DNS issues

This is my first post.  How long does it normally take to get an answer?  Do Cox moderators view these posts?

While you may get a response or two, you'll have to look elsewhere for answers.

You'll want to be prepared to describe in detail how your home network is setup. The manufacturer and model numbers of all devices. A screenshot of your modem's signal level diagnostic page, one when everything's cool and one when it's having the issue.

You'll be asked to remove any splitters on the cable running to the modem, to reboot the modem and to connect directly to the modem via Ethernet. This back and forth could last days.

If, perchance, a moderator steps in they'll ask if you've performed these tasks and if so has the issue resolved itself. If it has not, they'll be more than happy to schedule a technician to come out (for a fee, which just increased recently) and investigate further. 

Good luck!

If you are using Windows, can you check your Event Viewer, Windows Logs, System, and look for any DNS Client event 1014 entries?  If you find those, it is either a problem with your network adapter going into low power / "sleep", or with a software firewall.  McAfee's firewall caused that behavior for my Windows 7 Pro x64 system.

" turn back on WIFI on my computer everything starts working again for a while. "

Disabling/enabling Wifi fixes wifi on your computer or entire network? Does it effect just wireless or wired too?

" I also have a centurylink backup connection and have no issues with it. "

Can you explain this backup? Do you have a dual WAN router?

Last, have you tried pinging the site from CMD? What are the results/errors?

"Disabling/enabling Wifi fixes wifi on your computer or entire network? Does it effect just wireless or wired too?"

I turn off/on wifi on my computer

"Can you explain this backup? Do you have a dual WAN router?"

I have a completely separate Centurylink wireless network with its own router. I never have this problem when connected to this network. same computer.

"Last, have you tried pinging the site from CMD? What are the results/errors?"

when this occurs, i cant even connect to the router

I have a macbook pro. like I said, this only happens when I am connected to my Cox network.  When I am connected to Centurylink there is no issue, so i'm thinking its not the computer.  unless the actual network configuration is wrong.

custinMesa said:
when this occurs, i cant even connect to the router

If you can't even connect to the router, it's not a DNS issue. DNS is for resolving domains (cox.net) to a IP. Think of it like 411 for your computer. Without it, your computer won't know where to go, but it should still connect to the network and get a IP. Can you see the network name?

Also, what kind of router do you have?

I have a ubee which i purchased from cox. Also, the internet is still available when this occurs. I am connected to a gaming site and that established connection still communicates. However, if i try to use a browser to surf or establish another connection, that wont work.

custinMesa said:
I have a ubee which i purchased from cox.

Is it a Ubee DDW365? Did you configure it or did Cox? A common problem is wireless interference from other wifi networks around you. Sometimes you can fix this by changing the wireless channel, but it depends on what networks around you are using. Here is article on tips to get the best signal.

And to clarify, do you still have a active wireless connection? I know I sound like I am nit picking but exactly how the failure is happening tells a lot on how to fix it. If you want to confirm its just a DNS issue, try setting a static DNS like 8.8.8.8 for a day and see if that fixes it?

custinMesa said:

I have a completely separate Centurylink wireless network with its own router. I never have this problem when connected to this network. same computer.

When you are having this problem, is your Centurylink network off?  Could your Centurylink router still be on?  If so, that could cause WiFi interference especially if they operate on adjacent channels.  One last thought, if you Centurylink router is still on and WiFi is active but your connection to the Centurylink network is off, your computer could be jumping on that WiFi network and going nowhere.  This would cause the exact issues you are seeing, resetting WiFi on your computer may cause it to reconnect to the Cox network.

I believe it is.  I'll check tonight.  Cox installed it and I did some basic configuration (changed the passwd, set the SSID) .Thanks for the article.  If it truly turns out to be interference that can't be resolved I will probably have to get rid of Cox.  Centurylink uses the wireless network for their PRISM TV connectivity for their set top boxes, so I cant disable it.  I will try the DNS suggestion also.  thanks.

Also,  the wireless connection is still active.  I know this because i am still connected to the gaming site which is unaffected.  Only new attempts to connect to the internet (browse, open other windows on the gaming site) fail.

My computer definitely ison the same network.  the centurylink router is on and being used by centurylink TV service for other uses.  I will try to change channels tonight to see if that helps.  thanks.

Health Edge said:

And to clarify, do you still have a active wireless connection? I know I sound like I am nit picking but exactly how the failure is happening tells a lot on how to fix it. If you want to confirm its just a DNS issue, try setting a static DNS like 8.8.8.8 for a day and see if that fixes it?

Just so you're aware, I attempted to chase this down for an employer, but wasn't allowed the time.

The DNS Client event 1014 issue kills all capability of any sort of doing anything with the IP stack.  I found that out when it started happening on a home computer I got after my employment ended (layoff).  A reinitialize of the adapter and thus the stack would fix it, but only temporarily.  Pinging the router would report "General Failure" when this was going on.  My Android phone was still on the network and perfectly fine, so it was isolated to this machine.

I tried all the suggestions you will find on the web about power saving modes / sleep.  Still kept on happening.  I then ran across something that made me think about a software firewall, and I disabled McAfee and the problem went away completely.

It then dawned on me that the computer at the former employer had AVG Firewall running.  I was told it wasn't a problem I needed to worry about, although it interfered with the employee's job.

I love being undervalued and unappreciated... lol

BrianS said:
A reinitialize of the adapter and thus the stack would fix it, but only temporarily. 

So reintizing the DNS cach fixes the problem. That cache is inside the PC, not the router. It makes sense a firefall issue would effect this.

BrianS said:
Pinging the router would report "General Failure" when this was going on. 

So the problem isn't so much resolving DNS as it is reaching the DNS. A general failure is failure of ICMP traffic, and I assume you were pinging by IP, which doesn't involve DNS at all. Kind of sounds like a hardware problem, but you fixed it with a software work around, so I am not sure how that worked. Glad it did though. Does this help OP?