Possible DNS issues

[#1]

Hi,
I am having problems with my broadband connection at the moment.  I connect via a Netgear 834G router and currently more often than not I cannot visit websites.  If a do a ping to a www. via a Cmd prompt it times out with no response.  However if I ping the IP address instead I receive a reply.  I have no idea how I connected this morning.
Using my limited knowledge I am assuming this may be a DNS issue hence I have done a DNS flush!  However this doesnt appear to resolve the issue.  Can someone please point me in the right direction. 
If my wife doesnt get onto the NEXT site on the next 24 hours my life will not be worth living 
I have tried 2 different computers and 2 different cables so thats not the issue.
Many thanks
Dave

[#2]

Can you connect directly to your router by entering the dns number?  I have a netgear router too.

[#3]

Yes i can connect to my router using its IP address.

[#4]

Well, thats a start. Now you can get your dsl settings from the +net site and check them against those in the router

[#5]

The thing is my connection is erratic.  Once I do connect (which may take 5-6 days) everything appears ok.  Its just that it can take so long to actually connect.
I have just opened the broadband fault checker, via PlusNet and it says Fault currently open, but I didnt create the fault - is it possible that one of the techies has done this?

[#6]

go to your network card settings and manualy enter the DNS servers
I still use the old Force9 ones on
212.159.13.50
212.159.13.49

[#7]

Thanks, I will give it a try - I have also raised a fault in case its outside of my control.
Dave

[#8]

Forget this lot
212.159.13.50
212.159.13.49
212.159.6.9
they don't seem to be updating, I've got problems now 
use 212.159.6.10 instead it still seems to be working, well for now on my problem website at least.

[#9]

Just los my connection and changed the DNS to 212.159.13.50 and it worked first time.
How do I look up potential DNS IP's incase I have further problems?
Regards
Dave

[#10]

The 3 I originaly mentioned were in my Force 9 Connection Settings page.
The last one was suggested by another user.
You can test them by opening Start/Accessories/Command Prompt
and typing something like
nslookup www.marapets.com 212.159.13.50
nslookup www.marapets.com 212.159.6.10

[#11]

Do it the other way round i.e.
nslookup <name to be looked up> <dns server to perform the lookup>
nslookup www.marapets.com 212.159.6.10
That'll provide the ips for www.marapets.com using PlusNet's DNS 212.159.6.10 if PlusNet's DNS is working!

[#12]

lol yeah just realised too thanx 
if the last remaining few go down you can try this site for some public DNS outside PlusNets control...
http://www.dnsserverlist.org/

[#13]

Quote from: ed

Forget this lot 212.159.13.50 212.159.13.49 212.159.6.9 they don't seem to be updating, I've got problems now  use 212.159.6.10 instead it still seems to be working, well for now on my problem website at least.

Not sure what you're implying here. AFAIK, we've had no problems with our caching DNS servers today.
Are you suggesting that 3 of the 4 server addresses weren't working earlier? That would be very strange seeing as there's only 2 servers the 4 IPs resolve to. Here you can see that 212.159.6.10 and 212.159.13.50 point to the same place:

C:\Users\Bobby>nslookup 212.159.6.10
Server:  pth-cdns01.plus.net
Address:  212.159.13.49:53
Name:    ptn-cdns02.plus.net
Address:  212.159.6.10

C:\Users\Bobby>nslookup 212.159.13.50
Server:  pth-cdns01.plus.net
Address:  212.159.13.49:53
Name:    pth-cdns02.plus.net
Address:  212.159.13.50