Your DNS server might be unavailable

[James Scholey]

I'm hoping someone can help with my issue.
I turned on my PC this morning and can't connect to the internet. Any web site I try and reach I get "this page can't be displayed"
When I click 'Fix connection problems' the trouble shoot tells me 'Your DNS server might be unavailable'

The strange thing is all the other PC's / Tablet's / Phones in my house can connect successfully.

I can also connect to my router successfully, just not anything beyond i.e onto the internet. I've tried via Firefox and IE 11.

Ive tried a DNS flush, IP release / renew to no avail.

I also noticed a recent Microsoft security update had installed last night so I tried uninstalling this, rebooting and trying again - same result.

Any idea's?

Thanks, James.


EDIT: Strangely I have just successfully re installed the MS security update - not sure how that's possible as I can't connect to www.microsoft.com

2nd EDIT: Not sure if this is an issue but in the Local Area Connection status it states;

IPv4 Connectivity: Internet
IPv6 Connectivity: No Internet Access

 

[ronintexas]

I have Time Warner Cable for my ISP, and their DNS servers are very unreliable. I updated my DNS servers manually to OpenDNS and Google (I entered 4 instead of the standard 2 servers). I have quicker response in loading websites and never have DNS server issues.

It requires manually configuring your network adapter(s) to use: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220, 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Here is how: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-tcp-ip-settings#1TC=windows-7

Just set the "Use the following DNS server addresses:", then click advanced, go to the DNS tab and add all 4 servers.

 

[James Scholey]

Wow! I have no clue why I would have needed to do that but it worked. It also seems much faster now too! - added bonus.

Really am confused as to what caused the issue and why I would have needed to take that action tho.

Thank you

 

[James Scholey]

I have Time Warner Cable for my ISP, and their DNS servers are very unreliable. I updated my DNS servers manually to OpenDNS and Google (I entered 4 instead of the standard 2 servers). I have quicker response in loading websites and never have DNS server issues.

It requires manually configuring your network adapter(s) to use: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220, 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Here is how: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-tcp-ip-settings#1TC=windows-7

Just set the "Use the following DNS server addresses:", then click advanced, go to the DNS tab and add all 4 servers.

Wow! I have no clue why I would have needed to do that but it worked. It also seems much faster now too! - added bonus.

Really am confused as to what caused the issue and why I would have needed to take that action tho.

Thank you

 

[James Scholey]

I have Time Warner Cable for my ISP, and their DNS servers are very unreliable. I updated my DNS servers manually to OpenDNS and Google (I entered 4 instead of the standard 2 servers). I have quicker response in loading websites and never have DNS server issues.

It requires manually configuring your network adapter(s) to use: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220, 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Here is how: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-tcp-ip-settings#1TC=windows-7

Just set the "Use the following DNS server addresses:", then click advanced, go to the DNS tab and add all 4 servers.

Wow! I have no clue why I would have needed to do that but it worked. It also seems much faster now too! - added bonus.

Really am confused as to what caused the issue and why I would have needed to take that action tho.

Thank you

 

[ronintexas]

The reason this happens is most ISPs keep a close eye on bandwidth (www.speedtest.net), but they don't keep up their DNS servers, and they are often overloaded with too many requests for the server(s) to handle.

DNS servers are basically like a phone book for the internet. Your computer and routers don't understand www.tomshardware.com, or how to get there. It does understand 23.218.157.27 (this is the current IP address of www.tomshardware.com). So a DNS server takes your request of www.tomshardware.com and returns the IP address of 23.218.157.27, and your computer can now find this website.

The owner of the website is responsible for making entries into the DNS tables of their hosting service, and that propagates across the internet. When you change servers, you have to update the DNS table. So it is important that the DNS servers are constantly updating (websites change more often than you would think), so that each and every person finds their destination.

TWC is notorious for not maintaining the DNS servers - so not only are there typically too few, but they can be outdated, and create other issues. OpenDNS blocks some of the websites (this is why I use both Google and OpenDNS).

Glad I could help out!