Can't open links and go to Google and Wikipedia

Well what browser are you using, that's the first place to start.

Reset your modem....

GB

Didn't read the post that thoroughly. Reset Safari, SAfe Restart to start. Modem reset and router reset not a bad idea either.

If you have internet cable there must be a modem somewhere, that's just how cable internet works. Did you Reset Safari as instructed and restart in Safe Mode?

Ignore that. Safe mode will give you different results that you cannot bring across. The problem seems to be that your DNS resolution is borked, this is what translates web adresses (www.webaddress.com) into IP adresses (195.234.65.23). Open terminal on your normal Mac install (non-safe mode) and type this:

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache

Then try again. If that does not fix it, then:

Go to Applications > Utilities > Network Utility.

Click on the Ping tab and type www.google.com in the host box.

The first line will look something like this:

ping google.com
PING google.com (192.0.32.10): 56 data bytes

you should then get 6 lines like this trying to contact google:

64 bytes from 192.0.32.10: icmp_seq=0 ttl=240 time=98.767 ms
64 bytes from 192.0.32.10: icmp_seq=1 ttl=240 time=96.521 ms
64 bytes from 192.0.32.10: icmp_seq=2 ttl=240 time=95.766 ms
64 bytes from 192.0.32.10: icmp_seq=3 ttl=240 time=95.638 ms
64 bytes from 192.0.32.10: icmp_seq=4 ttl=240 time=95.414 ms
64 bytes from 192.0.32.10: icmp_seq=5 ttl=240 time=93.367 ms

Press CTRL+C if they carry on past 6 lines then you should get this:

6 packets transmitted, 6 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 93.367/95.912/98.767/1.599 ms

The numbers do no matter except for the packet loss one. just above. If that is 100% then your ISP is to blame. If not and you still can't get on google, post that output here and I will tell you what the problem is.

rkaufmann87 wrote:

If you have internet cable there must be a modem somewhere, that's just how cable internet works. Did you Reset Safari as instructed and restart in Safe Mode?

In an educational facility like that one, the router will be a £15,000-£50,000 box in the basement connecting several hundred users, I don't think he is going to be allowed to reset the whole complexes internet and if it was a router or modem problem with connecting to Google, I think someone might have noticed.

While I agree the DNS could be to blame using the method described is dangerous as it could bork your whole system. I'd recommend simply changing the DNS setting and if that doesn't work to uninstall the change. You can follow the instructions in DNS Settings Update and use those settngs.

Erm, excuse me, but how does flushing your cache, something that your mac does itself on a monthly basis 'bork the system?'

Unless you're trying to tell me that pinging Google is dangerous, which would be hilariously wrong for someone that has so many points.

He's much better off trying this and if that does not work using a Public DNS server, which is the advice I would ahve gave him to start with but he is on a educational network and that often blocks DNS servers (so tehy can enforce restrictions on surfing **** etc). That can be done inside network settings very simply without needing your 'app'.

It was the way you're going about it, using the sudo command in Terminal isn't recommended unless you are extremely confident using Terminal. I thought using Terminal to achieve something as simple as clearing caches and resetting the DNS simply was uneccessay, the same can be achieved from the GUI and be much safer for the typical Mac user.

In short I wasn't disagreeing with your solution, it just wasn't elegant in that its more complex than using the GUI.

Your welcome