OS 10.9.2: Safari tells me can't find server. Click on another web site, makes connection. Is the problem Safari, Airport Extreme or DSL modem or internet provider?

Question

OS 10.9.2: Safari tells me can't find server. Click on another web site, makes connection. Is the problem Safari, Airport Extreme or DSL modem or internet provider?

I click on a web site and make connection. I can click on this website later and Safari cannot connect to a specific server for this sight. I click on another get message can't find server. Click return arrow, make connection with website. Too many: "can't find server." This happens quite often and at anytime. In my mail, I can click on a website in the mail and can get same message or it goes through. Where does the fault lie?

Posted on Apr 4, 2014 5:07 AM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,590 points

Apr 4, 2014 5:12 AM in response to Edward Boghosian

It could be the DNS server. It translates names into numbers. The server addresses are usually provided by your ISP. Check System Prefernces, Network. Select your networking service (ethernet or wifi) and click Advanced.

Click the DNS tab and see what the addresses listed are.

Are they grayed out or are they black text?

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Answer 2

Apr 4, 2014 9:16 AM in response to Barney-15E

One set of numbers: ---.---.-.-. All grayed out.

WiFi connected; Ethernet not connected; Firewire not connected, & Bluetooth Pan not connected. Then the one set of grayed out numbers. Leads from the side items, hopefully, but not tried yet.

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Apr 4, 2014 10:44 AM in response to Edward Boghosian

DNS Cache Reset

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Answer 4

Apr 4, 2014 11:45 AM in response to Eric Root

But, does it work for Maverick 10.9.2?

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,590 points

Apr 4, 2014 2:20 PM in response to Edward Boghosian

Edward Boghosian wrote:

One set of numbers: ---.---.-.-. All grayed out.

WiFi connected; Ethernet not connected; Firewire not connected, & Bluetooth Pan not connected. Then the one set of grayed out numbers. Leads from the side items, hopefully, but not tried yet.

Are they your Router? If so, then you need to check what DNS settings your router has.

Since you don't seem to want to post them, you'll have to determine for yourself if they are the ones your ISP is supposed to provide. If you are using DHCP, it should be getting the settings from the ISP, but if something has hacked your router, then it might be something different.

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Answer 6

Apr 4, 2014 3:45 PM in response to Barney-15E

In Network, under DNS, the DNS server has a server setting of 192.168.1.1 grayed out. There is only one set of numbers here. Under TCP/IP, the computer has a number: 192.168.1.1 and using DHCP. In Airport Utility, get the globe which represents the Internet connected vertically to the AirPort Extreme. The internet has a router address of 192.168.1.1 and the DNS server the same number. The AirPort Extreme has an IP address of 192.168.1.33 and the LAN IP address is the same. I didn't give you the number the first time is because I wasn't sure whether I should make all of these numbers public.

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Answer 7

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,590 points

Apr 4, 2014 3:59 PM in response to Edward Boghosian

Those are all internal to your network behind your router.

If you click on the Globe, you should have settings like this (but likely different unless you are using Cox Cable):

Those numbers you need to verify are correct for your ISP. The should be shown on your ISPs settings web page, but they can change, so it may not be listed.

You can do a Whois lookup on the web to determine if those are correct for your ISP, if they don't have any listed.

If the settings are correct and you are still having issues, you can try to rule out any problems on your ISPs end by using some other DNS on your Mac (putting them in where I had you check the first time).

You could use OpenDNS or Google, or any others you know of. If replacing them on your Mac fixes the issue, then your ISP's DNS servers are likely having problems and they may clear up.

Another way you can check for DNS failures is to type in the actual IP address of the site you are having trouble with. If that goes through when the words fail, then it is a DNS problem. However, finding the actual IP address may be difficult.

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