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dando
06-25-10, 10:37 AM
I posted a note mentioning this in the OC issues thread in Feedback...I've recently been having issues loading sites in FF 3.0.19 on XP. Sites are not consistently loading on the first request, sometimes taking 2-3 attempts. The resulting error is Address not found. When this occurs, I can sometimes load one site, but cannot load others. This issue does not occur @ all when I have my VPN connection open. It also does not occur on my WiFi connection with my MacBook Pro, only on the hardwired connection on the XP desktop. The hardwired TiVos also appear to be working fine. I would suspect a hardware issue if the VPN connection showed the same issue. Thoughts? :confused:

-Kevin

KLang
06-25-10, 11:19 AM
Have you tried rebooting everything? Modem, router and switches? That is normally where I start if things are acting weird at home.

dando
06-25-10, 11:24 AM
Have you tried rebooting everything? Modem, router and switches? That is normally where I start if things are acting weird at home.

Yes, but maybe I need to shut them down longer. The issue started occurring after TWC 'upgraded' my modem several weeks ago with a cable card install visit. I'm perplexed as to why the VPN works flawlessly...as soon as I close the VPN, the problem returns immediately. :confused: Of course I don't like my personal Web traffic going through my work VPN (lest they learn all of our bacon secrets). :gomer:

-Kevin

KLang
06-25-10, 11:29 AM
DNS issue perhaps? I assume addresses are being resolved through the tunnel while VPN is up?

dando
06-25-10, 11:34 AM
DNS issue perhaps? I assume addresses are being resolved through the tunnel while VPN is up?

That's what I've been thinking, but this has been going on for weeks now. I would have thought a DNS issue with the ISP would have been resolved by now. Might be time to call TWC (usually a last resort since their tech support is clueless). :saywhat:

-Kevin

KLang
06-25-10, 11:51 AM
Do the XP machine and the Macbook show the same addresses for DNS, default gateway and subnet mask? If not try releasing your DHCP info on the XP machine.

dando
06-25-10, 11:56 AM
Do the XP machine and the Macbook show the same addresses for DNS, default gateway and subnet mask? If not try releasing your DHCP info on the XP machine.

Have not compared them, but I made no changes to the network settings, and the DHCP settings should be automatic. It's also odd that the problem tends to occur more often after the machine is idle for awhile.

-Kevin

WickerBill
06-25-10, 12:36 PM
Kevin, on the machine having trouble, input OpenDNS IP addresses instead of using "obtain DNS automatically". They are:

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220


See if that clears up your issue -- it will either allow you to pinpoint it to DNS or eliminate DNS as the issue. From your description, it sure sounds like whatever DNS servers you're pointing at are overloaded.

dando
06-25-10, 03:05 PM
Kevin, on the machine having trouble, input OpenDNS IP addresses instead of using "obtain DNS automatically". They are:

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220


See if that clears up your issue -- it will either allow you to pinpoint it to DNS or eliminate DNS as the issue. From your description, it sure sounds like whatever DNS servers you're pointing at are overloaded.

Not after a first attempt. I have three network connections: LAC for my Broadcomm controller (NIC), LAC for WAN and and LAC for my VPN. Obviously my VPN is working. Do I need to change my settings for both the LAC #1 and WAN? Do I just make the changed under General or Advanced or both? Sorry, not a Windoze network nerd. :\ Also, I wasn't prompted for a reboot, so I assume that's not required, but I couldn't do so @ the time due to unsaved work.

-Kevin

Insomniac
06-25-10, 03:54 PM
Do the same sites load fine in another browser?

dando
06-25-10, 04:35 PM
Do the same sites load fine in another browser?

Well, I rarely use IE, but it does not appear to suffer from the same issue (albeit I don't use it for more than corp Outlook e-mail). I've just recently started trying out Chrome.

-Kevin

Insomniac
06-26-10, 01:20 PM
Well, I rarely use IE, but it does not appear to suffer from the same issue (albeit I don't use it for more than corp Outlook e-mail). I've just recently started trying out Chrome.

-Kevin

My thought was just that if FF has trouble and IE (or another browser) doesn't (at the same time) that would be a very odd network issue to be that specific without you setting it up to do something like that. You were saying you have to try 2 or 3 times. Try another browser and see if you get the same result. Maybe it's some quirky FF bug.

dando
06-29-10, 10:51 PM
So to confirm after WFH the past few days, the issue is occurring on the same machine in both IE and FF. I only use FF for general surfing and IE for Outlook Web access (usually only by the VPN). I just did an update to the router software, so we'll see if that corrects the issue. Just puzzling that it only occurs on the standard connection and not the VPN since the same hardware is involved.

-Kevin

Insomniac
07-03-10, 01:16 PM
So to confirm after WFH the past few days, the issue is occurring on the same machine in both IE and FF. I only use FF for general surfing and IE for Outlook Web access (usually only by the VPN). I just did an update to the router software, so we'll see if that corrects the issue. Just puzzling that it only occurs on the standard connection and not the VPN since the same hardware is involved.

-Kevin

Seems like DNS. With VPN, you likely do not have split tunneling and split DNS. Try to run nslookup from the command prompt on the site you're trying to hit. For example:

C: \>nslookup www.offcamber.net
Server: numero_uno
Address: 192.168.7.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.offcamber.net
Address: 207.36.180.15

Is it able to resolve? Also, do you do any type of P2P on the machine or something that would have your machine interacting with a lot of machines in small periods of time? My last thought on the DNS is maybe your ISP is messed up and you end up with a bad query which messes up your local DNS cache. You can try and clear it with the following command:

C: \>ipconfig /flushdns

Elmo T
07-03-10, 02:13 PM
Seems like DNS. With VPN, you likely do not have split tunneling and split DNS. Try to run nslookup from the command prompt on the site you're trying to hit. For example:


Is this like checking the knuter valve or rotating the muffler bearings? :laugh:;)

Insomniac
07-05-10, 04:04 PM
Is this like checking the knuter valve or rotating the muffler bearings? :laugh:;)

If it is, I'm way out of the loop!

dando
08-04-10, 09:56 PM
OK, not much time to work on this issue the past month due to vacation and other festivities. I spent ~2 hours on the phone with TWC RR support the weekend before last. Not much was accomplished since the rep was just a shade north of clueless, traceroute didn't reproduce the issue, and spits back no trace results when the problem is occurring. Here's the quandary I have now: when the error occurs on the Mac, the failure results in a RR search results page being served with the EXACT URL I am trying to hit (for example, we couldn't find www.offcamber.net, and www.offcamber.net is #1 in the list of search results). :saywhat: So obviously it appears that my request is being received, but somehow failing downstream, and a result being returned. Any further thoughts? This is simply driving me nuts. :irked: I can't see anyway this is being cached locally by the modem.

-Kevin

Methanolandbrats
08-04-10, 10:55 PM
firewall or av issue?

dando
08-04-10, 11:12 PM
firewall or av issue?

Not on the Mac, but I use AVG on the XP machine machine that experiences the same problem. However, the XP machine generally just fails and does not usually display the failure page the Mac does. :confused:

-Kevin

Pilgrims Drop
08-05-10, 03:32 AM
Do you use a router with firewall features? I've experienced similar before when using wired connection from a router and the w-lan connections have worked just fine.

Try disabling some of the firewall features if you do use router. On my latests from Netgear I had to disable the SPI Inspection and DoS protection to get it to run smoothly, and as long as you have protection on your systems you run no risk of getting anything nasty becasue of this.