Windows 7: DNS issues - Server Not Found - Solution! (kind of)

I have three computers on my home network, 2 with Windows 7 RC and one XP computer that I use as for file storage, all behind a Linksys Router, then connected to the internet via cable modem. I have been pulling my hair out with slow web browsing, and intermittent "Server Not Found". Firefox takes forever with "looking up" websites or "connecting to" websites, often resulting in "Server Not Found," and also hit or miss if I can "Try again" and have the website load correctly. This happened with all internet browsers that I tried. It has been so frustrating simply due to the inconsistency.

I have tried many different changes to both my computers and router, with no success. It seems that resetting the network adapter(which was included in most "remedies" on forums) would provide only temporary relief. I've also heard that Homegroup was causing problems, so I disabled those services as well, with no permanent fix. Connecting a computer directly to the cable modem alleviated these problems, which led me to believe it was a Windows 7 networking problem.

But the simple solution that worked for me was to simply change my "Home Network" to a "Work Network" for all Windows 7 computers. AMAZING! Internet is faster than ever with no lag in DNS lookup and no "Server Not Found" errors. I can still share files between computers on my network and things are as they should be!

This is a solution only in the fact that I can get my internet up and running and keep networking the same as always. Obviously, Windows 7 needs to fix Homegroup and the Home Network before the release. Maybe someone out here on the forums can get a Home Network running as it should!



Thanks!

I will give it a shot thanks

I had it working OK on Work Network But then I went to download a file with Utorrent & I couldn't
So I had to switch back to Home Network

I would say there must be a setting in your windows Firewall that is stopping your system from getting on the net

The firewall is something that I worked extensively on. I don't think it is a firewall issue for two reasons.

1) It is sporadic. I can enter "www.google.com" and get a server not found, refresh the page, then have it load quickly. If a firewall was blocking port 53 for DNS requests, or any port for that matter, it would be constant.

2) Disabling the firewall on both the computer and the router did not alleviate the problem. It was only when I directly connected to the cable modem (no local network) that there was no delay in DNS lookups.

I still feel as if this is still a very DNS specific problem. While still connected as a home network, I could ping IP addresses on the web(74.125.155.99 for google), but not websites (Google). I tried entering DNS servers from both my ISP and OpenDNS into the router, that gave no results. I also entered them into the network adapter as well, with no results.

Changing my Home Network to a Work Network is still working great for me. If anyone has luck with this solution or has a suggestion, please let me know!

Gazzasore: I think your uTorrent problem on the Work Network may be a firewall issue. I'm *assuming* the Windows 7 firewall is a bit more strict on a Work Network, so open up port 6881 after changing to a Work Network and you should be downloading torrents again.

1) If you don't have 7 on all computers you have to stop Homegroup. So hit window key, type network, chose network and sharing center. Chose Change Advanced Settings. Settings:

• Turn on network discovery
• Turn on file and printer sharing
• Turn off Public folder sharing, unless you want everyone to be able to read and write files in the Public folders
• If you have XP through 7 use 128-bit if not use 40 - 56 bit.....AFAIK?
• Turn on password protected sharing
• Use user accounts and passwords to connect to other computers

2) You can disable the 2 Homegroup services in services.msc if you want to.
3) Put all your computers on the same workgroup. Control Panel/System/Change Settings/Change

4) Now go to Start type netplwiz, you can use Computer Management in Ultimate but in Home Premium thats a no.no. us Home Premium users are not that "sophisticated"
Add an account for every user that will share files or printers on your computer

4) Now go to Start/Computer
Right click on any drive/folder you want to share and choose Share with….Specific people, add your users or just select everyone.
5)Either quit right here with your router assigning a IPv4 address and your computers set to "get IP address automatically(DHCP) or change your IP address to something that will work on your network usually something like 192.168.x.x with Default gateway and Preferred DNS set to your router address.

I have the same problem where a site won't load, I refresh and it works fine. It happens quite a bit. I've tried changing to "work" instead of "home" and that didn't do any good. I've also tried changing to a static IP from my router instead of dynamic and that didn't help either.

Update: I changed my system to use opendns as the dns server and the problem went away. I noticed my browsing seems faster too.