XP DNS Problem

[AB]

All,

I appreciate any help you guys can provide on this one. I am running XP Pro on a PC connected over my home wifi. As of last night, I am unable to access the external network. I have checked the following but I don't see any problems.

I have done or checked the following:

1. I have a valid IP address.
2. I have renewed IP, even forced a static IP
3. I can connect internally to any other PC or the router.
4. I have run ipconfig /flushdns, ipconfig /renewall
5. I have reset the TCP/IP stack per Microsofts KB article
6. I have explicitly put my ISP's DNS IP in TCP/IP settings of the wireless card so that my router doesn't have to serve it up.
7. Of course I have cleared browser caches
8. I can do a nslookup but DNS names aren't getting resolved. Case and point, I can point to the IP of google and get there, I just can't resolve the url www.google.com
9. I have verified hosts file. Only the loopback entry exists. 127.0.0.1
10. All other PCs on my network running XP Pro can connect just fine.

What am I missing? I have isolated the problem to DNS server connectivity but what do I need to do to resolve this problem? I have searched online and perhaps I haven't searched enough but your assistance is appreciated.

Thanks.

-AB

 

[Engineer]

Edit: I just saw that you can go to google via IP...so my below suggestion is moot (sorry):

Just to see if that PC can get to the outside, have you entered an external IP into your browser or tried to ping?

Yahoo, for example: http://209.191.93.52/

or ping 209.191.93.52

?

Have you checked to see if your browser is somehow set to "Proxy" (from i.e. Tools, Internet Options, <LAN Settings> button, Proxy stuff)???

 

[AB]

Thanks for the quick response. Yes I can resolve sites directly by their IP. I can also ping google and yahoo's IP. No proxies on the browser.

 

[spidey07]

Most likely your provider is having problems with their DNS servers or you are using one that is down or no longer in service. Make sure you power down your router and wait a few minutes before powering back on, wait a few minutes then power on your computer.

Or use these dns servers.
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

 

[Engineer]

Have you tried to uninstall your wireless card/driver and then reinstall? (not sure that would help but could be worth a shot).

Originally posted by: spidey07
Most likely your provider is having problems with their DNS servers or you are using one that is down or no longer in service. Make sure you power down your router and wait a few minutes before powering back on, wait a few minutes then power on your computer.

Or use these dns servers.
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Good suggestion (OpenDNS servers), but since his/her other PC's are still working, makes me wonder if it's something else, but definitely worth a shot.

Could also try..
4.2.2.1
4.2.2.2
4.2.2.3
4.2.2.4

 

[AB]

Spidey - I have tried open DNS servers as you have mentioned. I have power cycled the router. The thing is, all other computers on the same network can access the net. DNS resolution works fine with all other machines.

Engineer - I am going to try to reinstall the wireless card drivers but I don't think it's a hardware/driver problem because I can get to google and yahoo by IP.

Thanks all. Hopefully we can get somewhere with this issue.

 

[AB]

Yes I can ping

4.2.2.1
4.2.2.2 etc.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: AB
Yes I can ping

4.2.2.1
4.2.2.2 etc.

Those are DNS listing.

Sorry, I meant to try these DNS(ervers) instead of OpenDNS but it won't make a difference now that you've already tried OpenDNS. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[AB]

Running Hijackthis and other spyware/malware utilities to see if anything comes up.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: AB
Running Hijackthis and other spyware/malware utilities to see if anything comes up.

Good idea. SuperAntiSpyware (free edition) is supposed to be pretty good too.

 

[spidey07]

your "gethostbyname" API isn't working then. Completely removing the card as in physcially removing, power cycling, installing card and drivers, power cycling might help link everything back up with your TCP stack. Many times reinstalling what ever service pack you have will fix weird stack problems like this.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: spidey07
your "gethostbyname" API isn't working then. Completely removing the card as in physcially removing, power cycling, installing card and drivers, power cycling might help link everything back up with your TCP stack. Many times reinstalling what ever service pack you have will fix weird stack problems like this.

That's what I was hoping to achieve by uninstalling the driver and then reinstalling (but you know exactly what is happening behinds the scenes per your description above). I just know that it sometimes works, lol!

 

[AB]

Nothing found by Hijack, CWS, MalwareBytes, or SuperAntiSpyware.

 

[AB]

I am fairly close to giving up and doing a Windows Repair...

 

[RebateMonger]

Before you reload Windows, try loading a Linux Live CD and see if DNS works. That'll tell you if it's a Windows problem or something else.

 

[AB]

Just reinstalled XP. Everything works fine. Problem was definitely on the OS level. Thanks all for your help.

 

[Tbirdkid]

sorry, you already did that.

statically set your dns to a stupid ip address, save it, reboot, then make it obtain automatically, and see what happens.

also, if your router is handing out dns, you need to check the logs and see what is going on...