No DNS resolution

OK, I've been given yet another PC by a 'friend' to fix (amazing how many
'friends' you seem to gain when you work in IT). Anyway, for once the
machine has me stumped at the moment - it just won't do any DNS resolution.

I've tried it over dial-up, I've put a network card in and tried it over my
LAN, but it just won't resolve any DNS requests. All other networking is
fine and WINS works OK, but it won't resolve a single DNS request.

I've tried removing and re-installing all the network components, I even
tried an upgrade re-install of Windows Me, but it doesn't make a shred of
difference. If I run WINIPCFG then I can see that it is picking up the
appropriate DNS servers, but as soon as you try anything which would make it
resolve an address you just get an address not found error.

Any ideas?

--
Mike C
-
If you don't say what you mean,
Then how can you ever mean what you say?

On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 20:13:37 -0000, "Mike C"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>OK, I've been given yet another PC by a 'friend' to fix (amazing how many
>'friends' you seem to gain when you work in IT). Anyway, for once the
>machine has me stumped at the moment - it just won't do any DNS resolution.
>
>I've tried it over dial-up, I've put a network card in and tried it over my
>LAN, but it just won't resolve any DNS requests. All other networking is
>fine and WINS works OK, but it won't resolve a single DNS request.
>
>I've tried removing and re-installing all the network components, I even
>tried an upgrade re-install of Windows Me, but it doesn't make a shred of
>difference. If I run WINIPCFG then I can see that it is picking up the
>appropriate DNS servers, but as soon as you try anything which would make it
>resolve an address you just get an address not found error.
>
>Any ideas?

Mike,

How about a dns hijack or a dns caching program? Start with a spyware
check. Get HijackThis
<http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155> and Spybot S&D
<http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download>.
1) Install and run Spybot. First update it ("Search for updates"),
then run a scan ("Check for problems"). Trust Spybot, and make all
recommended deletions.
2) Install and run HijackThis. Do NOT make any changes immediately.
3) Have your HJT log interpreted by experts at one or more of the
following forums (and post it here):
<http://forums.tomcoyote.org/>
<http://63.247.79.145/~coyote/forums/index.php?act=idx>
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php?board=17>
<http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?s=8a1e9d7c1978cff54ca06a3210c7c1b0&showf orum=32>
<http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/index.php?s=68ddc23721b063d5411ece09e5ac93f9&showf orum=11>
(The latter may or may not respond for you as I have read reports that
the SWI site is currently under DoS attack). All of these forums
appear to be rather busy right now, so be patient.

If that doesn't sound interesting, post ipconfig and route listings
here.
- "ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt"
- "route print >c:\route.txt"
- Copy and paste c:\ipconfig.txt and c:\route.txt from Notepad.

Can you ping the dns servers identified? Have you tried other
servers?

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

> How about a dns hijack or a dns caching program? Start with a spyware
> check. Get HijackThis

I have removed a lot of general @#*$ from the machine, so it could be that
kind of program. I think I've got it clean, but running an Spyware checker
would be a good ide a - I'll get that done. Have to download any updates
seperately on another machine though, due to the DNS problems on the Windows
ME one, no kind of auto-update will work.

> Can you ping the dns servers identified? Have you tried other
> servers?

I can ping and tracert through to the DNS servers in question and I have
tried others, still no name resolution.

Anyway - a thorough Spyware check first, then I'll see how it goes.

Cheers,

Mike

> OK, I've been given yet another PC by a 'friend' to fix (amazing how many
> 'friends' you seem to gain when you work in IT).

Go here:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/

They have a T-shirt bearing the words "NO, I will NOT fix your PC!"

;-)

> Anyway, for once the
> machine has me stumped at the moment - it just won't do any DNS resolution.

Erm... well, if Chuck's scumware search turns up nothing, you can always
try this to see what's really going on:

www.ethereal.com

HTH.

> OK, I've been given yet another PC by a 'friend' to fix (amazing how many
> 'friends' you seem to gain when you work in IT). Anyway, for once the
> machine has me stumped at the moment - it just won't do any DNS resolution.

Just thought... have you tried looking at LMHOSTS?

"Invisible" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > OK, I've been given yet another PC by a 'friend' to fix (amazing how
many
> > 'friends' you seem to gain when you work in IT). Anyway, for once the
> > machine has me stumped at the moment - it just won't do any DNS
resolution.
>
> Just thought... have you tried looking at LMHOSTS?

Yeah, sadly both LMHOSTS and HOSTS seemed empty and inoffensive.

--
Mike C
-
If you don't say what you mean,
Then how can you ever mean what you say?

www.careyholzman.com/netfixes.htm

Tip #3

Carey


"Mike C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:MP8Zb.404$(E-Mail Removed)...
> OK, I've been given yet another PC by a 'friend' to fix (amazing how many
> 'friends' you seem to gain when you work in IT). Anyway, for once the
> machine has me stumped at the moment - it just won't do any DNS
resolution.
>
> I've tried it over dial-up, I've put a network card in and tried it over
my
> LAN, but it just won't resolve any DNS requests. All other networking is
> fine and WINS works OK, but it won't resolve a single DNS request.
>
> I've tried removing and re-installing all the network components, I even
> tried an upgrade re-install of Windows Me, but it doesn't make a shred of
> difference. If I run WINIPCFG then I can see that it is picking up the
> appropriate DNS servers, but as soon as you try anything which would make
it
> resolve an address you just get an address not found error.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> --
> Mike C
> -
> If you don't say what you mean,
> Then how can you ever mean what you say?
>
>

"Carey Holzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23rud8fA%(E-Mail Removed)...
> www.careyholzman.com/netfixes.htm
>
> Tip #3
>
> Carey

I've not had chance to work on the machine again as yet, since posting my
message, but I shall certainly include that in my list of things to try.

Cheers

--
Mike C
-
If you don't say what you mean,
Then how can you ever mean what you say?

"Mike C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:LHCZb.2390$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Carey Holzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%23rud8fA%(E-Mail Removed)...
> > www.careyholzman.com/netfixes.htm
> >

Well, it ended up being just about everything that could be broken was
broken, finally got it sorted after:

1) Manual cleanup
2) Spybot Search & Destroy (lots of junk found)
3) Lavasoft AdAware (lots more junk found)
4) the LSPFix
5) Final manual clean-up

It's been a long time since I worked on Windows Me and I'm in no hurry to do
so again for a while!

--
Mike C
-
If you don't say what you mean,
Then how can you ever mean what you say?

Glad to hear you got it all sorted. Thanks for letting us know.

Carey

"Mike C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Kv3_b.11409$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Mike C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:LHCZb.2390$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > "Carey Holzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:%23rud8fA%(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > www.careyholzman.com/netfixes.htm
> > >
>
> Well, it ended up being just about everything that could be broken was
> broken, finally got it sorted after:
>
> 1) Manual cleanup
> 2) Spybot Search & Destroy (lots of junk found)
> 3) Lavasoft AdAware (lots more junk found)
> 4) the LSPFix
> 5) Final manual clean-up
>
> It's been a long time since I worked on Windows Me and I'm in no hurry to
do
> so again for a while!
>
> --
> Mike C
> -
> If you don't say what you mean,
> Then how can you ever mean what you say?
>
>