Broken Internet
I have a Windows 2000 Network, and a netgear Internet router.
I'll either click on a link, or type a URL into a browser, and the page will not come up until I refresh multiple times.
For example, I'll got msnbc.com. I know it's not down, yet I can't get to the page. I'll refresh the page 4 or 5 times over a 10 second period of time until I get to msnbc.com to display. This happens all day with all sorts of URL's.
Can someone give me any idea of things to look for/try to stop this? I have a clean IE cache, and clean hosts file on my local PC.
I'll either click on a link, or type a URL into a browser, and the page will not come up until I refresh multiple times.
For example, I'll got msnbc.com. I know it's not down, yet I can't get to the page. I'll refresh the page 4 or 5 times over a 10 second period of time until I get to msnbc.com to display. This happens all day with all sorts of URL's.
Can someone give me any idea of things to look for/try to stop this? I have a clean IE cache, and clean hosts file on my local PC.
Do you get a 'page not found' error or anything loading in your browser or does it just sit trying to load?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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I agree with IdeasUnknow,
try to use and external dns server. Also try to do a continueous ping outside to see if you are getting any drop.
If this only happen to you pc. Try to login in as another user on your pc to see if this happen again. It could be a profile issue.
try to use and external dns server. Also try to do a continueous ping outside to see if you are getting any drop.
If this only happen to you pc. Try to login in as another user on your pc to see if this happen again. It could be a profile issue.
ASKER
This happens to about 10%-15% of employees so far.
We do have internal DNS. I use a cable connection for net access. How do I configure network settings to use the cable company's DNS? Isn't that dynamic?
I don't use DHCP, because it never worked for us, and I use fixed IPs to trace problems in troubleshooting.
Sometimes I get "page not found", sometimes it just keeps trying to load.
We do have internal DNS. I use a cable connection for net access. How do I configure network settings to use the cable company's DNS? Isn't that dynamic?
I don't use DHCP, because it never worked for us, and I use fixed IPs to trace problems in troubleshooting.
Sometimes I get "page not found", sometimes it just keeps trying to load.
Wow...okay. Interesting.
Option 1
1. Configure a single workstation to point to the internal DNS servers.
2. Configure the DNS server to use itself first just like configuring your workstation.
3. Configure Forwarders in DNSMGMT.MSC or the likes using the directions I gave you above.
4. Find the ISPs DNS server addresses by looking in the router setup and use those for the fowarders.
Option 2
1. Configure a single workstation to point to the external DNS servers of your ISP.
2. These addresses can be found in the settings for your router.
You need to setup DHCP, at some point, if you need help ask OR just take a look at this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300429.
Option 1
1. Configure a single workstation to point to the internal DNS servers.
2. Configure the DNS server to use itself first just like configuring your workstation.
3. Configure Forwarders in DNSMGMT.MSC or the likes using the directions I gave you above.
4. Find the ISPs DNS server addresses by looking in the router setup and use those for the fowarders.
Option 2
1. Configure a single workstation to point to the external DNS servers of your ISP.
2. These addresses can be found in the settings for your router.
You need to setup DHCP, at some point, if you need help ask OR just take a look at this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300429.
ASKER
I don't quite get #3 and #4
What do you mean by "Wow...okay. Interesting."?
What do you mean by "Wow...okay. Interesting."?
In regaurds to Wow...okay. Interesting. I was simply stating that DHCP is one of THE most useful and easy to use tools Microsoft has ever provided. So if you are having trouble setting it up either because of a windows error or otherwise you should address that at some point. DHCP solves a lot of issues. Including but not limited to configuration errors. Its a central configuration point for all machines. You change it once and it provides the changes to the workstations. Its quite awesome when it functions, as it is a highly overlooked extension of having a domain.
As for #3 and #4 in option 1.
You are using a Router so the router has to have the DNS settings of the ISP somewhere in its configuration. Maybe a status tab or a WAN tab.
This information you will need to setup your forwarders.
The internal DNS servers should only be handling internal address resolution.
Forwarders has an option to send "All other domains" to an external IP address for resolution.
There is a tab for Forwarders in the DNSMGMT.MSC console. If you got to Start -> Run and in the Open box type DNSMGMT.MSC and press ok it will open the DNS console. Right click your DNS Server. Select the Forwarders tab. The directions I provided in the link will walk you through setting this feature up. But you will need the ISPs DNS server ip addresses which can be found on the settings tab or something along those lines....Tell us what Router you have. Manufacturer, Model and if there is one a version number as most Linsys routers have versions. That way we can help you better.
As for #3 and #4 in option 1.
You are using a Router so the router has to have the DNS settings of the ISP somewhere in its configuration. Maybe a status tab or a WAN tab.
This information you will need to setup your forwarders.
The internal DNS servers should only be handling internal address resolution.
Forwarders has an option to send "All other domains" to an external IP address for resolution.
There is a tab for Forwarders in the DNSMGMT.MSC console. If you got to Start -> Run and in the Open box type DNSMGMT.MSC and press ok it will open the DNS console. Right click your DNS Server. Select the Forwarders tab. The directions I provided in the link will walk you through setting this feature up. But you will need the ISPs DNS server ip addresses which can be found on the settings tab or something along those lines....Tell us what Router you have. Manufacturer, Model and if there is one a version number as most Linsys routers have versions. That way we can help you better.
Try cycling the power on your cable/DSL modem and your cable/DSL router. Also:
1) Drop to DOS and type, 'tracert www.google.com' (change google to the site in question that's not coming up).
This should tell you whether or not your problem is a internet connectivity issue. If your response times at every hop look good, continue to step 2. If they don't and your getting alot of latency and packet loss it's time to call your ISP.
2) At the DOS prompt type 'nslookup www.google.com'
This will make your computer try to resolve that domain name to an IP address and out the result. If fails to resolve then perhaps your problem is DNS and not an internet performance problem.
3) Also try 'nslookup www.google.com 127.0.0.1', replace the 127.0.0.1 with your ISP's DNS server (can find that in your cable router's configuration).
If your ISP can't resolve the address either then the problem is definately not on your network. I'd be calling your ISP.
1) Drop to DOS and type, 'tracert www.google.com' (change google to the site in question that's not coming up).
This should tell you whether or not your problem is a internet connectivity issue. If your response times at every hop look good, continue to step 2. If they don't and your getting alot of latency and packet loss it's time to call your ISP.
2) At the DOS prompt type 'nslookup www.google.com'
This will make your computer try to resolve that domain name to an IP address and out the result. If fails to resolve then perhaps your problem is DNS and not an internet performance problem.
3) Also try 'nslookup www.google.com 127.0.0.1', replace the 127.0.0.1 with your ISP's DNS server (can find that in your cable router's configuration).
If your ISP can't resolve the address either then the problem is definately not on your network. I'd be calling your ISP.
Try using the real IP address of a web site you are having trouble with instead of the domain name.
ie: http://207.46.150.20 <-- Should be msnbc.com
If the site comes up with no problems, then you've got dns troubles.
ie: http://207.46.150.20 <-- Should be msnbc.com
If the site comes up with no problems, then you've got dns troubles.
check the MTU/MRU on the router, this is the transmit/receive rate the router allows. set them both to 1500 if they aren't already
ASKER
So far I've changed the forwarders in the DNSMGMT.MSC console to use my ISP DNS and upgraded router firmware.
What's a good response time for a hop? I get at least 1 timout every time I run a tracert.
All nslookups resolve. All nslookups with the ISP DNS resolve. I do get slightly different results when I do the nelookups for both, though. For example, one nslookup will give me two google ip addresses, and when I run it again, I'll get 3 google ip addresses.
I also get this when I run nslookup without the ISP DNS:
*** Can't find server name for address x.x.x.x: Non-existent domain
*** Default Servers are not available
Server: UnKnown
Address: x.x.x.x (these are acutal numbers)
Non-Authoritative answer:
Name: www.l.google.com
Addresses: 64.233.179.04, 64.233.179.99
Aliases: www.google.com
nslookup with the ISP DNS yields the same thing, minus the "can't find server address; default servers are not available" message. But what does get appended to the "www.google.com" is my domain name - www.google.com.domain_name.somewhere.com. Is that normal?
I've also tried the real ip addresses, and they work well for all of my tests.
What's a good response time for a hop? I get at least 1 timout every time I run a tracert.
All nslookups resolve. All nslookups with the ISP DNS resolve. I do get slightly different results when I do the nelookups for both, though. For example, one nslookup will give me two google ip addresses, and when I run it again, I'll get 3 google ip addresses.
I also get this when I run nslookup without the ISP DNS:
*** Can't find server name for address x.x.x.x: Non-existent domain
*** Default Servers are not available
Server: UnKnown
Address: x.x.x.x (these are acutal numbers)
Non-Authoritative answer:
Name: www.l.google.com
Addresses: 64.233.179.04, 64.233.179.99
Aliases: www.google.com
nslookup with the ISP DNS yields the same thing, minus the "can't find server address; default servers are not available" message. But what does get appended to the "www.google.com" is my domain name - www.google.com.domain_name.somewhere.com. Is that normal?
I've also tried the real ip addresses, and they work well for all of my tests.
ASKER
By the way, thank you for all of the helpful responses.
Well, I hope we have helped.
Good job setting up your forwarders.
My ping to google yields about a 56ms response. But I have a very complex setup. Anything under 300ms is acceptable to me as long as they all respond. A good response is anything under 25ms.
My tracert to google yields a request timed out on the first line and then a latter of numbers in ms that go up the highest being 73ms somehwere along the away.
My nslookup to google yields an outcome that looks like below (using cmd line "nslookup google.com"):
Server: MyDnsServer.MyDomain.Local
Address: 185.185.10.92
Non-Authoritative Answer:
Name: google.com
Addresses: 64.233.187.99, 72.14.207.99, 64.233.167.99
Now when I run nslookup (using cmd line "nslookup google.com ISPsDnsIPAdress"):
Server: cns.cmc.stateinitials.city
Address: 68.87.85.98
Non-Authoritative Answer:
Name: google.com
Addresses: 72.14.207.99, 64.233.187.99, 64.233.167.99
As for your nslookup not working when you don't have the ip address of the ISPs servers, you have something misconfigured.
Did you try and run nslookup google.com without the ISPs IP Address after you configured the forwarders?
Also this tells me that its having trouble finding your DNS server internally. One suggestion for the future don't name your internal network mydomain.com or something.mydomain.com. It confuses your network. Always name it something unique such as mydomain.local or mydomain.hq or something.mydomain.local, etc.
Put the ISP's DNS Servers IP Addresses into the network connection protocol configuration for the computer you are testing on and ping tracert and nslookup google.com without any extra junk. See if it functions better. If it does fix your domain. If it doesn't call your ISP.
Good job setting up your forwarders.
My ping to google yields about a 56ms response. But I have a very complex setup. Anything under 300ms is acceptable to me as long as they all respond. A good response is anything under 25ms.
My tracert to google yields a request timed out on the first line and then a latter of numbers in ms that go up the highest being 73ms somehwere along the away.
My nslookup to google yields an outcome that looks like below (using cmd line "nslookup google.com"):
Server: MyDnsServer.MyDomain.Local
Address: 185.185.10.92
Non-Authoritative Answer:
Name: google.com
Addresses: 64.233.187.99, 72.14.207.99, 64.233.167.99
Now when I run nslookup (using cmd line "nslookup google.com ISPsDnsIPAdress"):
Server: cns.cmc.stateinitials.city
Address: 68.87.85.98
Non-Authoritative Answer:
Name: google.com
Addresses: 72.14.207.99, 64.233.187.99, 64.233.167.99
As for your nslookup not working when you don't have the ip address of the ISPs servers, you have something misconfigured.
Did you try and run nslookup google.com without the ISPs IP Address after you configured the forwarders?
Also this tells me that its having trouble finding your DNS server internally. One suggestion for the future don't name your internal network mydomain.com or something.mydomain.com. It confuses your network. Always name it something unique such as mydomain.local or mydomain.hq or something.mydomain.local, etc.
Put the ISP's DNS Servers IP Addresses into the network connection protocol configuration for the computer you are testing on and ping tracert and nslookup google.com without any extra junk. See if it functions better. If it does fix your domain. If it doesn't call your ISP.
ASKER
Most of my hops are close to 25ms, with occaisional timeouts.
nslookup does work in both instances (with or without ISP DNS IP included). The difference is 1 hop more when I use nslookup without using the ISP DNS IP.
How do I re-name the DNS Server?
nslookup does work in both instances (with or without ISP DNS IP included). The difference is 1 hop more when I use nslookup without using the ISP DNS IP.
How do I re-name the DNS Server?
Everything sounds like it is running well then with the forwarders in place.
Are you still experiencing the same issues with the web pages?
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/downloads/winsrvr/domainrename.mspx
Download the tool. On the page that I have provided a link for there are guides including Understanding How Domain Rename Works and Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Domain Rename.
If you aren't comfortable with this and you aren't having issues then don't worry about it. But at some point you should look into it, well that and DHCP.
Are you still experiencing the same issues with the web pages?
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/downloads/winsrvr/domainrename.mspx
Download the tool. On the page that I have provided a link for there are guides including Understanding How Domain Rename Works and Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Domain Rename.
If you aren't comfortable with this and you aren't having issues then don't worry about it. But at some point you should look into it, well that and DHCP.
Have you tried the winsockxpfix ?
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winsockxpfix.html