Facebook Causes DNS Error?

[garymagic]

Yesterday my computer and internet were fine. Today I hop on my computer after work, go on my usual sites of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. After a few minutes of browsing I get DNS errors and can't connect to any website, not just those 3. Even Steam isn't connected. My wifi and my PS4 have no issues with my internet or router. I did some troubleshooting for about an hour, ipconfig stuff in command prompt, changing my DNS to Google's 8.8.8.8, resetting the router, my computer. Outside of resetting the router, every troubleshoot requires a restart, and so when I do, everything works again, for a few minutes. Resetting the router or plugging in the ethernet to a different port, or just unplugging and plugging it back in doesn't work. Only resetting the computer will get me back an internet connection for a few minutes.

But here's the kicker. My testing of making sure the internet is working is logging in to the 3 sites I listed. So after giving in and thinking I was going to need to reset my computer with a fresh version of Windows, I started downloading all my programs onto a flash drive, trying to do this quick enough before the internet would go out again. Except this time it didn't. The only thing I didn't do this last time was log into my 3 sites. Is this possible? Can visiting those websites time out my computers connection to my ISP? Or is it just a fluke this time, or was the fix something I already did? I'm scared to log into those websites again to verify if it's one of them or not, but nothing has changed with my computer since yesterday, not that I can tell at least.

 

[FLBMX66]

I was just having a very similar issue. Running Windows 10 Pro on a custom PC (i7-7700K, 32GB DDR4, Z270E, GTX 1080, 500GB SSD + 2 HDD all hardware passed diagnostic testing). No other device in my apartment is having connection issues (2x MBP, second desktop, iPad, XBO, Cell Phones)

Going to Facebook via any browser would cause me to lose connection with my DNS server. What would happen is that I would try to get to Facebook via Chrome, then it would give me a DNS error page, which then led to every other website saying no internet connection. In addition to that, trying to log into my router provided a completely blank page with just an out of place FIOS logo. Running troubleshooter resulted in an error of not able to connect to DNS server. I tried a number of things, starting with rebooting computer, then router, then eventually completely restting my router to factory settings. None of that worked. Then, I decided to start making sure drivers were updated. This is where things got funky. Since updates weren't fixing the issue, I decided to completely uninstall my Intel LAN and WiFi drivers. This wasn't working at all either. After uninstalling, they were reinstalling without being prompted. At this point, I decided to just give up and try restoring my computer using one of my latest Windows backups, but that didn't work either. Finally, I said screw it and used the Windows 10 reset feature (keep all files and reinstall Windows). I didn't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling all of my programs and apps, but the fact that one (and maybe more yet to be discovered) site was forcing me to restart my computer to regain internet access, I felt that it was necessary.

Anyways, that's my story. Doing a Windows reset ended up working and the issue has yet to come up again. I hope someone else will chime in and maybe be able to explain what the root cause is.

 

[garymagic]

Well one of the troubleshoots that I didn't try at the time, getting a new anti-virus, ended up being the answer! I thought that would have been to easy and simple a fix, and never would have thought that the AV could cause such a mess for my internet and computer. However after uninstalling the AV and getting a new one I'm good as gold, so if you run into the issue again, it could be the anti-virus database blocking access and timing you out. But thanks for your reply!

 

[FLBMX66]

Well one of the troubleshoots that I didn't try at the time, getting a new anti-virus, ended up being the answer! I thought that would have been to easy and simple a fix, and never would have thought that the AV could cause such a mess for my internet and computer. However after uninstalling the AV and getting a new one I'm good as gold, so if you run into the issue again, it could be the anti-virus database blocking access and timing you out. But thanks for your reply!

Thanks for adding what worked for you! Also, that would make sense, if your AV software is triggering and blocking all traffic. I should have added to my initial response that I did disable and then uninstall my AV software during my troubleshooting, as I've had similar issues in the past, though not with one particular website like that.

 

[ES001]

I am having absolutely the same issue as FLBMX66. Windows 10 desktop attempting to connect to Facebook crashes DNS. All other devices connected to same network function fine; all other website function fine; error occurs on 3 different browsers; cannot log into my router once problem occurs. Changing DNS servers -- either on the network side or on the router side -- didn't do anything. A Windows reset fixed the issue, but the issue re-occurred after about a week.

Going to follow Garymagic's suggestion and try a new anti-virus program. (Gary, what antivirus did you go from and to?)