"Not connected to Internet" error message

Hi Guys,

Safari keeps throwing me "you are not connected to the internet" error messages. I'm running 10.5.1 and I chose the "upgrade" option.

The errors are displayed randomly on sites and if I get the error upon visiting a site, I usually have to wait about a half hour before i reload the site and it works normally. This is happening to approximately 20% of the sites I visit. I can view the same exact site in Firefox, but I also get the same error in Mail, Aperture (flickr export) and twitterific.

If a site (like Flickr) pulls resources from multiple urls, even though the initial site loads, the resources may not. For instance, loading Flickr, the page may load, but since the images are on a separate server (or multiple separate servers), the images may not load or may load randomly.

I tested failing urls in Network Utility > Traceroute and urls that throw the error message get an "unknown host" message. I assume this bug has to do with Mac OS X as opposed to my ISP. and that web kit is probably the culprit, as I'm having this problem on apps that use web kit to access the internet (firefox does not).

This error is also happening on my powerbook G4 that was upgraded to 10.5 as well.

anyone else having this error? i don't seem to see anything in the forums.

Message was edited by: Ed Fladung

Message was edited by: Ed Fladung

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Nov 19, 2007 9:01 AM

29 replies

Dec 5, 2007 6:09 AM in response to madcapdan

I don't think this is a DNS problem, I use openDNS and tried my ISP's DNS server and have had no luck. On top of that, firefox does not suffer from the same problem.

For me it happens mainly on eBay, it was happening in 10.4 with the Safari 3 beta and now in 10.5.1 with Safari 3

The IPv6 thing mentioned above did not work for me either.

I don't really like firefox on mac but it is going to have to do for now I guess

filmtex

Level 1

70 points

Dec 5, 2007 6:30 AM in response to Ed Fladung

Greetings, I have been having this problem with my AT & T dsl for months. After upgrading to Leopard, it became much worse, with google access impossible. As a result of this forum, I check my DNS settings Network>Advanced>DNS settings and low and behold, the Search Domain was for my modem. It wouldn't allow me to delete it so I just added google.com- seems to be working fine now. You might give that a try and see if it helps.

Dec 7, 2007 8:38 AM in response to mattblack59bus

Same issues for me but found problem on when on battery. Tried all suggested fixes but was unsuccessful. Then found this post http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1263297&tstart=0

Downloaded widget and good connection since. Keeping fingers crossed.

Dec 7, 2007 2:40 PM in response to Ed Fladung

See this post and try this widget. Turn the widget on and the connection works error-free all day. Turn it off and I go down within minutes.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1263297&tstart=0

skogden

Level 1

0 points

Dec 7, 2007 7:45 PM in response to Ed Fladung

My Safari, is totally unable to connect to any webpage while Foxfire works fine. Anyone got the solution? Thanks

skogden

Level 1

0 points

Dec 7, 2007 8:37 PM in response to skogden

I found an answer make sure your proxie setting is correct file://localhost/Applications/Safari.app/

Dec 9, 2007 3:42 PM in response to Redlobman

I have had this problem and have compared Safari (under Leopard) to Firefox and IE Explorer running under Parallels by fetching the same pages at the same time (within the same minute). Both Firefox and IE Explorer suffer less from the problem but they are not immune. (The 'problem' mainfests itself as either 'not connected to the internet' or 'can't find the server'.) Furthermore, I only get the problem in Safari at peak times. However, at offpeak times, I have often noticed that Safari takes longer to load pages than others - you can watch the progress bar hesitate towards the end. I have suspected my ISP's DNS servers for some time. Switching on the Safari Activity window gives you a bit more insight into what elements are slow in loading.

Is it something to do with DNS or something to do with Safari and Web Kit. I don't know what Web Kit is, but I think the answer is that it has to do with both together. When DNS access is slow, something about Safari is more sensitive to this than the other browsers. I have now configured my router to use the OpenDNS servers and the problem has completely disappeared. Watching the Safari Activity window shows the difference. This was so frustrating and the change in performance is a revelation.

Dec 12, 2007 4:13 PM in response to Ed Fladung

From:
http://chroniclesofwynn.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/safari-internet-connection-prob lems-in-leopard/

The simple fix is, to open up Network preferences, and select the advanced tab. From here you click on TCP/IP and under the settings for Configure IPv6 turn it off, completely off. This instantly fixes the problem

HipHapa

Level 1

0 points

Dec 13, 2007 8:34 AM in response to Cervantes300

This doesn't solve the problem. I've had this off and it still happens all the time.

Dec 13, 2007 10:27 AM in response to HipHapa

I have compared the IPv6 solution suggested just above to the OpenDNS solution suggested by a number of people earlier. I had 3 full days without an incident after changing my DNS servers to OpenDNS. Based on this recent posting, I changed to the IPv6 solution this morning and have had several incidents. Perhaps different things work for different ISPs, but my own experience comparing the two, is that the OpenDNS solution works, and the IPv6 does not.

Dec 13, 2007 10:36 AM in response to paulherzlich

Yes, you both are right. Canceling IPv6 worked for a couple of days, but the problem came back. I just switched IPv6 automatic again, and I manually configured both DNS to my ISP. Now Safari is working good again, and even faster than before. Hopefully, it will last.

HipHapa

Level 1

0 points

Dec 13, 2007 9:53 PM in response to paulherzlich

WOW!! OpenDNS seems to be rockin! I will keep my fingers crossed that it stays this way (very fast and connected to the Internet). Thank you!

Dec 14, 2007 12:26 PM in response to Ed Fladung

I've done some testing and tracked down how to reproduce this behavior.

Like most modern OS's, Mac OS has a local cache for name resolutions.

If the DNS request times out, either due to the name servers being unreachable or other network problems, this fact is cached so future requests don't time out in the same way. It will remain cached for 30 minutes.

While I can see why this might be considered desirable behavior by a misguided software architect, it is indeed IMHO an extremely annoying bug.

Please send feedback to Apple. With enough torches and pitchforks maybe somebody will change their mind about this.

Feb 4, 2008 11:42 AM in response to Ed Fladung

I've created an alias in my bash profile to flush the DNS if I have problems. Flushing the DNS cache solves the issue for me.

Put this in your bash profile if you want a quick way to flush the DNS without typing a long string in every time.

alias flushdns='dscacheutil -flushcache'

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"Not connected to Internet" error message