"Safari Can't Find the Server" is chronic in Safari under Snow Leopard...

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Level 2

229 points

"Safari Can't Find the Server" is chronic in Safari under Snow Leopard...

Since moving to Snow Leopard (or perhaps it is just an updated Safari in SL and otherwise not related to SL??) when my Mac starts up from sleep with Safari being already open, I typically find a blank message with "Safari Can't Find the Server"... And just clicking on pages, I sometimes get that same message. Sometimes I get the spinning gear (for way too long) and I've learned to stop it and just click the same link again and more often than not, it opens immediately the second time...

Any ideas??? Is this a bug that Apple needs to fix or do I need to do something to Safari (or something else) to fix this problem???

thanks... bob...

Two 17 inch MacBook Pros and a FW800 G4 dual 1.25 Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Sep 20, 2009 11:46 AM

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Answer 1

dbsneddon

Level 4

1,542 points

Sep 20, 2009 7:26 PM in response to Robert Paris

The "can't find server" message is usually an indication of a problem
with your DNS settings, or that the servers are taking too long to
respond. What is you DNS configuration? Consider using OpenDNS.

Dave

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Answer 2

Robert Paris Author

Level 2

229 points

Sep 20, 2009 7:48 PM in response to dbsneddon

Hi... I have seen lots of posts over time recommending the use of OpenDNS but admittedly I don't consider myself network savvy enough to recover from a problem should one occur... Granted I think it is simply change the DNS settings and if you don't like what you get, change them back, right??? But anyway, I've looked at that often but have not yet made any change... To answer your question, Comcast is my ISP and the DNS servers I currently have set up for my home network on my Apple Airport Extreme router are

68.87.76.182 and
68.87.78.134

I am confident is that this "problem' began at the Snow Leopard switchover... Again, it could have been related to SL... Instead, it might have been related to an update to Safari itself (that maybe occurred when Apple issued SL???)... But again, something changed when SL came out... Might it be that SL and/or Safari itself doesn't play with these particular DNS servers now???

And another part of my "fear" of switching over to OpenDNS is I don't understand what to do with the Domain Name (a comcast name) and DHCP Client ID (a bunch of numbers and letters that has ridden along with my Comcast account going back to before it was Comcast), fields that were also populated (long ago) by default when I first set up my Apple router...

Not knowing how to handle that, I've been fearful to change... you know, if it works (at least until recently) don't fix it... But I'm game to try if someone can tell me what to do with the default Domain Name and DHCP Client ID...

Anyway, that's the scoop.. Any advice on OpenDNS would be much appreciated... thanks.. bob..

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Answer 3

dbsneddon

Level 4

1,542 points

Sep 20, 2009 7:58 PM in response to Robert Paris

You should be able to change just the DNS details and leave
everything else alone. I use the OpenDNS servers rather than
those of my ISP and have found much better response.

Just remove any existing DNS values (and uncheck any option
to "Use DHCP supplied DNS" (I am not in front of a Mac at the
moment).

Add the following two values
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

According to some other threads there is an issue when you
have hard coded DNS setting in combination with DHCP
supplied values but if you disable the DHCP setting of the DNS
and use the above values you should be OK.

Dave

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Answer 4

dbsneddon

Level 4

1,542 points

Sep 20, 2009 7:59 PM in response to Robert Paris

I just reread your post -- make the DNS changes on your Mac, not
the router...

Dave

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Answer 5

Robert Paris Author

Level 2

229 points

Sep 20, 2009 8:25 PM in response to dbsneddon

Whoa... Now I'm really confused... When I go to my System Preferences, then Network, highlight Airport, then click on Advanced, then choose the DNS tab, all I see under DNS Servers is the internal IP address of my Apple Router (10.x.x.x).. And next to that under Search Domains is hsd1.ca.comcast.net... And that is all there is... And I didn't set any of that up... When I bought my Apple Extreme Router a couple years ago, I was so impressed because I came home, plugged it in, basically said "GO" and the router set it all up and just worked... And I'm pretty sure (though not positive) that the Router put the 10.x.x.x in that preference panel, in other words, pointed to itself for DNS services...

So help me understand... If I change the DNS settings on the mac from 10.x.x.x to the OpenDNS values, the router would still have the Comcast values in it??? How does that work??? And if I only change them on my mac, then the rest of the computers on my home network would still be using the original Comcast DNS servers as established on the router, yes??? I mean I think that would have to be...

See my confusion??? Again, I know only enough about Network settings to know that if I click a wrong button I could make a lot of trouble... So I don't move until I understand what at least a little more than clearly I know now...

So how do local (mac) settings for DNS play (or not) with DNS settings up at the router level???

thanks... bob..

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Answer 6

dbsneddon

Level 4

1,542 points

Sep 20, 2009 8:34 PM in response to Robert Paris

Robert Paris wrote:
Whoa... Now I'm really confused... When I go to my System Preferences, then Network, highlight Airport, then click on Advanced, then choose the DNS tab, all I see under DNS Servers is the internal IP address of my Apple Router (10.x.x.x).. And next to that under Search Domains is hsd1.ca.comcast.net... And that is all there is... And I didn't set any of that up... When I bought my Apple Extreme Router a couple years ago, I was so impressed because I came home, plugged it in, basically said "GO" and the router set it all up and just worked... And I'm pretty sure (though not positive) that the Router put the 10.x.x.x in that preference panel, in other words, pointed to itself for DNS services...

This is effectively saying that the DNS configured in the router will be the default.

So help me understand... If I change the DNS settings on the mac from 10.x.x.x to the OpenDNS values, the router would still have the Comcast values in it??? How does that work??? And if I only change them on my mac, then the rest of the computers on my home network would still be using the original Comcast DNS servers as established on the router, yes??? I mean I think that would have to be...

If you change your Mac, that is what it will use. Other computers will use whatever
they are configured to use.

See my confusion??? Again, I know only enough about Network settings to know that if I click a wrong button I could make a lot of trouble... So I don't move until I understand what at least a little more than clearly I know now...

So how do local (mac) settings for DNS play (or not) with DNS settings up at the router level???

The local settings should override anything else since that is what will
be used first. They have no interaction with what is at the router level.

thanks... bob..

Dave

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Answer 7

Robert Paris Author

Level 2

229 points

Sep 20, 2009 8:48 PM in response to dbsneddon

OK, And I trust I can try it and if it causes any issues I can just change it back, true?? Seems obvious but stranger things have happened...

And second question, note that I said in Network/Airport/DNS, there is 10.x.x.x under DNS servers (that's where I would make the change to the Open DNS values (2 of them) but next to that pane is Search Domains in another pane and as I said, that is currently populated by hsd1.ca.comcast.net... What do I do with that??? Leave it alone??? Remove it??? What???

thanks... bob...

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Answer 8

dbsneddon

Level 4

1,542 points

Sep 20, 2009 8:49 PM in response to Robert Paris

Robert Paris wrote:
OK, And I trust I can try it and if it causes any issues I can just change it back, true?? Seems obvious but stranger things have happened...

Yes, that is the theory

And second question, note that I said in Network/Airport/DNS, there is 10.x.x.x under DNS servers (that's where I would make the change to the Open DNS values (2 of them) but next to that pane is Search Domains in another pane and as I said, that is currently populated by hsd1.ca.comcast.net... What do I do with that??? Leave it alone??? Remove it??? What???

Remove it.

thanks... bob...

Dave

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Answer 9

Robert Paris Author

Level 2

229 points

Sep 20, 2009 8:57 PM in response to dbsneddon

OK, thanks for the help... I will go give it a shot right now... Making local changes doesn't scare me too much... It's when I kill the router and my wife comes in breathing fire caused I've been "playing" again that gives me pause...

I will report back if it seems to help... I've been wanting to try the OpenDNS for a while anyway... Again, thanks... bob...

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Answer 10

Robert Paris Author

Level 2

229 points

Sep 20, 2009 9:06 PM in response to Robert Paris

Well, one more issue I hadn't noticed before... Both the 10.x.x.x in the DNS servers pane and the hsd1.ca.comcast.net in the Search Domain pane are gray and can't be highlighted or removed... I had to go up a level to see the "don't allow changes" lock and it is NOT locked and I AM an administrator so..... hmmmm... The "+" signs below the panes are active so it appears I could add the new DNS server values but I, as yet, do not see how to delete either the 10.x.x.x or the hsd1.ca.comcast.net... Any ideas??? I've been looking at checked boxes but I don't see anything that looks obvious... I bet the router did this when it performed it's automatic setup way back when...

thoughts??? bob...

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Answer 11

Robert Paris Author

Level 2

229 points

Sep 20, 2009 9:08 PM in response to Robert Paris

Oh wait... I went ahead and clicked the "+" and the moment I do that, the 10.x.x.x disappears and I can overwrite with new text... That will at least help with the DNS servers.. For the other, I will maybe hit plus and then enter a blank?? I will give it a try... bob...

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Answer 12

Robert Paris Author

Level 2

229 points

Sep 21, 2009 9:51 PM in response to dbsneddon

I followed your advice and successfully changed the DNS servers to the OpenDNS values... So far I have not seen the same error message I was seeing chronically before... Seems to have helped at least and perhaps solved the problem entirely....

thanks much... bob...

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Answer 13

dbsneddon

Level 4

1,542 points

Sep 21, 2009 9:58 PM in response to Robert Paris

I think you will find you have fewer (if any) problems.
Glad it worked for you.

Dave

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