1.5.0.6 and "Server not found" is still with us

[VanillaMozilla]

Any progress, folks? This is not always an easy one to catch.

[Bompa]

I am getting this "server not found" and other slow up loads more and more. My firewall is ZoneAlarm and after one of their latest updates all is going worse.. Once I shut down the ZoneAlarm everything flies..
You see they all are loading up the X-Mas trees and sooner or later nothing will work anymore..

[IDontKnow]

Hi,
Thanks for your patience.

Here goes:
Pinging www.l.google.com [72.14.221.147] with 32 bytes o

Reply from 72.14.221.147: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=248
Reply from 72.14.221.147: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=248
Reply from 72.14.221.147: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=248
Reply from 72.14.221.147: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=248

Ping statistics for 72.14.221.147:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 32ms, Maximum = 32ms, Average = 32ms

I tried your test run. But it's not really reproducible. It's random. And as I chucked out Opera as it crashed once too often, I downloaded and re-installed it.

In FF I first clicked on the link above. After a Server not found and try again it loaded the help page and I checked again the contents, but find it too general and I tried that 6 months ago without result.

OK, I loaded Google, ran a search and clicked on 10 links (one page height). 5 failed. retried and they reloaded fine. Clicked the same links again. 3 failed (2 same as before, 1 new). Try again and they loaded. Now I ran the flushDNS in DOS and clicked the same ones. All loaded fine. I clicked on the following 10 and 3 failed.

So I ran flushDNS again and clicked on 10 new ones: 4 failed. clicked them again, all loaded. clicked them again, 2 failed. clicked them again, all loaded, clicked them again, 1 failed.

I entered a different model number in Google, ran the flushDNS and clicked 10 links. 3 failed.

Then I tried the same in IE6 and - to my surprise - 2 failed. Now IE6 is a totally different animal as I can't open in tabs and I had to relearn how to open separate windows. The 2 that failed were both ciao pages which I still can't access. No idea why.

Then I installed Opera and did the same. Opera loaded MUCH slower than FF, but evenyually loaded without any failures.


Then I did the nslookup:
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Can't find server name for address 62.104.191.241: Timed out
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Can't find server name for address 62.104.196.134: Timed out
*** Default servers are not available
Server: UnKnown
Address: 62.104.191.241

This was during 10 windows loading. When things were quiet:
Server: surfproxy.freenet.de
Address: 62.104.191.241

*** surfproxy.freenet.de can't find http://www.shopallitaly.com/en_GB/comprar/c/
148/11348/flat_panel_televisions.html: Non-existent domain

BUT: when I clicked on Try again, the page loaded fine in FF. I tried other url's, but couldn't find any result, they all cam back with the same error. Only a simple one, like google returned:
Server: surfproxy.freenet.de
Address: 62.104.191.241

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.l.google.com
Addresses: 72.14.221.147, 72.14.221.99, 72.14.221.104
Aliases: www.google.com

I am not using a proxy and no other configuration software - to my knowledge. I will try a new profile when I finish this to see if it helps.

Your diagnosis, Dr. Watson?

//AndyB

[VanillaMozilla]

Interesting!

You did get at least one documented failed DNS request, so I think we're on the right track. But as you note, it's a little hard to reproduce.

The proxy is interesting too. See if this article helps:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/User:Alice_Wy ... ed_article
Note: the article won't last long, so this link will be broken.

[IDontKnow]

Hi,

Finished. With the world. Opening closing copy paste opening closing copy paste

I'm going nuts. And the worst is: no result. I even tried different ISP's (remember I'm on ISDN dial-up, so it's easy) and the thing with creating a new profile. I even managed that part.

I tried the prefs.js trick/project and still got a 60% error rate.

It's just as random as always. I am starting to believe that it's impossible that only a couple of thousand have this problem and the millions of others don't. Are you telling me that you can open a Google search and click on 10 or 20 links without a single failure? No "Server not found" at all? And I get 20-60% failures EVERY time? I have NEVER had a straight success rate since upgrading from version 1.0.

I wonder if anyone out there has a new PC with eveything fresh and he installs FF 1.5.0.6 from scratch whether she/he gets a clean result.......

I am running out of energy and ideas. Looks like I will carry on with hovering fingers over Ctrl+R until someone stumbles over the solution.

//AndyB

[trolly]

In the last weeks i never had a failure. Running DSL2000.

[VanillaMozilla]

There are over 100 million users world-wide, and you can safely assume they don't have this problem. I just clicked on 20 links in Google, and 19 returned on first try, 1 on the second.

Let's try a couple of basic questions just to try to establish the facts.

1. Use Fx. Go to Google and search for cats and open the first 10 links. How many do you get?
2. Now do this with either Opera or IE, but not both. But this time search for something different but equally common, like dogs. How many do you get?
3. Now search for puppies, but this time do not open the links. Instead use nslookup on the first 10 links. Just use the first part of the URL that shows the machine name. How many do you get?

Example of nslookup:

for www.terrificpets.com/dogs_for_sale/ ,
nslookup www.terrificpets.com

Be sure to answer all three questions.

[IDontKnow]

Thank you for the comfort. )

Just wondering if all 100m will know how to write this here.

OK: FireFox cats: 2 failed, Opera dogs: 0 failed (but took its time)

nslookup:
Server: pridns.celox.de
Address: 212.60.192.100

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.l.google.com
Addresses: 66.249.85.104, 66.249.85.99
Aliases: www.google.com
(This was the first to fail)

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: terrificpets.com
Address: 72.51.33.20
Aliases: www.terrificpets.com

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: nextdaypets.com
Address: 64.65.53.105
Aliases: www.nextdaypets.com

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.puppyfind.com
Address: 63.241.153.51

Server: pridns.celox.de
Address: 212.60.192.100

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Request to pridns.celox.de timed-out

2nd time around came back fine

Server: pridns.celox.de
Address: 212.60.192.100

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Request to pridns.celox.de timed-out

2nd time fine

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Request to pridns.celox.de timed-out

2nd time:
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: pupcity.com
Address: 64.34.170.137
Aliases: www.pupcity.com

OK, I'll save myself the rest. What does this mean? Does the ISP look-up the wrong number translation table or is my line so slow that it doesn't wait for an otherwise correct translation? Does Opera reserve itself more time?

Or do I have a problem in the settings of my PC?

I just hope this is an indicator for something.....

Thanks for your patience.

//AndyB

[maggot1967]

Vanilla, not the same issue but you seem to know your stuff anyway ...somehow my manual proxy settings have been hijacked, must of tried an anonymous proxy or something. I searched a while back on how to change the registry(?),tried it once,I failed and then I built a house and moved! Now I have time to try to fix this, I believe ther was a .jar file or something like that? I can get on the web but I have to goto connections and check "direct connection" everytime to override the proxy that is entered in the http manual proxy box(196.40.0.1 port 554 btw) and I can surf away w/no problems. This is really just an inconvenience. Also,when I close FF and reopen I have to go thru same process. Can you help? TIA

[VanillaMozilla]

Nslookup is part of the OS. Your OS can't locate the Web sites, and Fx has to go through the OS. So Fx has no way of doing it. It' basically trying to access the Internet with an incomplete connection. You can see where the fault is.

I'm pretty sure it really is your DNS service. You can complain to your ISP and tell them that nslookup fails repeatedly. It's their responsibility to fix it.

As workarounds, you can also find another DNS server, or use TreeWalk to establish your own local cache. You can follow the links I gave.

As for why Opera worked, that is both interesting and confusing. I can only assume that Opera tries again automatically. That would also explain why it was so slow. It's not Opera that was slow, it was your Internet service.

Now there are some ways I could be wrong about all this. I guess these probably don't apply, but you need to check:
<del>(1) Make sure you don't have a proxy. (Tools > Options > General > Connection)</del> [Doesn't apply. This is a Firefox setting, and you have proven that the whole computer has a problem with domain name lookup.]
(2) Make sure your traffic isn't being redirected by entries in your "hosts" file. (You have a file called "hosts".) A default "hosts" file has only one entry:
127.0.0.1 localhost
For more info Wikipedia has a good article. I think the Knowledge Base might have one too.
<del>(3) If you have a "user.js" file, that could change your connection settings, maybe even against your wishes. The article by Alice Wyman describes it.</del> [Doesn't apply. This is a Firefox setting, and you have proven that the whole computer has a problem with domain name lookup.]

Sorry this is such a pain, but sometimes when things go wrong with computers, there are several possibilities. All this is easier done than said.

EDITED: In leaving no stone unturned, I was making this too complicated.

[RenegadeX]

I just saw this thread for the first time, but was thinking along the same lines - about the Host file and about DNS NameServers.
Not wanting to confuse the situation as I'm by no means an expert, but I once (long time ago when I was on dial-up) had the same problem, and after 2 days realized that it was most definitely 'something on my end'. Installing and running an app like 'HijackThis' (found partway down this page: http://www.merijn.org/downloads.html) will allow you to see what settings are loaded at Windows Startup. In my case, there were multiple and conflicting Nameserver entries - and a ton of other things that were screwing up/slowing down my system, and 'fixing' them via HijackThis and then rebooting cured my problem.

Maybe you too?

[VanillaMozilla]

There's one piece of advice I forgot. Sometimes disabling IPv6 helps deal with a creaky DNS system.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Error_loading_websites#IPv6

There's also a Windows bug that is probably making the problem worse. When an IP lookup attempt fails, Windows <i>caches the negative results</i> and says in effect, "I already looked, and I'm not going to look again."

1. There is a way to disable negative caching if you follow the links.

2. The next time you are having problems, try flushing the cache and see if that clears them up for a while.
Start > Run > ipconfig /flushdns

Note also that I edited my previous message. Look again.

[VanillaMozilla]

RenegadeX, what you say is a possibility, but IDontKnow has proven that his Internet Service Provider has a domain name lookup problem. Until that is cleared up, he probably doesn't need to look any further.

[trolly]

Maybe he needs his own DNS: http://ntcanuck.com/

[VanillaMozilla]

Yes, maybe that's the best idea here. I did mention TreeWalk.

But there's more here. I noticed that his nslookup is timing out after 2 seconds. The default is supposedly 5, which makes me suspect that someone or some program has tampered with his system network settings. Or is this just random rambling?