Intermittent DNS
 

I've been experienceing pr0blems browsing on an intermittent basis for a few months now in Norwich. It all seems to stem from the DNS. I can be browsing about then suddenly I get a 404 - Page cannot be displayed/Cannot find server.
Everything checks out fine in ipconfig - usual IP and DNS from router.
Check the router - can log into that OK via browser - IP and DNS from sacm OK.
Reboot everything - SACM, Router, PC and still the same.

If I change the DNS servers to another public DNS in my network card settings, my web browsing starts up immediately. I try not to use the public DNS unless I have to, so end up changing back to auto-config for the DNS. Sometimes it's working again, others it isn't. Is there a known fault with the NTL DNS? Or anybody else having the same problem?

Feenix

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

I doubt it's DNS. I suspect it's a bad proxy.

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

Proxy has been removed according to this thread :http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/80...removed-d.html
and this URL: http://ben.cheetham.me.uk/resources/net/what-is-my-ip

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

If it were bad DNS, we would have a lot more than one person complaining. AFAIK, Virgin will not be switching all the proxies off at once, they are doing it area by area. It is possible your area is still proxied.

Click the connection link at the top of this page. If it says you are not on a proxy, then there is another problem.

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

I seem to have been suffering from slow DNS of late. While I'm waiting for a page to load I'll often see "looking up www.domain.com" at the bottom of Firefox.

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

I get an IP address and a Host - nowt about a proxy.

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

Eliminate Virgin DNS completely if you want. Free.

http://www.opendns.com/

This may not solve your problem, which may be caused by something else, but this is a great free service and eliminates one point of failure :)

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

Cheers Frank, but like you say it doesn't really solve the problem. If no-one else is having the same problem I'll start on the hardware again.

Just had a look at the main internet services forum and there are lots of "can't browse but irc/msn/other stuff is working ok" threads :confused:

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

Okay so if you changed the DNS to opendns then it's definitely not the DNS, so it must be something else. From what you said above there is also no proxy, so it can't be that. It could be a hardware issue with the CM. You could ask your neighbours if they are having any problems, that way you would know whether it is a regional problem or specific to your setup.

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

What browser are you using? Have you tried a different browser?
If you have more than one machine, do you have the same problems on both?

Re: Intermittent DNS
 

Nope - works fine with openDNS set up in my network card - no problems with browsing. Might try setting openDNS up on the router and put my network card back to auto to see if there is a problem between the two.
- Don't generally use more than one machine at once, but have not noticed the same problem on other machines - there again I'm not using those (10 mins a week) to the same extent as my main machine (10 hours+ a week).
- This occurs on any app that uses DNS - ie/firefox/opera/email.