A mate of mine has just had a problem with his computer and I was wondering if anyone could suggest a solution.

Apparently he is able to connect to the net, but webpages won't load, msn/hotmail won't connect and programs such as Gamespy will not find any servers etc.

He said something about a DNS error. I know this is vague but I was hoping someone could suggest possible reasons why this would occur. I realise it could be for a few reasons but it is likely to be something fairly obvious.

What is he connecting through?

Has he assigned/repaired the IP thingo?

error message is :

DNS failed to resolve IP addresses
Failed to connect to the service
this could be due to firewall and proxy settings

He is running IE and has not changed any settings or changed firewall.

Prolly cause he hasn't formatted in a zillion years.

can he ping to ip addresses but not domains? if that's the case you will probably need to put the dns ip addresses for your isp in the default gateway part of your network card settings. this will fix the problem.

if that's the case you will probably need to put the dns ip addresses for your isp in the default gateway part of your network card settings.

Why the hell would you put a dns server as a gateway ?

Get him to type 'ipconfig /all' in the command prompt, paste the results here (I'm assuming windows nt based machine)
then 'ping 203.220.0.231' and paste
then 'ping google.com' and paste

black screen flashes up
too fast to read
that is all

It could be an MTU issue:

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article04-107

Thanks doods, all sorted now..."somehow" the settings got changed in network connections tab.

Cheers for suggestions

black screen flashes up
too fast to read

The idea was to type it into a command prompt, not at the start->run box =p.

Glad you got it all sorted anyway, nothing like being stuck without the net when it's almost within reach.

last edited by eXemplar at 22:46:54 27/Apr/06

black screen flashes up
too fast to read
that is all

Start->run isn't the command prompt.

Why the hell would you put a dns server as a gateway ?

Get him to type 'ipconfig /all' in the command prompt, paste the results here (I'm assuming windows nt based machine)
then 'ping 203.220.0.231' and paste
then 'ping google.com' and paste

my bad, i meant into the dns field in your nic settings. that way when it tries to resolve an ip address it will directly contact the dns.

last edited by KungFuCamel at 23:46:13 27/Apr/06

PLBCAK

isnt it PEBCAK? Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard :P

l = lies

10 years ago it was simply PBCAK
Problem Between Chair And Keyboard

I used to like getting dumb people to add to their config.sys (with all the other Win95 tweaks)

REM USER=1D07
And make sure that they quoted it to anyone who was helping them sort their machines out later on

10 years ago??? first i heard of the acronym