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DNS issues with mac

Hello everyone,

I'm new to macs, I just got my first one, it's a macbook and I got it two days ago. My problem is with connecting to certain websites. I'll get "Failed to Connect" in Firefox or "Safari can't find the server" in Safari. This only happens with certain websites.

I've been browsing the web for hours looking for a fix and I haven't found one that works. I even tried re-installing the OS from the discs. I'm using AirPort to connect wirelessly. I added the following addresses to the DNS Servers:

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

At the suggestion of several sites I saw reporting a similar issue. (These two addresses are also listed on opendns.com).

It's not my internet connection, because I have my desktop PC sitting right here (running windows) and it has no problems connecting to any of the sites. And I mentioned Firefox above, so I've tried a different browser too.

I was really looking forward to Macs being easier/less troublesome than Windows but so far I've just been banging my head against the wall (not literally) over this. 😟 If anyone can help me I'd greatly appreciate it.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Jun 21, 2008 9:49 PM

62 replies

Dornkirk Author

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Jun 22, 2008 6:39 PM in response to RodneyW

RodneyW wrote:
Also, in my configuration, the default DNS servers on the Mac are the same as those on the router. The gateway is not interposed as a DNS server, and does not need to be.

Since these are the DNS addresses listed on my router's page, I decided to try them in the DNS list:

Primary Domain Name Server: 68.94.156.1
Secondary Domain Name Server: 151.164.8.201

But it was the same result (failure).

Plug these into the manual settings for your router, give it a kick in the guts, and see what happens. If worst comes to worst, then you might have to go back to automatic.

This will have to wait till later, since there are three other people in my house that use the internet (two of which are using it right now). So I don't think I can mess with the router right now or it might cause them to be disconnected temporarily.

Dornkirk Author

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Jun 22, 2008 6:44 PM in response to RodneyW

RodneyW wrote:
It does not harm to try the openDNS servers, and it has worked for others in recent times ( http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7370968&#7370968).

So again I'll try putting these in later when others aren't using the internet connection at my house, but in the meantime the guy in that thread seems to have different problems than mine. His takes a while to load pages, whereas with me, sites such as Yahoo! and a bunch of others will just instantly fail. (and I am using the openDNS addresses in my Network Preferences like he is).

RodneyW

Level 4

3,041 points

Jun 22, 2008 7:07 PM in response to Dornkirk

Good-o.

This thread is closer to your symptoms: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7243133&#7243133

However your problems are definitely unusual. For most people it does "just work". For some, wireless might struggle and ethernet will work (or vice versa). It is quite rare to see both major forms of networking struggling so badly...

Did any of your ancestors visit Tutankhamun's tomb?? 😉

Jun 22, 2008 7:11 PM in response to RodneyW

Remember though, the DNS servers were set up... That is the weirdest part.

Jun 22, 2008 7:17 PM in response to Dornkirk

Try this in terminal:

apple.com works:
nslookup apple.com

yahoo fails:
nslookup yahoo.com

SEND ME BOTH RESULTS

Dornkirk Author

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Jun 22, 2008 7:24 PM in response to Community User

Terminal output:

nslookup apple.com
Server: 208.67.222.222
Address: 208.67.222.222#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: apple.com
Address: 17.149.160.49

nslookup yahoo.com
Server: 208.67.222.222
Address: 208.67.222.222#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: yahoo.com
Address: 206.190.60.37
Name: yahoo.com
Address: 68.180.206.184

And yes apple.com works and yahoo.com still does not. I tried copying and pasting the IP address to use instead of "www.yahoo.com" but it that didn't do anything else.

Jun 22, 2008 7:33 PM in response to Dornkirk

I have no idea. This is even worse than I thought. OpenDNS is functioning 100%. Yahoo.com is being resolved.

Dornkirk Author

Level 1

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Jun 22, 2008 7:58 PM in response to Community User

What would it say if it had failed?

And do you guys think I should take my mac into an apple store to see if they can do anything? Although I'm not sure if that would work, because my laptop might be fine on their network? (I don't know because I haven't tried it on any other networks yet, I'll try tomorrow). Do you think I should try to have 10.5.1 installed? (My laptop came with 10.5.2, which I had the same problems with, I then upgraded to 10.5.3, and obviously the problem still persists).

RodneyW

Level 4

3,041 points

Jun 22, 2008 8:08 PM in response to Dornkirk

It is always easier to solve a problem with the machine in front of you.

Do go to Apple - and please let us know what it was!

Jun 22, 2008 8:54 PM in response to RodneyW

This is annoying me real bad.

txturbo

Level 1

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Jun 22, 2008 9:11 PM in response to Community User

Have you tried looking at the system log using the console?

I am also having problems and I can see this error:

Jun 22 21:33:37 bob-xxx-imac kernel[0]: AirPort: Roam (Beacons Lost)
Jun 22 21:36:41 bob-xxx-imac kernel[0]: AirPort: Roam (Beacons Lost)
Jun 22 21:39:26 bob-xxx-imac kernel[0]: AirPort: Roam (Beacons Lost)
Jun 22 21:40:28 bob-xxx-imac kernel[0]: AirPort: Roam (Beacons Lost)
Jun 22 21:41:27 bob-xxx-imac kernel[0]: AirPort: Roam (Beacons Lost)

This all started after I upgraded to 10.5.3. I have not been able to solve it.

Jun 23, 2008 1:24 AM in response to Dornkirk

Does anyone know why the Mac caches DNS replies with a TTL of 0?
Surely, these should not be cached at all?
Is it possible to turn of caching of DNS lookups?

Jun 23, 2008 11:32 AM in response to Paul Rosham

Not sure. A TTL of 0 means automatic drop of the packet.

Aug 10, 2008 7:09 PM in response to Dornkirk

If you have Pacifist, it seems to install that as part of it? I only had Pacifist; however, Terminal still found a file to get rid of with this command:

rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist

PS. I'm having the same problem on my PB G4 1.67Ghz

Aug 10, 2008 7:29 PM in response to Dornkirk

When you first start the configuration wizard, you set up your internet account info. The internet connection on the router will use PPPoE or PPPoA a lot of times. This is OK. Once the setup gets to the wireless configuration or the LAN settings, it will usually ask again for DHCP, BootP or something, PPPoE, PPPoA, etc. Choose DHCP to have the router do the IP adresse assigning.

So, PPPoE for the outside traffic and DHCP for your inside-network traffic.

I am having the same problem. After upgrading to the newest Security update and the latest 10.5.4 updates together, I suddenly couldn't connect to the internet anymore. I tried both airport and ethernet. Neither work (both work on my PCs just fine).

In my network prefs>ethernet>DNSServer, I set my router's IP adresse as the DNS, manually set my network and IP settings, and finally got internet. So far after the change, Apple support is the only site I have visited. Hopefully clearing the DNS cache and dumping that one prefs file will help.

Message was edited by: Joey Delli Gatti

Message was edited by: Joey Delli Gatti

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DNS issues with mac