Server not found

Since this morning, some sites i visit (appears to be random), im getting this message http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/attachments/net...

Refreshing a few times fixes it and the website loads. Ive had issues before like this and normally rebooting the router works, but it hasnt this time. I get it on Firefox, IE and also the browser on my PS3 so its not a browser/PC issue.

Ive heard flushing the DNS may help? Never done it before tho so dont want to break anything

Could it be an issue with the ISPs DNS servers?

Edited by bobble_bob (Sun 01-Sep-13 08:44:09)

Use the tracert command from a DOS prompt window to discover the IP address for, say, the BBC website, when you get the error again, type the IP address in the browser address bar instead of www.bbc.co.uk. If this resolves to the website, then yes, DNS would look like the first culprit.

Will try. Mainly seems to be forums that i get the issue on. If its happening on other devices on the network, would flushing the dns do anything or not?

I'm far from clued up on these things (no surprise there) but believe that flushing the DNS, again via a prompt window, will only do so for the device it's done on. So if happening on all devices at the same time, then it would most likely be due to something they all share. Router, or ISP maybe. You can use an open DNS service, which would help rule out the ISP, but I know not how to set this up.

Someone clever will turn up and inform us shortly no doubt !

haha thanks.

Sometimes the website does load but its formatted all wrong, not sure what that means

I found this for you.

Flushing DNS will do no harm, for sure, did it many times on my old Windows machine. Have moved to the 'other' side these days ........ and am a much happier bunny for it.

Cheers just tried it. Didnt help but the issue isnt as bad as it was first thing this morning

Edited by bobble_bob (Sun 01-Sep-13 09:16:25)

OK, so guessing it's not that then. Is the router itself old, who's the ISP ?

Yea its an old router. Netgear DG834Gv5 and my ISP is ADSL24

Like i say ive had issues in the past (months ago and only lasted 10 mins or so) and from memory it was the same sites that were having issues. Last hour or so its improving too, so maybe it was their dns servers that fell over

Just change the DNS settings in router from ISP's DNS to 1 of these public DNS, or a mixture of the 2:

Open DNS : 208.67.222.222 & 208.67.220.220
Google DNS: 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4
Norton DNS: 198.153.192.50 & 198.153.194.50

You also need to make sure the DNS in Windows is set to the router's IP, I think?

Yes, to its (& other devices') default of 'Obtain DNS automatically'.

I'd forgotten that one... and tbh I'm never sure quite what happens when the OS and the router have different (non-default) DNS entries. That's why I always set the DNS in the router to what I want, and in the OS to the router's IP.

That way there's only one place to look when things go screwy

So can i change the DNS in my router, and leave the windows one as automatic? Or do i need to manually change both?

As previously said, just change router. It's easier and covers all computers.

In reply to a post by billford:

what happens when the OS and the router have different (non-default) DNS entries.

(Each) PC consults its configured DNS, bypassing router's values.

Post deleted by ukhardy07

hardwarecanucks- forum

Loads fine for me, but your link displays a sever not found message, So there is a problem with the link in that it's not correct or it's invalid, But the web site forum is up and accessable, what topic within that forums where you trying to view ?

Also as for the random dns failure's it maybe down to the isp and not the DNS servers It was evident on BE regardless of which DNS servers you where using But was more prone to occur whilst browsing forums

Edited by tommy45 (Sun 01-Sep-13 13:26:55)

The link i posted was just a jpeg of the thing im seeing when accessing certain sites. Its nothing to do with the web address in the link

Do ISPs just have 2 dns server addresses or multiple? May explain why rebooting sometimes sorts it, if its using different servers

Edited by bobble_bob (Sun 01-Sep-13 13:46:26)

Seems ti go away then reappear after i reboot the PC, which is odd

Ive changed them to open dns servers and so far everything is fine. So i assume its my ISPs DNS servers that are screwing up? Any disadvantage to using open dns over my isps?

OpenDns is usually faster and better reliability. Major corporations like BP etc use opendns.

My ISP is ADSL24 also, and today I have exactly the same issue - never had DNS trouble before, so you are not alone.

In the past I had the same problem occur on BE, changed router to OpenDNS ...

Ah so it appears its their end. Ive send a support ticket off anyway. You tried opendns as a solution?