DNS Server not responding

missdahlia87 · 14 Oct 2012

My internet has been very slow for several months now. I have Comcast and I'm on a laptop with wireless. The signal strength says excellent, but pages load very slowly most of the time. It goes through phases where it doesn't want to load anything at all. When I try to diagnose the connection it either says there isn't a problem or that the DNS server isn't responding. I'm not great with computers so I thought it might be easier to ask for help before trying a bunch of remedies that might make things worse.

I've attached a screenshot of the Ipconfig/all.

Night Hawk · 14 Oct 2012

Hello missdahlia87 Welcome to the Seven Forums!

Surprizingly this is usually a quick fix by one of a few methods since the problem is far more common then most realize. The first thing any ISP(Internet Service Provider) will advise is simply unplugging the cable modem for a good 20 seconds or so while the desktop or laptop is shut down. Often the further advixe when hard wired would be unplugging the ethernet cable as well.

A simple restart may get you right back online while at times the Ipconfig /release and Ipconfig /new commands entered at the command can be a help in resetting and re-establishing a private IP address again once the modem resyncs with the ISP.

Your configuration is the same as always to note here however while the time out factor to reach your home page isn't being met. Sometimes clearing out the IE or other browser's offline content being the cache and temporary internet files as well as looking over the advanced IE settings to see if the automatic network discovery box is checked off can also help.

With anything misconfigured and then suddenly configured correctly or when the connection is restored you may see the prompt screen for selecting Home, Work, or Publc appear where you simply click on the Home option to get back underway again. As far as Comcast being slow at times the particular time of day or night can play a role as far as how populated the host servers are by internet traffic.

Don't you love the promises of faster speeds and then run into slllowwwww... downs?!

With a recent account change here to the business class Comcast has been promoting lately I still am yet to see any great speed increases overall.

chev65 · 15 Oct 2012

missdahlia87 said:

My internet has been very slow for several months now. I have Comcast and I'm on a laptop with wireless. The signal strength says excellent, but pages load very slowly most of the time. It goes through phases where it doesn't want to load anything at all. When I try to diagnose the connection it either says there isn't a problem or that the DNS server isn't responding. I'm not great with computers so I thought it might be easier to ask for help before trying a bunch of remedies that might make things worse.

I've attached a screenshot of the Ipconfig/all.

Have you tried typing in two different DNS server addresses? You might want to try using Google's DNS servers at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

You could also be having channel crossover problems with your neighbors, you can find out which channel is best by installing the Xirrus software and if you can post the results here I can make sure it's not a channel overlap problem.

http://www.xirrus.com/Products/Wi-Fi-Inspector

Which A/V software are you running?

Parman · 15 Oct 2012

chev65 said:

Have you tried typing in two different DNS server addresses? You might want to try using Google's DNS servers at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

I would follow the advice above. After pinging 75.75.76.76 & 75.75.75.75 i received a 20% packet loss from each host. That's probably what's causing your problems.

Night Hawk · 16 Oct 2012

I was finding that here between two different laptops one running 7 Home Premium and the other an older Vista Home Premium model. The established WiFi connection to the first G type and later N type router was 100% all the time while surfing was a problem at times.

Yet they always manage to get on the social networks and move through those without issues! And this is with Comcast here.

The Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector will come in handy with the 7 Pro desktop since that connects by way of a usb WiFi adapter while the main Ultimate case is strictly RJ-45 ethernet. I'll be transferring that around to the 7 Pro and laptops for a look. The gadget didn't install however on the 64bit 7 for some reason however.