Help, I think it's DNS problem (whatever that is)

Installed an Actiontec GT704WG wireless, well our youngest son's friend did..it's hardwired into our office computer. It only holds the connection for about 4 -5 hours if left unused, I'm not really sure if it's the same when the system is in use, but I suspect so. I'm not really sure if the connection is actually lost because the LAN icon on the bottom right of the screen whe opened will show under status "connected ". Using the "repair" function under status also doesn't work..it goes through all the steps but no program will connect to internet. If I shut the modem down for 10-15 secends I can reconnect, if I reboot it'll connect. The second computer networked to this one will show a wireless signal (runs Vista, office computer is XP) but likewise I can't connect to interent. This is not a Vista / XP isssue as the xp computer was doing it before the other one was networked on, but only after going to the wireless modem. I ran the network diagnostic on the Vista machine when the connection was lost and that suggested it was a DNS problem.

 

I doubt this is a DNS problem. DNS either works or it doesn't. It is uncommon for it to work sometimes and not others.

I expect that the problem is either a fault on the router or a problem with your line. The best place to investigate this further is via the system logs on the router. There is a description of how to access these logs on page 68 of the manual for your router. The manual can be downloaded from here if you don't have a copy:

http://www.actiontec.com/support/broadband/gt704-wg_faqs.html

Have a look at the systems logs. They should indicate what the problem is. If they give you messages you don't understand post back here and we'll see if we can interpret them for you.

 

Sometimes when your computer goes into screensaver or sleep mode you might lose your connection. Happens to me sometimes.

 

Okay, will go try the logs, this afternoon when the connection dropped..I went to the Vista box, it showed a strong signal, but like the main machine when I tried to open firefox got the "unable to find website" message. Rebooted the modem and both were able to connect to internet again.

OK looking at system log, and have no idea what I'm looking at

this seems to be when it lost the connection
2:51:51 Elapsed Time syslog: No response for DNS request to server 68.238.96.12 yet.
2:51:51 Elapsed Time syslog: failed dns request len=73,srcip=192.168.1.1, url=wpad.domain_not_set.invalid
2:51:51 Elapsed Time syslog: All DNS servers tried, no response.
2:51:53 Elapsed Time syslog: No response for DNS request to server 68.238.64.12 yet.
2:51:57 Elapsed Time syslog: No response for DNS request to server 68.238.96.12 yet.
2:51:57 Elapsed Time syslog: All DNS servers tried, no response.
2:51:57 Elapsed Time syslog: failed dns request len=73,srcip=192.168.1.1, url=wpad.domain_not_set.invalid

The times off but I think this is accurate
when I ran the ping test it showed up on the log
Elapsed Time webcm: set error: message= :Bad key `command/` in `sar`:

I also tried the OAM ping test
F5 End and F5 Seg were both successful
the corresponding F4's were both failures both with and without my firewall on
I imagine thats significant, I just have no idea what it means

 

I was wrong. This does look like a DNS problem.

It appears that you are having problems connecting to your DNS servers. It looks as though you have the default set up for router, so I expect that the addresses for those servers are being automatically defined by your ISP when the router connects. Unless your router has been set to over-ride the DNS settings from your ISP, the only people I think that can help you with this problem is your ISP.

I recommend you contact your ISP's support team. If you send them a copy of that log, it should help them diagnose the problem.

 

Okay, will do so later, but so I'm clear..when you say default setting for router, what does that mean, and should I change it? Sorry if these are stupid questions but networking is brand new to me. Oddly, my connection has been fine now since about ..looks up at previous post...12 hours.

 

Default settings are fine for most modern routers. However, I would recommend you change the default administrator/admin account password. It's worth setting a secure one that includes both upper and lower case letters and numbers. You can even write it on the router as it's not physical attack your need to secure, but robots trying to take control of your router from the internet.

 

When the router was set up, had to go to Actiontec website was given an option there of setting up a logon name and pw instead of leaving it as Admin with no pw...is that where you mean, if so did it then.

 

That's the one. Well done.

 

Thanks, I've also been told that dns issues are a bit problematic on these modems, which sorta sounds like a line of bs to me but who knows. Would manually resetting them to 68.238.64.12 and 68.238.96.12 work?

 

It won't break things. The only thing you are leaving yourself open to, is if your ISP change the IP addresses of their DNS servers. This is unlikely, but could occur. As long as you remember that you've set the DNS server addresses manually, and may need to return it to automatic if you have a problem in the future (or change ISP), then it shouldn't cause a problem.

 

Sorry it took me so long to get back here...issues at work
so I'd reset them manually...now where do I do that, I forgot if it was at the actiontec page..or through the properties under LAN TCP/IP

 

what a long rambling question
In most cases the setting for the dns in the network card setting should be set to automatic
go to networking > the network card > right click > select tcp ip > properties
in the general settings the ip should be set to automatic and the dns to automatic

if that does not work uninstall the tcp/ip
Reboot and let it reinstall itself fresh

by the way - dns ( dynamic naming service) are the computer services that translate the long internet numbers into letters and phrases

when you type www.google,com
there is a computer somewhere that translated the phrase that you can remember into numbers that the internet computers use

This is a first step
Welcome to the world of computer networking

 

Didn't mean for it to be rambling, just wanted to give as much info as possible. Already tried uninstalling the tcp/ip and rebooting (were set for automatic), didn't solve problem. Uninstalled / reinstalled network connections without success as well as netwok adaptor. That solved the "unable to clear DNS cache" issue that was happening when I tried the "repair" function under Local Area Connection

 

I think you are

The main thing TCP/IP networks devices need to work is an IP address. That's all they want to know to pass information to the right destination and return replies. Unfortunately, humans are not very good at remembering IP address - they prefer names.

So you need a system to map IP address to human friendly names. Originally this was done via a HOSTS file which contained a list of all computer names on the network, mapped to their IP addresses. However, this rapidly became unwieldy - firstly the file became huge (imagine if you had to maintain a list of the names of all the computers on the Internet!!!), and difficult to manage as each PC had to have it's own file.

The solution was DNS. This is a server that is able to centrally map IP address to human friendly name. In fact, it is a network of servers, each looking after their own bit of name space. This is the solution used on the internet.

Therefore:

• If you want to use the Internet - in particular if you want to be able to access an Internet service by name (e.g. www.windowsbbs.com), rather than having to remember the IP addresses for all the server you want to access - you need DNS.
• HOST files can still be used for limited custom name resolution, but are difficult to manage for anything more than half a dozen addresses.
• Avoid large host files. DNS is much more efficient and easier to manage.

 

Setting DNS to manual just means you are manually defining the primary and secondary DNS servers you want to use. You still use DNS. Just not necessarily using the servers defined by DHCP on your router or from your ISP.

I enjoy a walk in the woods

 

well changed it from detecting DNS automatically to the "use these" options, put in the primary DNS number from the log, and a secondary one given to me by verizon and it seems to be working...have managed to keep the connection for 24 hours without a problem. Thanks for all of your advice and insight.

Now, any idea as to why when my system is inactive for a few hours it just locks up...I'll click the start button, the menu will open and then..that's it..the menu stays on the screen..can move the cursor but no matter what I click nothing happens. Can't bring up task manager to shut down computer, have to cut the power to reboot.