Safari can't connect to the server

You can avoid the "cannot connec to server" issues by using OpenDNS for better speed and more security and t's free.

Open System Preferences / Preferences then select the Network tab. Click the Advanced tab then click the DNS tab.

Enter these numbers exactly as you see them here.

Click +

208.67.222.222

Click +

208.67.220.220

Then click OK.

More about OpenDNS here.

Topic : Manually provided DNS server addresses are higher priority than DHCP's

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.

Safari can’t open a website

Safari - Unsupported third-party add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues

Safari doesn't load a page or webpage items are missing

Web Content not responding

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. First, disconnect all wired peripherals except keyboard, mouse, monitor, and Ethernet, if applicable. Boot in safe mode and log in as yourself. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:

• Be sure your Mac is shut down.
• Press the power button.
• Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
• Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).

During startup, you will see "Safe Boot" on the login screen, which appears even if you normally log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Safe mode is slower than normal, and some things won’t work at all, perhaps including wireless networking on certain Macs. If you usually connect to the Internet via WiFi, and it doesn’t work in safe mode, connect using an Ethernet cable. If you can’t do that, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and perform a safe login, as follows: Enter your credentials at the login screen, then hold down the shift key and click the “Log in” button. Keep holding the key until the menu bar appears. In this mode, your login items, among other things, won’t load.

In safe mode, test again. Same problem(s) now?

After testing, reboot (if you booted in safe mode) or log out/log in (if you performed a safe login) as usual.

Your issue has nothing to do with DNS.

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software -- potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions -- they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.

These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.

Below are four lines of text in monospaced type, which are UNIX shell commands. They’re harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of running these commands, search this site for other discussions in which they’ve been used without any report of ill effects.

Some of the commands will line-wrap in your browser, but each one is really just a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then either copy or drag it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.

Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.

To begin, launch the Terminal application; e.g., by entering the first few letters of its name in a Spotlight search.

Step 1

Copy or drag -- do not type -- the line below into the Terminal window, then press return:

kextstat -kl | awk ' !/apple/ { print $6 $7 } '

Post the lines of output (if any) that appear below what you just entered (the text, please, not a screenshot.)

Step 2

Repeat with this line:

sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk ' !/0x|apple|com\.vix|edu\.|org\./ { print $3 } '

This time, you'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning.

Step 3

launchctl list | sed 1d | awk ' !/0x|apple|edu\.|org\./ { print $3 } '

Step 4

ls -1A {,/}Library/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Sta}* 2> /dev/null

Important: If you synchronize with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, change it to something like “user@me.com” before posting.

Remember, this is all drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste, whichever you prefer -- no typing, except your password.

You can then quit Terminal.

There are some OpenDNS advocates on this site. I'm not one of them. I find its business model highly dubious, and it has a known history of hijacking Google searches and redirecting them to its own servers -- a practice that was apparently discontinued after public exposure. In comparative tests, the performance of OpenDNS servers is relatively poor, probably much worse than your ISP's DNS servers. I suggest you avoid OpenDNS. In any case, your choice of DNS service is unrelated to the subject of this discussion.

OpenDNS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

OpenDNS Community > Forums > Re: Namebench results

Back up all data if you haven’t already done so. Before proceeding, you must be sure you can restore your system to the state it’s in now. If you skip this step, no one but you will be responsible for the consequences.

You should update the following system modification(s), if an update is available from the developer:

Parallels OR VirtualBox (both should not be installed)

Soundflower OR Rogue Amoeba audio driver (both should not be installed)

Belkin UPS software

and remove at least the following:

† Parallels OR VirtualBox

† Soundflower OR Rogue Amoeba audio driver

Menu Extra Enabler

Smart Crash Reports

MacFUSE

It's essential that all of the latter be removed completely, and the only way to do that is to use the uninstallation tool provided, if any, or otherwise to follow the developer's instructions. In some cases it may be necessary to re-download or even reinstall the software in order to get rid of it. I can't be more specific, because I don't install such things myself.

Never reinstall the modifications marked with a dagger (†) above, if any. If your problem is resolved after uninstalling all the above modifications and rebooting, but you still want to use some of those not marked with a dagger, you can experiment with putting them back, one at a time, testing carefully after each one. Keep in mind that system modifications may be incompatible with each other or with future Mac OS updates, so it may not be clear which one is at fault.

Never install any third-party software unless you're sure you know how to uninstall it; otherwise you may create problems that are very difficult to solve.

If making the suggested changes and rebooting doesn't resolve your issue, post again.

Safari Cant connect with server