Question The DNS server is not responsing? Bad internet. Troubleshoot does nothing.

[Kai Johnson]

The bane of my life. It is all the bloody time.

Internet is working fine, then suddenly a page or video will take ages to load. I wait ages...nothing. I refresh the page...

"This website is taking too long to respond"...then..."(website names) IP address could not be found", "No Internet" or "This site can't be reached".

So I look to bottom right. Full bar of internet and fully connected. I disconnect then reconnect. Doesn't help. I troubleshoot- "The DNS server is not responding". Troubleshooter deemed useless.

What can I do? If someone has experienced and fixed the same issue. PLEASE HELP.

To give a bit of context. I built my own PC. I am using a Gigabyte Internet Motherboard, with its own modem. I am not using an ethernet cable as I don't have one at hand, it's wireless.

This has happened on occasions before. It started getting constant and really bad when I moved my PC to another persons house. Their internet is super fast and better than mine but my computer had trouble with it, was slow and couldn't connect properly- with the same problems as described above. I took it back home, even worse!

I am using Windows 10 Pro. I am also using my phone to type this, which works fine.

Thanks all, hope you can help.

 

[rgd1101]

what dns server are you using?

 

[bill001g]

The DNS message is misleading many times. It will say that no matter the reason it can't talk to the DNS server. Like your internet is completely down....gee maybe dns doesn't work.

The best test is to ping a ip address like 8.8.8.8. Since it is a IP address it does not use DNS and if that completes then it could be the dns server but if it fails it is more likely you internet is down.

8.8.8.8 happens to be a dns server. What you can do is directly test DNS function.

Use the nslookup command.

First try
nslookup www.tomshardware.com

then do
nslookip www.tomshardware.com 8.8.8.8

The first command uses your default DNS which likely is your ISP dns. The second forces it to use google dns at 8.8.8.8

If the first fails but the second works then the ISP dns likely has issues. You can just change your DNS in your pc to use 8.8.8.8 Google dns is extremely stable.

 

[Kai Johnson]

what dns server are you using?

Not got a clue. How would I find out? Tried typing: ipconfig /all into command prompt but it flashes up then dissapears.

 

[rgd1101]

Not got a clue. How would I find out? Tried typing: ipconfig /all into command prompt but it flashes up then dissapears.

like bill001g said https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using

 

[Kai Johnson]

The DNS message is misleading many times. It will say that no matter the reason it can't talk to the DNS server. Like your internet is completely down....gee maybe dns doesn't work.

The best test is to ping a ip address like 8.8.8.8. Since it is a IP address it does not use DNS and if that completes then it could be the dns server but if it fails it is more likely you internet is down.

8.8.8.8 happens to be a dns server. What you can do is directly test DNS function.

Use the nslookup command.

First try
nslookup www.tomshardware.com

then do
nslookip www.tomshardware.com 8.8.8.8

The first command uses your default DNS which likely is your ISP dns. The second forces it to use google dns at 8.8.8.8

If the first fails but the second works then the ISP dns likely has issues. You can just change your DNS in your pc to use 8.8.8.8 Google dns is extremely stable.

Thanks for your response. Excuse previous reply. So I typed in nslookup on command prompt and it says I have an Unknown server. It also gives me an address.

I typed in 8.8.8.8 and it recognises that server as google. Where do I go from here?

If this changes anything, I also use a VPN. Obviously changes my IP, but I hadn't experienced any problems prior to moving.

 

[Kai Johnson]

Ok then.
I have now manually set protocol version 4 to 8.8.8.8. I hope my internet works better from now on.

Should my server have been Unknown though?

 

[Kai Johnson]

So I offended you in my last comment (now deleted) about Tom's Hardware layout? Sorry about that, but it is clearly made for a PC and not a phone, if you have a phone and go onto the site then you will know what I mean. I also did not see that you gave me a link directing me to the Toms Hardware homepage, I thought it was a link to a forum. That is my bad. Is that why there is no response?

Update on my situation: The internet works slightly better, after setting the protocol to 8.8.8.8 but there are still periods of the DNS server not responding. My server when I put in the command prompt: nslookup it says I have an unknown server. If you are still able to assist me I will be extremely grateful.

I don't know whether or not the fact my server is unknown will be causing me any problems in terms of connection. Is there a way I can set this to a known server? I have the address at hand if that is of any help.

Thanks again

 

[bill001g]

What you need to watch for is if you also get a message saying it timed out.

All the unkown means is it can't do a reverse lookup. It does that sometimes not sure why. Key is if you get a response that gives you a IP address. You can try 4.2.2.2 and 1.1.1.1 for dns servers also.

If you get a timeout message it generally means the internet is down or something is blocking your traffic.

 

[Kai Johnson]

What you need to watch for is if you also get a message saying it timed out.

All the unkown means is it can't do a reverse lookup. It does that sometimes not sure why. Key is if you get a response that gives you a IP address. You can try 4.2.2.2 and 1.1.1.1 for dns servers also.

If you get a timeout message it generally means the internet is down or something is blocking your traffic.

Yeah the timed out message has come up a few times, usually followed by the other messages. I will plug those numbers you provided in on protocol 4 in network properties if I am still having problems, thankyou that's much appreciated.

I never thought about all of these complications when I first built my PC!

Do you think the change of addresses when I moved to my friends house made matters worse? Also using a VPN may have confused my computer a little bit more.

 

[jsmithepa]

Feels like u may have lost WIFI connection, marginal connection to the WIFI station. Does your WIFI adapter have an antenna? Do you ever lose WIFI signal completely? (fan icon goes grey).