DNS issues

OK. I've been having some issues with our wireless network lately. ie: email hasn't been working, internet hasn't been working, even AIM hasn't been working. Luckily, email and internet are working at the moment. When I run a Vaio Wireless Utility diagonastics test, it tells me that "The domain name server (DNS) for your internet is not responding". Does that mean my Internet provider, Roadrunner, is having issues that are affecting my computer? Or is this something I can fix?

Another thing- yesterday I ran the same diagonastics test, and it told me that "The Internet gateway is not responding". What is that all about? I don't know if I fixed that problem or not... How can I fix it if it occurs again?

Thanks

 

I would verifiy that nothing on your network has changed that could be causing the problems. Two things I recommend you try are switching your wireless channel under your router setup page. The second is while you are there, you can add some new DNS servers to try. Instead of using the Get Automatically From ISP option, switch it to manual and enter in one for primary and another for secondary. Use any of the numbers below. Be sure to restart your wireless connection on your notebook after you save these new settings. Give that a try and let us know if you're still having trouble.


199.166.24.253 - Toronto, ON, Canada
199.166.27.253 - Richmond Hill, ON, Canada
199.166.28.10 - Apopka, Fl
199.166.29.3 - Nederlands
199.166.31.3 - Orlando, FL, USA
195.117.6.25 - Poland
38.113.2.100 - Boston, MA, USA
213.196.2.97 - The Netherlands

 

Rik,

When you run this diagnostic disc, are you currently behind your router? If so, this could explain why the DNS or gateway fails. Since you're behind your router, it's uses NAT to translate your external ISP IP address into multiple internal addresses (192.168.x.x). Your router gets the IP, DNS information from your ISP and then your router generally maps all your internal IP's to the external, so you generally have to go through your router in order to get out rather than going directly (no direct link/access to the external addresses). Hope I didn't loose you so far, kinda loosing myself.

So, if you were to go to the Command Prompt (Start -> Run -> CMD) and type IPCONFIG /ALL and hit enter, your DNS & gateway information with be your routers address (the one you use to go to setup your router 192.168.1.1, or something like that). But, if you go to your routers setup screen, you'll see that the ISP's DNS & Gateway information is completely different.

So from the looks of it, the diag you're running is just testing your internal info, not the actual info from the ISP. And since it's just generally a mapping, I don't think it will return an values when probed, which could explain why it's getting no response. You need to connect your cable/DSL modem directly to your computer and re-run the tests. I'm sure it'll get to the provider without any problems. So it might seem that your router could be at fault. I'd suggest trying to reset your router and re-config or get a different router and see if it helps.

Good luck!

-Vb-

 

Venombite,

hmm. looks like I lost ya on that one. What do you mean by "behind your router"?? I'm about 5 yards away from it another room...

I did the command prompt, and i got my info. Is this information supposed to be identical to the router setup screen? I haven't checked on that yet... Since I haven't been able to use the internet for awhile, I decided to do a little test. I went to start>run> and typed in COMMAND. after the prompt, I typed in "ping google.com" (which is my default home page when I access the internet). It seems like if I just leave that little black screen open, all of my problems are solved. I can get email, internet sites, but I can't IM anyone, though... why is that? I just opened the run dialoge and typed in "ping google.com"!! this is weird.

How am I supposed to connect the modem directly to my notebook? Do I need an extra cord?

You said to try to reset my router. How do you do that? Usually I'm good at these things if I have directions in front of me, but I'm afraid I'll mess things up for our whole home network. (I'm only 15... Mommy might get mad if HER computer stops working). Could you give me a link or tell me how I might be able to do that? If not, that's ok... we have to get the person that manages our network over here for another problem...

Ah, the wonders of computers...

Thank you for all of your help.

 

Rik,

Yes, I mean't stand behind your router, but 5 yards is just too far, 2 yards should be fine. Sorry, I just kidding, couldn't help myself.

But seriously, no, when I said behind your router I meant, is your computer connected to a router and then the router connect to your cable/DSL modem?

Connecting the modem to your notebook directly will require a network cable (looks like a phone cable, but the heads are larger). Plug directly from the modem to your notebook and bypass the router completely. BUT, this will effectively disconnect your mother's computer for a bit (until you connect back to the router).

Getting internet after going to command prompt and doing a ping command is weird. You either have internet or you don't. It's possible you may have a hardware or software problem in your notebook. To test if it's hardware, try plugging in a different wireless card into the notebook and see if this works any better. If it does, then it'll come down to a config/driver problem or your wifi card in the notebook is flaking out. Re-install the drivers and re-config the card and see if it helps. If no, then get the wifi card replaced/repaired.

Are you the one who setup the wireless router for the house or did someone else do it? If someone else did it, and since you mentioned you were 15, is it possible there could be some restrictions on the router which is limiting your access?

Resetting the router wis as simple as hitting the reset button on the router itself, but that would wipe all settings on the router which may (most likely it will) prevent your mother from surfing the web.

Well, I could give you a link on how to do it, but it may not work because I don't know what router to have. It's best to goto the manufacturer's website for the router, they have all the required info on how to install, setup and reset their routers.

You're welcome, that's what I'm here for. Hopefully this resolves the problem.

-Vb-

 

thank you. we found out that our firewall program was actually blocking my own internet access!! can you believe that? totally weird.

 

Hey Rik,

Happy to see that the problem is resolved. Talk about a kick to the pants. One small bit of software to protect you from the nasties on the web stopped you from surfing. Well, I guess that would protect you from the nasties wouldn't it? I'm curious what firewall program you're using, Zone Alarm? If it is, I believe this software locks down the net after installing, you have to configure it to give you access. Pretty much like Microsoft's ISA Server, once installed, everything get's locked down. Anyone not knowing about ISA server would be scratching their heads on what happened.

Well, in any case, happy to see it's working. Happy surfing!

-Vb-

 

I was running eTrust Firewall Protection... When I shut it down, the internet worked fine, yet when it was running, I had trouble viewing certain sites at certain times. So, the internet worked only some of the time. We uninstalled that firewall program so we could use the Windows XP firewall software already on the computer. Now everyting works fine!

 

Thats great Rikki, I'm glad that you got your problems worked out. I would suggest that you use a third party firewall over XP's built in though. I use Zone Alarm myself and I know if I have it set too high or if I don't allow certain programs access then it will block IE the majority of the time. Mainly the only one I've had to deal with is the Generic Host Process. Under ZA it must be allowed full access with Server rights otherwise IE will not have full continuous access. I'm sure the other software firewalls available allow you to do the same thing.

 

Anubis,

The 3rd party firewall was the original problem. Since un-installing it fixed the problem, it's most likely a configuration issue rather than a software problem.

-Vb-

 

Yes that is what I was saying. It was a configuration problem with the 3rd party. Although each 3rd party software is different with configurations, it would be better to find one that you can use and easy to configure vs. trying to only use XP's firewall as the main protection. I simply used my firewall as an example since my IE problem was a config issue as well.

Anubis

 

Anubis,

Since Rik's setup has his computer behind his router, shouldn't the routers NAT/harwdare firewall and Windows Firewall be enough?

-Vb-

 

Well I believe if you are going to use a software firewall, you really should look at an alternative to XP. We all know that XP has loop holes, and therefore, it might not be the best option to a software firewall. Most hardware firewalls are good but with all of the hacking and identity theft issues, I would recommend a software firewall in addition to the hardware.

With more advanced software firewalls like PC-cillin, Norton, Zone Alarm, etc., that allow much better security but with the same freedom to access the internet and what not, it's a much better option than XP's. Again, this is all just a preference. It is really up to the user on how secure they want their network to be, personally, I'm a security nut and it's better to be safe than sorry.

Anubis

 

I do believe that the hardware firewall does protect us, but at the same time, you have to look at it like spyware & adware. There isn't one piece of software that will protect you from all of the spyware or adware...you have to get 2 or 3 to make sure you have the ultimate protection as well as take other security steps.

A 3rd party software would just add a some more protection for those of us who want to be ultimately secured. I know it doesn't secure us 100%, but it adds additional security. An ex friend of my was a hacker/cracker, and he explained to me, how unsecured windows it. It is easy to break into. Think about driving a car into a brick wall. If the conditions are right, the car will go right through that wall. If there are several brick walls stacked up behind each other, the car is more likely to stop than to keep going. Although I wouldn't suggest trying to test this theory...I'm just using it for illustration purposes

For me, I'm on the net 24/7 so I need my PC-cillin. I don't like relying on my hardware firewall or for that matter XP's firewall. XP has had so many security problems that I find it really hard to trust it. With hardware firewall, you don't get any notifications about anyone trying to break into it. At least with software, you will be notified if anything fishy starts to happen.

Just my 2 cents.

SG