broadband wireless problem

[eastyy]

started happening yesterday basically it wont connect to explorer outlook express and my ps3 and x360 wont connect via it


it says there is a connection and according to the broadband people it detects me as online

strange thing is though it utorrent does seem to work (allbeit very limited) and when i ran messenger it mentioned something about a dns error

cheers

[Number45]

DNS is the mechanism for resolving names (URLs, mail server addresses etc...) to IP addresses. Given that you can't browse, which relies on DNS, or send mail, which relies on you being able to resolve the mail server name, but torrent works in parts (Which is likely to be a mixture of DNS and straight IP based communication) then DNS certainly sounds like the problem.

What router do you have? Most routers will get the DNS server addresses from the ISP when they connect, and then proxy DNS requests from the client (So if you do an ipconfig /all on your machine you'll see the router IP address listed for DNS). It could be that the router isn't doing this, or that the DNS servers it's using aren't available.

Also, what ISP are you with?

EDIT: If you want a fix, manually configure your DNS to use IP address 158.43.128.72 (You do this through Control Panel > Network (Depending on OS)).

[eastyy]

oh not sure on the router

https://www.ciaracom.ie

basically the setup i have is mine and my dads computer each have a usb belkin wireless adapter

we have a aerial on the roof with a cable that goes down into the utility room and goes into a small black box which is powered by the mains (i dont think thats the a router though)


what bugs me is the fact it was working fine yesterday and nothing has been done with both computers

[Number45]

Yeah, it's almost certainly a problem at their end. Give me a moment and I'll try and find out. I take it you've restarted your router? Always a good place to start.

[eastyy]

yeah switched everything of and on again

the broadband people said there was nothing they can do as from there end everything seems fine and it recognises me as logged on

[Number45]

Well, their website gives nothing away at all!

I'm not sure if you have any access to your modem or not - if you do can you check the DNS settings? If not, do this on each PC (Assuming XP):

1. Start > Control Panel > Network Connections
2. Right click the connection to your router/ISP, select Properties
3. On the list, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties
4. On the next screen, check 'Use the following DNS servers' and enter IP address 158.43.128.72 as the primary and 158.43.192.1 as the secondary

That should get you working. To reverse the changes, just change it back to 'Obtain DNS servers automatically. Let me know how you get on.

[Number45]

You can test your DNS by Start > Run and type 'nslookup' (Without the quotes). Type a URL, such as www.microsoft.com and see if it comes back with an IP address. If it doesn't you can test the servers I've given you above by typing 'server 158.43.128.72' (Again, no quotes) from the nslookup prompt and then entering the URL again - it should give you an IP address.

[eastyy]

cheers will give it a try when i get home

just bugs me that it was working fine yesterday and now this.....also both the computers have the same problem

[Number45]

Yeah, it's possible/probable that there's a problem with DNS but it might be the router itself. It's the only way both machines would be affected but there not be a problem at the ISP end (Though in my extensive experience with ISPs, they're not always the best at noticing their own problems. ).

The solution I've suggested is a workaround rather than a fix (But you can keep it in place, those servers are always available) - ideally you need to check your router to see what the actual problem itself is.

[eastyy]

cheers works now just changed the dns number

[Hohum]

If you have DNS problems in the future, you should give OpenDNS a try:

http://www.opendns.com

Apart from being reliable, it can be a bit faster plus there are other benefits you can have from using it.

[Lok]

I ****ing hate virgin slouchy cheap bastards and a ****e connection to boot.

[Spatial]

Erm... thanks for sharing.

But it's got nothing to do with this thread