Question DNS issues causing websites to fail loading but work once refreshed

[SmolTech]

I'm not entirely sure what the issue here is. Basically, new websites I go to fail to load giving me this error message.

Once I refresh the site, it works for a little while. This is manageable on my web browser but it's causing a lot of my desktop applications to fail. This has been replicated on various games as the first attempt at connecting to their servers will fail. It is fine beyond the first attempt. I am connected through ethernet but have also tried WiFi and I'm getting the same issue. Others on my network are also having issues.

Things I've tried:

• Changing the primary and secondary DNS on my Router
• Clearing host cache of browser
• Closing and flushing sockets of browser
• Clearing cache of PC
• Flushing DNS through command prompt
• Reinstalling windows

I've verified this error is DNS related by using NSLOOKUP. Here's an example:

Without visiting site in browser:​

​

After visiting site in browser (refreshed the page after it failed and spawned a new CMD prompt):​

​

None of these things have resolved the issue and I'm resorting to online forums now. I would greatly appreciate any and all ideas on how to fix this.

 

[bill001g]

Use one of the large DNS servers like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 and put that directly in your PC nic settings. You might be able to configure the router to send these to the PC via DHCP. Key is when you type in IPCONFIG /all you see the actual DNS server IP and not the IP of your router for DNS.

The way it sounds you are currently using DNS is your router is acting as a proxy/cache for dns. Many routers have strange issues. You are better off having your PC directly talk to the DNS server.

You also have to try to ping some IP address like the dns server rather than use the name. If you are getting network outage you will get the same DNS message as when it just can't resolve the name. So you need to be able to tell if it is just a DNS issue or a generic network outage problem.

 

[SmolTech]

Use one of the large DNS servers like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 and put that directly in your PC nic settings. You might be able to configure the router to send these to the PC via DHCP. Key is when you type in IPCONFIG /all you see the actual DNS server IP and not the IP of your router for DNS.

The way it sounds you are currently using DNS is your router is acting as a proxy/cache for dns. Many routers have strange issues. You are better off having your PC directly talk to the DNS server.

You also have to try to ping some IP address like the dns server rather than use the name. If you are getting network outage you will get the same DNS message as when it just can't resolve the name. So you need to be able to tell if it is just a DNS issue or a generic network outage problem.

I'm contacting my ISP shortly. Just found out other devices on my network are having issues as well which means it's either my router or an ISP issue.

 

[SamirD]

I'm contacting my ISP shortly. Just found out other devices on my network are having issues as well which means it's either my router or an ISP issue.

Running packetlosstest.com might help the isp too if there's packet loss.

 

[CubsWin]

Once I refresh the site, it works for a little while. This is manageable on my web browser but it's causing a lot of my desktop applications to fail. This has been replicated on various games as the first attempt at connecting to their servers will fail. It is fine beyond the first attempt. I am connected through ethernet but have also tried WiFi and I'm getting the same issue. Others on my network are also having issues.

I am dealing with this same issue now on my Xfinity internet. Who is your ISP, and how did you get this resolved?

 

[SmolTech]

I am dealing with this same issue now on my Xfinity internet. Who is your ISP, and how did you get this resolved?

Good thing I have email notifications turned on.

My provider is Xfinity. I changed out both the modem and router separately and it turned out to be a wireless router issue. No issues since swapping the hardware. I hope you get your issue fixed.

 

[CubsWin]

Good thing I have email notifications turned on.

My provider is Xfinity. I changed out both the modem and router separately and it turned out to be a wireless router issue. No issues since swapping the hardware. I hope you get your issue fixed.

Hmm... I have had the same modem and router for years with no issue. I have a new modem that I can activate if necessary, but am reluctant to replace my router. I guess I can take the router offline for now and connect directly to my PC. That way I can at least determine whether or not the problem still occurs without my router in the chain. Thanks!

 

[CubsWin]

Well, when I removed the router and connected my cable modem directly to my PC, I didn't have any issues. So now the question is, why would the router suddenly be having this program? Is there a setting that needs to be updated?

UPDATE: Turns out it was a router issue caused by a recent firmware update.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction of a router issue. Beyond changing DNS servers (which I tried), I had never even considered that there might be a different problem with the router. Apparently the latest firmware broke DNS for this model. It is a widespread issue, but Netgear doesn't seem to be in any hurry to fix it. I downgraded my firmware and that has fixed the problem.
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Ni...sion-V1-0-2-154-Broke-DNS/m-p/2130320#M197318

 

[SmolTech]

Well, when I removed the router and connected my cable modem directly to my PC, I didn't have any issues. So now the question is, why would the router suddenly be having this program? Is there a setting that needs to be updated?

UPDATE: Turns out it was a router issue caused by a recent firmware update.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction of a router issue. Beyond changing DNS servers (which I tried), I had never even considered that there might be a different problem with the router. Apparently the latest firmware broke DNS for this model. It is a widespread issue, but Netgear doesn't seem to be in any hurry to fix it. I downgraded my firmware and that has fixed the problem.
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Ni...sion-V1-0-2-154-Broke-DNS/m-p/2130320#M197318

I hadn't updated my firmware so I was unaware of what caused the issue for me as well. At least you have solved the problem. Glad I could help.

 

[bill001g]

The discussion of this is kinda confusing on the netgear site.

Does it only do this when you are using the router as the DNS server. This is the default for most routers to give you their IP as the DNS and act as a proxy. If you over ride this and directly put the dns in your pc nic does this still happen. This would be even more scary because the router is intercepting traffic that you are sending to say cloudflare or google DNS directly. This is also why I attempt to always use cloudflare and google chrome so it run encrypted DNS so nobody can intercept DNS.

If it is only when it is running as a proxy, this is not uncommon bug to see. Pretty much every router manufacture messes this up from time to time. This is why I always manually set the DNS. Unfortunately when you have a phone or something you have limited ability to change network settings.

 

[CubsWin]

The discussion of this is kinda confusing on the netgear site.

Does it only do this when you are using the router as the DNS server.

No. It happens regardless of what the router DNS settings are. Even when I set it to use Cloudflare or Google DNS, it still had the exact same problem.

 

[bill001g]

Not the router DNS settings the setting in the PC nic.

The problem is your pc asks the router to do dns lookup for it rather than doing the DNS lookup itself. I don't know why this feature even exists. In theory the router could cache stuff but a dns query is so fast and you do so few compared to other traffic I can't see it actually running faster.