DNS being bogged down

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Guest

Remember in the old days when due to memory leaks after working on the
computer for a while, applications became unstable and crashed? My current
problem reminds me of that.

When first opened my IE browser works fine. Since this is at work I always
have other applications running also, including MS SQL Server. After a while
my browser becomes slower and slower. At a certain point, I can no longer
connect to web sites. All I get is the ALERT pop-up window that says:
"www.so_and_so.com could not be found. Please check the name and try again"

I strongly suspect it has something to do with my computer's DNS function
because the connection to my ISP is still on and all I have to do to solve
the problem was to close all applications and reboot my computer.

Access to the Net is necessary while I am working and to have to reboot
every half an hour or so is extremely annoying. Lately the problem seems to
be getting worse meaning the interval between reboots is getting shorter.

Please help!

PS: I already tried the obvious like cleaning up temp files and histories. I
also run Adaware and Spybot regularly to get rid of Spywares.
 
darrenbruin said:
Remember in the old days when due to memory leaks after working on the
computer for a while, applications became unstable and crashed? My current
problem reminds me of that.

When first opened my IE browser works fine. Since this is at work I always
have other applications running also, including MS SQL Server. After a
while
my browser becomes slower and slower. At a certain point, I can no longer
connect to web sites. All I get is the ALERT pop-up window that says:
"www.so_and_so.com could not be found. Please check the name and try
again"

I strongly suspect it has something to do with my computer's DNS function
because the connection to my ISP is still on and all I have to do to solve
the problem was to close all applications and reboot my computer.

Access to the Net is necessary while I am working and to have to reboot
every half an hour or so is extremely annoying. Lately the problem seems
to
be getting worse meaning the interval between reboots is getting shorter.

Please help!

PS: I already tried the obvious like cleaning up temp files and histories.
I
also run Adaware and Spybot regularly to get rid of Spywares.

First eliminate any spyware.
What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/devioussoftware.mspx

CAUTION!!!!! Removing some spyware can damage the Winsock stack and you may
not be able to connect to the Internet. Before you try to remove spyware,
download a copy of LSP-Fix - a free program to repair damaged Winsock 2
stacks AFTER you remove the software (all Windows versions)
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm
Winsockfix for W95, W98, ME, NT, 2000, XP
http://www.tacktech.com/pub/winsockfix/WinsockFix.zip
Directions here: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=257
WinXP:
Get WinSockxpFix
http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html
How to Reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357
In WinXP SP2: You can fix Winsock by going to Start | Run and typing
CMD
In the command window type
netsh winsock reset

See
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/tshoot.htm
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com
 
darrenbruin said:
Remember in the old days when due to memory leaks after working on the
computer for a while, applications became unstable and crashed? My current
problem reminds me of that.

When first opened my IE browser works fine. Since this is at work I always
have other applications running also, including MS SQL Server. After a while
my browser becomes slower and slower. At a certain point, I can no longer
connect to web sites. All I get is the ALERT pop-up window that says:
"www.so_and_so.com could not be found. Please check the name and try again"

I strongly suspect it has something to do with my computer's DNS function
because the connection to my ISP is still on and all I have to do to solve
the problem was to close all applications and reboot my computer.


Rebooting could be covering up lots of problems.

Try some more precise diagnosis before rebooting.
E.g. at least find out how nslookup is responding.

FWIW here is the answer I gave to someone else recently
about the same symptom.

<repost>

I have a similar symptom on Dial-up.
In order to check on it I open a cmd window and enter nslookup
(without operands.) If my system is in the problem state nslookup will
indicate timeouts trying to do reverse lookups on the server addresses.

I have no way of knowing whether this state indicates a problem on the
client side or on the server side. I have not yet resorted to trying to run
continual traces trying to capture an occurrence of the traffic which leads
up to this state (in which case I would have a better idea of where the
problem lies.) The only real way of knowing however, would be to have
concurrent traces running on both the client and the server and that would
require the cooperation of somebody on the server side (e.g. someone
from my ISP). I have mentioned this and even more easily diagnosed
problems to my ISP but they only want to finger-point.

Consequently each time the problem state is clearly identified by the
nslookup test I simply disconnect and reconnect. E.g. via the same
command window I would give nslookup its exit subcommand and
then enter:

rasdial /d

to hang up the link. Undoubtedly the same effect is being achieved
by your rebooting. Broadband or LAN users should be able to achieve
a similar result using ipconfig options but usually such posters claim that
that command has no effect and continue to assert that only rebooting
clears up the problem state.


Alternatively, if you suspect that your lookups are the only problem
or especially if they only occur with one site you could try isolating
DNS from your symptoms by adding an entry to HOSTS to replace
the lookup. It would probably have to be a very simple test page though,
e.g. one which avoided the possibility of redirects or lookups for page
components in order to validate an assumption that the override had not
avoided the problem (since if the test page still failed to render you might
be seeing the same external symptom for a different reason.)


BTW since you have isolated your problem from IE you should be looking
for support in a more general forum, e.g., in a newsgroup which specializes
in networking for your OS.

Note that while IE may be involved with this problem that the real expertise
you need is probably in a networking newsgroup.

In any case here is an interactive troubleshooter which you can try.
It contains a link to an XP newsgroup which specializes in networking.

http://www.michna.com/kb/


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
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