Q: Safari can't find the server.?

I've also started to see this problem occurring quite frequently (say more than 5% of web page refreshes) over the past few days. It's highly irritating and I'd love to fix it. Seems to affect all browsers, not just Safari.

I've been having the exact same problem for the last few weeks. It's really frustrating and I feel like I have tried everything. I even downgraded to safari 5.0 because in a lot of the discussions people said it was from the 5.1 update and it's still happening. If anyone has a solution, please share!!

Hi there, I've experienced that before too but it's been a while now. Seeing this thread I wanted to inform you that Apple released Safari 5.1.2 just today, and perhaps you can try that and see if it resolves the issues.

Apple states:

This update contains various improvements, including fixes that:

- Improve stability

- Address issues that could cause hangs and excessive memory usage

- Address issues that could cause webpages to flash white

- Allow PDFs to be displayed within web content

 

I've noticed definite memory usage improvements, myself.

Yes, I spotted that and have installed it.

I've actually committed the heinous crime of making more than one change at the same time in an attempt to fix this. I've updated to Safari 5.1.2 and also manually altered my DNS settings in Network Preferences, the latter since the problem also affected Firefox and therefore looked more like a DNS problem than a Safari issue. I'm in the UK and use O2 as my broadband provider - I had found various threads both here and on their forums suggesting there might be intermittent issues with their DNS servers, so decided to switch to some alternatives or at least make sure I have a primary, secondary and tertiary defined. I used the namebench utility to determine the best settings to use, and since I've done this, I've not had any problems. Admittedly I'm only a light user and I only did this the other day, so I think I need a bit more time before I'm convinced it's fixed.

It's worth a try anyway - grab namebench (http://code.google.com/p/namebench/), let it do it's thing and then update Network Preferences. If you take a note of the starting values you can always revert back if things go pear shaped.

It would be helpful if anyone trying this could update the thread with their findings if trying this.

After resetting safari, emptying the cache, clearing history and downgrading to safari 5.0 (among other things) I have seemingly found the solution... Or, technically, you have!

I changed my DNS settings to the first, second and tertiary recommended after namebench told me it would run 45% faster, and so far everything is working great. I had read a few posts in various forums about switching to an open DNS, but I'm no computer whiz and the idea of changing settings to my already finicky internet scared me. So big, big thanks to you for providing the link as well as your positive results. Namebench was a great, simple, and (thus far) successful program for me.

My main problem was also when trying to go to a linked website, such as a google provided response or a secondary link from a website. It would work one time, then the next minute I would try to do it again, and it said safari couldn't find the server, even though I was using the internet in other windows and internet based programs such as spotify.

Though I just changed the settings about an hour ago, so far all of my websites (including the same ones that were not working, immediately before) have been working great. Thank you so much for sharing your response, it prompted me to do the same, and seems to have been the answer!!

OMG!  I've been going crazy for three days with the same problem.  HOURS and HOURS with tech support with internet and cable provider.  Even swapped out my cable modem thinking that would help.  FINALLY on live chat with Earthlink I got someone with a brain.  Simply had me go to system preferences, network, advanced, DNS tab, and he gave me some specific numbers to put in there.  Viola! fixed in less than two minutes!  I googled to find out what DNS was about and it was something about not being able to translate the website addresses properly.  Anyway, a really easy fix.  Just call your internet provider and tell them you need to new DNS addresses.

Wow - finally!! Thanks tons, Allan187.

That's cracked the problem (touch wood). I'm also on O2 Broadband, and apart from this persistent (and very annoying) problem, our internet was habitually slow, despite Edinburgh being pretty wired up. Namebench said our new DNS settings should be 130% faster than our current settings. A few random samples (Apple, YouTube and the BBC) bear that out.

You're a life saver - thanks so much!

P.S. I don't know how to mark your answer as helpful, but it's been a huge contribution to a problem that had been driving me nuts for months...

Thanks for the utility. It's like on on a different system now. According to namebench my current DNS is 1119.3% faster than my old primary server. What a difference.

Hi

I have the same problem everybody else has mentioned and have tried to follow fix mentioned above (system preferences, network, but then i don't have a tab for advanced to be able to change the DNS.

Can anyone advise me what to do?

System i run is Mac OS X 10.4.11 and only ever use safari.

Thanks

Dave

Go to system preferences.  Click on Network, click on Advanced at bottom right.   I don't know what the new server numbers you need.  I had to get from my Internet Service Provider.  Good luck.  I haven't had a problem since I did this mid Dec.

Sorry, just realized you said you were running 10.4.....

Go to System Preferences, Network, Click on Configure, then click on the TCP/IP tab....there is a place there for DNS servers.....note, I don't run on that system, but I imagine it serves the same purpose.  Perhaps others on this forum can answer for sure.

I bring up system preferences and then click on network, i might be being really stupid but there is no tab on there that says advanced at all.

Sorry, just realized you said you were running 10.4.....

Go to System Preferences, Network, Click on Configure, then click on the TCP/IP tab....there is a place there for DNS servers.....note, I don't run on that system, but I imagine it serves the same purpose.  Perhaps others on this forum can answer for sure.