Intermittent DNS server problems - help needed please!

Beagle · 22 Sep 2014

Hi all,

Firstly, I apologise if this has been covered a lot (I'm sure it has, but it seems a VERY common problem), but this is driving me nuts.

I'm having an intermittent problem where I lose my internet connection. I'm on a wired connection, using an onboard Realtek PCie GBE Family Controller. I will be working fine one minute, then randomly the yellow triangle will appear over the network icon and I'll lose my connection. If I try to diagnose the problem I get the 'dns server is not responding' message'. When this happens nothing I try will fix it.

Things I have tried:

netsh int ip reset
netsh winsock reset
ipconfig /flushdns
Reboot.

I've changed the automatic DNS settings to OpenDNS (on the adapter and the router).

I've started in Safe Mode.

I've turned off the firewall (windows AND on the router).

I've tried two different drivers for the LAN controller.

Then I'll return to my PC a short while later and it'll 'magically' be working again. For example, I went to bed last night with no connection (after trying all the above) and when I checked this morning it was working!

This is happening on a daily basis. I have other devices connected to the same router and they have no problems.

Any ideas how to go about troubleshooting this?

matts6887 · 22 Sep 2014

Have you tried something as simple as power cycling your network equipment(any routers and or modems)? If not; i would give that a shot and see what happens. Power cycling should reset the connections hopefully. Unplug any modem(s) and router(s); then wait about a minute and plug the modem(s) back in first; let them boot fully; then plug the routers back in and let them boot. If you have all in one routers/modems then just unplug that unit(s) and wait a minute then plug it back in and hopefully that will reset the connection. Also; one other thing to do is when you do have a working connection; check for any driver updates for your network card/controller(s) and install them. But check from the manufacturers site; not through windows update. Try this out and see what happens and if it doesnt work post back and we can go from there.

Beagle · 24 Sep 2014

Hi Matts6887,

Sorry, I haven't been around for a day or so. I had forgotten about power cycling! I tried it last night and the connection is holding so far, so I'll let you know if it drops again.

Many thanks.

Beagle · 26 Sep 2014

Ah well... ok for a couple of days but now the yellow triangle is back! "The DNS server isn't responding".

Where do we go from here?