archive hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-archive
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/org-agenda hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/org-agenda
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-tangle hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-tangle
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-table hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-table
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-sqlite hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-sqlite
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-sql hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-sql
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-shen hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-shen
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-screen hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-screen
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-scheme hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-scheme
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-scala hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-scala
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-sass hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-sass
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-ruby hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-ruby
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-ref hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-ref
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-R hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-R
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-python hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-python
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-plantuml hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-plantuml
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-picolisp hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-picolisp
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-perl hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-perl
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-org hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-org
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-octave hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-octave
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-ocaml hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-ocaml
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-mscgen hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-mscgen
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-maxima hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-maxima
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-matlab hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-matlab
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-makefile hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-makefile
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-lob hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-lob
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-lisp hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-lisp
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-lilypond hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-lilypond
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-ledger hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-ledger
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-latex hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-latex
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-keys hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-keys
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-js hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-js
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-java hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-java
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-io hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-io
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-haskell hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-haskell
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-gnuplot hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-gnuplot
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-fortran hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-fortran
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-exp hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-exp
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-eval hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-eval
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-emacs-lisp hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-emacs-lisp
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-dot hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-dot
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-ditaa hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-ditaa
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-css hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-css
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-core hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-core
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-comint hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-comint
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-clojure hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-clojure
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-calc hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-calc
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-C hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-C
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-awk hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-awk
~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/lisp/ob-asymptote hides /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/org/ob-asymptote
/Users/terjesb/.emacs.d/elpa/htmlize-20130207.1202/htmlize hides ~/.emacs.d/non-elpa/org-mode/contrib/lisp/htmlize

Features:
(shadow sort mail-extr emacsbug message rfc822 mml mml-sec mm-decode
mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader
sendmail rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mail-utils xterm ido-hacks
ido-vertical-mode smex undo-tree diff multiple-cursors
mc-separate-operations rectangular-region-mode mc-mark-pop mc-mark-more
mc-cycle-cursors mc-edit-lines multiple-cursors-core rect
rainbow-delimiters dash-at-point yasnippet help-mode company paredit
cider cider-mode cider-repl cider-eldoc cider-interaction arc-mode
archive-mode cider-doc org-table cider-test cider-stacktrace
cider-client nrepl-client cider-util ewoc etags dash clojure-mode imenu
inf-lisp tramp tramp-compat auth-source eieio byte-opt bytecomp
byte-compile cconv eieio-core gnus-util mm-util mail-prsvr
password-cache tramp-loaddefs trampver ess-toolbar ess-mouse mouseme
thingatpt browse-url ess-menu ess-swv ess-noweb ess-noweb-font-lock-mode
ess-bugs-l essd-els ess-sas-d ess-sas-l ess-sas-a shell ess-sta-d
ess-sta-l cc-vars cc-defs make-regexp ess-sp6-d ess-sp3-d ess-julia
ess-r-d compile ess-tracebug ess-roxy hideshow ess-help ess-developer
ess-r-args eldoc ess-s-l ess ess-inf ess-mode ess-noweb-mode ess-utils
ess-custom executable ess-compat ess-site ox-koma-letter ox-latex
ox-icalendar ox-html table ox-ascii ox-publish ox derived org-element
avl-tree ob-gnuplot ob-clojure ob-ruby ob-python ob-R org advice
help-fns org-macro org-footnote org-pcomplete pcomplete org-list
org-faces org-entities noutline outline easy-mmode org-version
ob-emacs-lisp ob ob-tangle ob-ref ob-lob ob-table ob-exp org-src ob-keys
ob-comint comint ansi-color ring ob-core ob-eval org-compat org-macs
org-loaddefs format-spec find-func cal-menu calendar cal-loaddefs
org-daypage finder-inf cl-macs better-defaults time-date paren edmacro
kmacro saveplace ido cl gv cl-loaddefs cl-lib ace-jump-mode-autoloads
clojure-cheatsheet-autoloads cider-autoloads clojure-mode-autoloads
color-theme-sanityinc-solarized-autoloads
color-theme-sanityinc-tomorrow-autoloads color-theme-solarized-autoloads
color-theme-autoloads company-autoloads dash-at-point-autoloads
es-mode-autoloads exec-path-from-shell-autoloads
find-file-in-project-autoloads flx-ido-autoloads flx-autoloads
helm-autoloads htmlize-autoloads idle-highlight-mode-autoloads
ido-hacks-autoloads ido-ubiquitous-autoloads ido-vertical-mode-autoloads
info easymenu magit-autoloads git-rebase-mode-autoloads
git-commit-mode-autoloads markdown-mode-autoloads
multiple-cursors-autoloads paredit-autoloads projectile-autoloads
pkg-info-autoloads epl-autoloads dash-autoloads
rainbow-delimiters-autoloads s-autoloads smex-autoloads
undo-tree-autoloads yasnippet-autoloads zenburn-theme-autoloads package
tooltip electric uniquify ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel
ns-win tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe tabulated-list
newcomment lisp-mode prog-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer
select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core
frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai
tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european
ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help
simple abbrev minibuffer nadvice loaddefs button faces cus-face macroexp
files text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule
custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote make-network-process
cocoa ns multi-tty emacs)

Memory information:
((conses 16 363090 24578)
 (symbols 48 39675 0)
 (miscs 40 75 239)
 (strings 32 88806 15385)
 (string-bytes 1 3127614)
 (vectors 16 29418)
 (vector-slots 8 654029 6771)
 (floats 8 501 286)
 (intervals 56 382 13)
 (buffers 960 13))