Troubleshooting DNS Errors
Domain Name Servers (DNS) translate friendly URLs into IP addresses. An IP address is the location of a web server online. However, instead of making people remember a bunch of numbers, a DNS server allows you to access a website with a recognizable name. When your computer cannot translate a friendly name to an IP address, DNS issues occur. There are a few ways to troubleshoot these issues.
Instructions
Difficulty:
Step 1
Ensure you have a connection to the Internet. A simple but often overlooked issue is that your wireless or cable connection is disconnected. Double-click the connection icon in your Windows system tray. A window opens giving you the status of your Internet connection. If you are disconnected from the Internet, check your wireless cable or reconnect to the wireless router on your network.
Step 2
Verify that you have a DNS server configured on your computer. To verify this, click your "Start" button on the Windows taskbar. Select "Run" and enter "cmd" into the text box. This opens your Windows command prompt. Enter "ipconfig /all" to view your current network settings. Ensure that an IP address is located in the section labeled "DNS."
Step 3
Make sure your DNS server translates friendly names to IP addresses. Sometimes, DNS issues are the result of an incorrectly configured server. With the Windows command prompt open, type "ping -a <domain>" into your prompt, replacing "<domain>" with an external website. If the server is mis-configured, the IP address does not return in the results. The Internet host provider may have brought down the DNS server for maintenance.
Step 4
Flush your DNS cache. If the host domain server moves, your DNS cache will still have the old IP address saved. This can cause DNS issues when you attempt to query the new domain. With the Windows command prompt open, type "ipconfig /flushdns" to remove saved DNS values and force the computer to send a new query to the DNS server.
Step 5
Reboot the machine. Rebooting reconfigures Internet connections, retrieves new DNS server values from your host and sometimes fixes issues such as online connectivity problems. If some simple troubleshooting does not work, reboot the machine to attempt reconnection for your computer.
References
Article Written By Jim Campbell
Jim Campbell has been a computer engineer for over five years. He excels in hardware repair, computer programming and troubleshooting, and software design. He is currently attending Florida Atlantic University, pursuing a master's degree in computer and electrical engineering and fine-tuning his technical writing abilities.