Ticket Options
Question Profile
| DATE | Dec 10, 2006 |
| TICKET | #332352 |
| STATUS | Closed |
| SUBJECT | web browser not connecting to servers |
| CAT | Home/Business Network and/or Internet Connection |
| TYPE | Software, Operating Systems |
| DESC | |
| DESC | |
| PLATFORM | All Other Brand Computers Running Intel |
| MODEL | Compaq |
| PROC | n/a |
| RAM | 512 |
| DRIVE | 80MB |
| NAME | Michael |
| USERNAME | freemas |
| TECHNICAL | Little Experience |
| ISSUE | Lots of Troubleshooting |
Question Details
TICKET ARCHIVE -> web browser not connecting to servers
freemas - Dec 10, 2006 - 6:03 am
On my wireless network, I have a desktop running off of a USB Wireless Adapter. It is receiving a strong signal from the router, but the web browsers (IE and Firefox) won't open to a page. I get the "cannot find server" message, no matter what site I try. Any suggestions?
stottm - Dec 11, 2006 - 2:59 am
It's a DNS problem, Domain Name Server. The DNS server resolves www.cnn.com to it's Internet address 64.236.24.12. So when your browser tries to go to http://www.cnn.com/ the request goes to your ISP's DNS servers and they tell the browser to go to 64.236.24.12. This is kinda hidden from you, but the reason why it fails is because the desktop with the USB adaptor is not getting to the DNS servers.
Open a DOS prompt and type IPCONFIG /ALL and you should see an IP address assigned from the router. Something like 192.168.x.x where x.x will vary. The DNS servers should either be the router 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 depending on the router brand. Or the DNS entries may be the ISP DNS servers.
You can try the following documentation but make sure the IP Address and DNS Addresses are set to Automatic. Then reboot WinXP. See if it connects at that point. If not try the two recommended DNS servers listed in the document's screenshot. These are provided by OpenDNS which provides FREE DNS service and it's many times better then most DSL providers.
http://www.opendns.com/start/windows_xp.php
If you want your router to provide OpenDNS servers to your other computers, go here or configure each computer manually.
http://www.opendns.com/start/
The router should be configured to send an automatic IP address and the DNS servers as well. It should be completely automatic. The OpenDNS company came about to provide quality DNS because most DSL Internet providers really suck at DNS services. Verizon is one of the worst. My company has been moving data centers so our IP addresses change on our production servers and two months later Verizon users still cannot connect! Everyone else is fine. I've been having them change to OpenDNS so they can get up-to-date DNS entries.
The ISP routes un-resolvable DNS requests to other upstream DNS servers. They also cache the DNS entries and cache web pages. It's their mis-configuration of caching that causes the problems with Verizon. We've been fighting with their customers for two months trying to get them to call Verizon and put up a stink so they'll fix it. People on Verizon trying to get to our sites are getting Page Unavailable because they are still going to the old IP addresses. Or they get a login prompt which is not even on our servers, it's a cached page on the Verizon network! When they try to login they get Page Unavailable.
Open a DOS prompt and type IPCONFIG /ALL and you should see an IP address assigned from the router. Something like 192.168.x.x where x.x will vary. The DNS servers should either be the router 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 depending on the router brand. Or the DNS entries may be the ISP DNS servers.
You can try the following documentation but make sure the IP Address and DNS Addresses are set to Automatic. Then reboot WinXP. See if it connects at that point. If not try the two recommended DNS servers listed in the document's screenshot. These are provided by OpenDNS which provides FREE DNS service and it's many times better then most DSL providers.
http://www.opendns.com/start/windows_xp.php
If you want your router to provide OpenDNS servers to your other computers, go here or configure each computer manually.
http://www.opendns.com/start/
The router should be configured to send an automatic IP address and the DNS servers as well. It should be completely automatic. The OpenDNS company came about to provide quality DNS because most DSL Internet providers really suck at DNS services. Verizon is one of the worst. My company has been moving data centers so our IP addresses change on our production servers and two months later Verizon users still cannot connect! Everyone else is fine. I've been having them change to OpenDNS so they can get up-to-date DNS entries.
The ISP routes un-resolvable DNS requests to other upstream DNS servers. They also cache the DNS entries and cache web pages. It's their mis-configuration of caching that causes the problems with Verizon. We've been fighting with their customers for two months trying to get them to call Verizon and put up a stink so they'll fix it. People on Verizon trying to get to our sites are getting Page Unavailable because they are still going to the old IP addresses. Or they get a login prompt which is not even on our servers, it's a cached page on the Verizon network! When they try to login they get Page Unavailable.
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