cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

foxtrck
Grafter
Posts: 110
Registered: ‎30-06-2010

DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

Hi,
I have been having severe connectivity issues for the last few days and weeks I think and believe it is down to the DNS I am connecting to. I get sudden loss of connectivity on my machine, yet my network is still up and WAN ip still registered. I think DNS ips have been changed recently. I require urgent tech support and have unanswered questions in my help centre.
I have had no response and I appreciate the weather situation, but this is verging on ridiculous when I have an ISP with absolutely no support. I've spent a lot of wasted time and *lots* of money trying to get through to the TS on the phone but get disconnected after around 15 minutes each time.
9 REPLIES 9
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

Open a DOS window and type ipconfig /all then post the results
As a secondary question - when you lose the connection can you get on to the router interface - this is for the Plusnet supplied router http://192.168.1.254 and this is for most others http://192.168.0.1/
foxtrck
Grafter
Posts: 110
Registered: ‎30-06-2010

Re: DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

Yes i can get on the router interface, i have a static ip on my machine of 192.168.1.xx and DNS set to 212.159.6.9, 212.159.6.10 in windows 7, I also have my QNAP device on a static ip and static DNS of the same. Now these DNS servers have worked perfectly for months. I have just upgraded to Windows 7, but was on Vista and having these problems. I actually thought I had a corrupt hosts file in my Windows Vista install so upgraded to Win 7 to try and fix.
My router is natively connecting to DNS 212.159.6.9 and 212.159.6.10 when there is no DHCP server enabled on the router and when connection drops, it drops ONLY on the system, logging into the router the WAN IP is still registered and DNS still registered but it is unable to RESOLVE. When this happens Windows 7 shows no internet connection.
I looked in member centre at connection details and your DNS are different 212.159.13.49 and 212.159.13.50, i have tried these as static, I have managed to get online for about 15 minutes and then drops. Now using these DNS would be all well and good BUT its means I have to have DHCP enabled which i dont want and even then these DNS are not fixing the problem.
Now the router is not the problem here as the network is still active, I still have SAMBA connections running and router is showing WAN IP and DNS.
I would like you to assist or run some tests as It is too disjointed to discuss the problem on a forum.
foxtrck
Grafter
Posts: 110
Registered: ‎30-06-2010

Re: DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

Maybe in a couple of hours i will receive a question to my answer as on submitting it said an average wait time of 19 hours and 30 minutes  Sad Angry
bobpullen
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 16,869
Thanks: 4,950
Fixes: 315
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

Apologies for the length of time taken to respond to your support request. Things are pretty hectic here at present! Crazy
Firstly there are no problems with our caching DNS servers that I'm aware of.
Secondly, it makes no odds which of the four IPs 212.159.6.9, 212.159.6.10, 212.159.13.49 or 212.159.13.50 you use. They are virtual IP's and all of them route to the same place for all intents and purposes.
Thirdly, I don't think this is a DNS issue. This is from our RADIUS logs:
Session Started	Session Ended	Session Duration
21:06 02/Dec/2010 N/A   18:25:35 (on going)
19:59 02/Dec/2010 21:06 02/Dec/2010   1:7:44
19:49 02/Dec/2010 19:59 02/Dec/2010   0:10:1
19:45 02/Dec/2010 19:49 02/Dec/2010   0:3:55
19:43 02/Dec/2010 19:45 02/Dec/2010   0:1:39
19:43 02/Dec/2010 19:43 02/Dec/2010   0:0:4
19:40 02/Dec/2010 19:42 02/Dec/2010   0:2:6
19:21 02/Dec/2010 19:40 02/Dec/2010   0:18:1
19:13 02/Dec/2010 19:21 02/Dec/2010   0:8:1
19:05 02/Dec/2010 19:13 02/Dec/2010   0:8:0
01:16 02/Dec/2010 19:05 02/Dec/2010   17:49:46
21:52 01/Dec/2010 01:15 02/Dec/2010   3:23:24
21:21 01/Dec/2010 21:52 01/Dec/2010   0:30:33
21:20 01/Dec/2010 21:20 01/Dec/2010   0:0:28
21:17 01/Dec/2010 21:20 01/Dec/2010   0:2:56
21:16 01/Dec/2010 21:17 01/Dec/2010   0:0:44
21:12 01/Dec/2010 21:12 01/Dec/2010   0:0:17
21:00 01/Dec/2010 21:12 01/Dec/2010   0:11:11
20:53 01/Dec/2010 21:00 01/Dec/2010   0:7:2
20:39 01/Dec/2010 20:53 01/Dec/2010   0:14:0
20:37 01/Dec/2010 20:39 01/Dec/2010   0:2:0
20:31 01/Dec/2010 20:33 01/Dec/2010   0:1:40
20:23 01/Dec/2010 20:31 01/Dec/2010   0:8:1
20:17 01/Dec/2010 20:23 01/Dec/2010   0:5:21
20:16 01/Dec/2010 20:17 01/Dec/2010   0:1:41
22:29 30/Nov/2010 20:15 01/Dec/2010   21:46:29
22:09 30/Nov/2010 22:29 30/Nov/2010   0:19:13
22:09 30/Nov/2010 22:09 30/Nov/2010   0:0:16
22:09 30/Nov/2010 22:09 30/Nov/2010   0:0:16
20:59 30/Nov/2010 22:09 30/Nov/2010   1:9:28
20:56 30/Nov/2010 20:59 30/Nov/2010   0:3:0
20:56 30/Nov/2010 20:56 30/Nov/2010   0:0:35
20:50 30/Nov/2010 20:56 30/Nov/2010   0:5:24
19:58 30/Nov/2010 20:12 30/Nov/2010   0:13:32
18:55 30/Nov/2010 19:37 30/Nov/2010   0:42:2
03:48 30/Nov/2010 18:55 30/Nov/2010   15:6:45

There are periods where you're PPP session is dropping. I'd imagine you're experiencing a brief loss of DSL signal too when this happens. The problem is likely to be with your local wiring/setup, the bad weather, a line fault or possibly some interference in your house (have you recently put up Christmas decorations?).
If you really think it's DNS then you can try using Google's servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) but I strongly suspect you'll have the same problems. If it was DNS you should be able to browse to a website by IP still i.e. putting http://212.159.8.2/ should take you to our website.
If none of my above suggestions lead to you finding out what the problem is, you'll need to raise an intermittent connection fault at http://faults.plus.net so we can investigate further. If you do need to do this you can expect it to take some days for all of the diagnosis to be completed and for things to get raised to BT Wholesale. If an Openreach engineer visit is required then that's likely to be problematic too I'm afraid given the amount of missed appointments and backlogs due to the weather.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
If I've been helpful then please give thanks ⤵

foxtrck
Grafter
Posts: 110
Registered: ‎30-06-2010

Re: DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

So yes a loss in DSL would describe what i am experiencing, which is strange as there is a steady green light always on the modem DSL light. When this happens I simply cannot visit any webpage.
I havent changed anything, I was getting svchost.exe crashes on Vista since 2 weeks ago, I assumed i either had a rootkit infection or something was playing around with my host files as I had no connectivity when this happened. I have reformatted with Win 7 and still have no connectivity, well I have small durations as you've just shown.
Is it possible for you to check my DSL sync status or is that what the radius log shows? I am going out my mind trying to resolve this problem.
bobpullen
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 16,869
Thanks: 4,950
Fixes: 315
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

Quote from: foxtrck
Is it possible for you to check my DSL sync status or is that what the radius log shows? I am going out my mind trying to resolve this problem.

Kind of. I can run a circuit test that's supposed to tell me the amount of initialisations on the line over recent days. It can't really be relied on though. At the moment it says there's only been 3 initialisations despite then reporting an uptime of only 86%.
What does look odd is the fact that you appear to be connecting using different login details. You've used both @plusdsl.net and @plus.net. Have you been fiddling with these settings in the router?

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
If I've been helpful then please give thanks ⤵

foxtrck
Grafter
Posts: 110
Registered: ‎30-06-2010

Re: DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

I have tried yes, as I have had issues before with connections due to my usernames. I have tried fiddling with many things in the router, but have had to reset it to factory a couple of times now to test that.
It is strange that this just happens for no reason no warning or doing anything out of the ordinary. Although i do have a QNAP on the network, but I can't see how that server can be bringing down the DSL.
I do not know what the issue here, all i know is that
1. I only started having this problem a couple of days ago, but a couple of weeks ago was happening intermittently,
2. It is strange that the router does not lose connection, but my computer has not internet.
I would guess it would be a DSL sync issue as i have seen that kind of problem before, but im not the expert.
Undecided
foxtrck
Grafter
Posts: 110
Registered: ‎30-06-2010

Re: DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

I am getting this error in win7 diagnostics : your computer seems to be correctly configured but the device or resource(DNS server ) is not responding. I had another similar error as well. This is why I thought it was a DNS error.

Any suggestions? My router looks as if it's connected but I don't have internet on my machine
bobpullen
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 16,869
Thanks: 4,950
Fixes: 315
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: DNS and connection issues *absolutely no tech support*

Quote from: foxtrck
I have tried yes, as I have had issues before with connections due to my usernames.

Don't. When you change your 'realm' (the bit after the '@' sign of your DSL username), it takes time for our systems to update. Until they have you won't be able to authenticate with our traffic management platform and that can cause speed issues. It's also likely to confuse the hell out of support if you do need to raise a connectivity fault.
Quote from: foxtrck
1. I only started having this problem a couple of days ago, but a couple of weeks ago was happening intermittently,

The problem started on the 30th November by the looks of things.
Quote from: foxtrck
2. It is strange that the router does not lose connection, but my computer has not internet.

The router *is* losing connection. Perhaps not to the exchange, but it's definitely dropping the connection with our RADIUS servers. That's why you'd be getting DNS errors. You're not going to be able to resolve host names when you're not connected to the Internet.
Quote from: foxtrck
I would guess it would be a DSL sync issue as i have seen that kind of problem before, but im not the expert.

That's what my money's on. If it helps at all, the disconnections typically happen every 20 seconds or so.
On the 30th and the 1st they were all concentrated between the hours of 8pm and 10pm.
On the 2nd they were concentrated between the hours of 7pm and 8pm.
On the 3rd they were concentrated between the hours of 4pm and 5pm with another bout of disconnection between 8pm and 11pm.
Since about 11pm last night you've had an uninterrupted session for about 12 hours.
The fact that the disconnections are concentrated around certain times of the day suggests that it could be a local interference problem. Does anything happen in or around your house at the times mentioned above? I'm thinking central heating, decorative lights or some other electrical equipment?

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
If I've been helpful then please give thanks ⤵