DNS issues after 10.6.5 update

KJK555: Many thanks, your fix worked for me.

Suggestion: before running the installer I sudo cp'ed the files adding the suffix .10.6.5 JIC I needed to revert. Perhaps the installer should do that?

Hello all,

I would like to test an hypothesis: who is experiencing those DNS issues and has Parallels installed / not installed?

Two days ago, I inhibited a Parallels 6 installation here and those mDNSResponder's hangups seem to have disappeared. But perhaps am I too optimistic...

If I may chime in... I delayed upgrading to 10.6.5 for a couple of weeks because of this thread. Finally, when the volume of discussion of the problem on the internet in general seemed quite small (or virtually nonexistent), I decided to make the plunge.

And I do not have this problem at all (I've been running 10.6.5 for at least a week). (This is on a recent MBP model.)

So, it seems that this problem is not general. There may be some specific trigger.

I don't know if Parallels is the answer, but I will say that I don't have it (I do have VMWare Fusion).

Axel, I'm running Parallels too and have experienced total mDNSResponder hangup (reboot required). The problem has been pretty much rectified though by falling back to the older binaries.

"before running the installer I sudo cp'ed the files adding the suffix .10.6.5 JIC I needed to revert"

So did I.

I thought about doing something like that, but most Mac users don't "sudo cp" anything.

It would be just as easy to create an uninstaller package.

I didn't create an uninstaller pkg., because reverting back, IMHO, would be kind of like going
back to the Dentist and having him/her put that bad tooth back in that he/she just pulled, but,
If you would like to practice your package maker skills, I will happily supply you with the
source code for the installer package. All you have to change are the files and the interface text
to make it an "uninstaller" package. 😉

Kj

Hello Gary,

Many thanks for your feedback.

So, in your case, no problems with 10.6.5 (as well as, presumably, with earlier versions), and no Parallels installation.

In fact, I remember having experienced those DNS problems earlier in the 10.6 mainstream, perhaps even starting with 10.6, and that they just seemed to have been exacerbated with the 10.6.5 update (November 15th). Nothing really "lethal" (killing mDNSResponder always proved sufficient in the worst cases), yet quite annoying.

On the other hand, it is true that the Parallels Desktop ecosystem is rather intrusive, especially at the network level (kexts loaded, vnics created, nat daemons launched...) even when the application isn't running. Retrospectively, I remembered that I had Parallels 5 (and its updates) installed until September 15, followed by Parallels 6 (and its updates). And that this was the only system on which I experienced those DNS problems.

Hence my experiment, by deactivating the environment created by a Parallels install. And, crossing fingers, I am now enjoying a third day without a single hang (Mail.app, that I have continuously running against several pop and imap accounts, is a good indicator).

So, assuming there's really some relationship, not just a coincidence, I thought this could be of some interest wrt this thread.

Axel

CGiannetto wrote:
Axel, I'm running Parallels too and have experienced total mDNSResponder hangup (reboot required). The problem has been pretty much rectified though by falling back to the older binaries.

So, a Parallels installation in your case (still collecting my stats 😉 ).

If I may ask, by "pretty much", do you mean "fully" or "almost"?

Thanks for your follow-up,
Axel

"So, in your case, no problems with 10.6.5 (as well as, presumably, with earlier versions), and no Parallels installation."

Correct. I believe I've seen one or two earlier mentions of Parellels in this thread, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's the source of the issue. But we'll see if anyone chimes in who has the problem and doesn't have that software.

Axel Luttgens wrote:

CGiannetto wrote:

So, a Parallels installation in your case (still collecting my stats 😉 ).

If I may ask, by "pretty much", do you mean "fully" or "almost"?

I had one incident after about two weeks without having to restart my MacBook Pro. Once again mDNSResponder was hung completely and unresponsive to any kill attempts and the system required a reboot. Other than that it has been business as usual. Before installing the older binaries, I had multiple hangups a week and sometimes repeated, back-to-back hangups within minutes of a restart. I believe you are on to something and that it's not one specific issue with the Apple binaries but some combination of that & third-party components that's really at fault.

The patch didn't work for me either (thanks for putting that together, though; that was very cool of you to go to the trouble). Nothing would resolve at all afterwards. I reinstalled the 10.6.5 combo update (should've done the sudo cp thing on the specific files), and now I'm back to "sometimes works, sometimes doesn't."

Wish I could offer some more useful info, sorry.

Your troubles are most likely caused by something other than the mdnsresponder bug.

other causes could be attached routers, router configurations, modem, modem configuration,
Internet Provider problems, network misconfiguration issues.

Kj

Thanks for this. I tried it, after backing up those files first! My system seemed to last much longer before mDNSResponder hung, but it hung today.

I was using Vodafone Mobile Broadband.app Version 4.03.02.01 when it happened. This is the first time I have used this program in some time as I am holidaying and have had access to wifi up till now.

The downgrade package worked for me -- I am so thrilled. The lag in accessing web pages was starting to annoy me enormously. Thank you so much!

Had this issue on two iMacs at work, have just installed the newly released 10.6.6 update and it's all sorted now, anyone with this issue I'd recommend it, can't see any other issues with 10.6.6 at the moment.

Seems to be fixed in 10.6.6 for me too.