What does is mean when the DNS server is down?

Question

My computers say they are connected to the internet, everythings working fine, yet they won't actually LOAD the internet. I went and restarted my routers and ****, because that usually fixes the problem. Well this time it didn't and I'vebeen messing with it for about a half hour. I let vista run a thing to diagnose the problem and it said it might be that the DNS server is down ? Can somebody explain to me what this means, and also, how to fix my internet connection?

(oh and for the record im using the internet right now via cellphone.)

Answer 1

If a DNS server is down that means that when you type a domain like http://www.domain.com the server that will go find where domain.com is located is not responding.

What I would do is call your ISP (Verizon, AOL, ect) and see if they are experiencing any problems.  Tell them you would like them to run a "line test".  What they will do is check from their server to your router to ensure the line is open and everything is working properly.  If they tell you that it's working fine ask them why you cannot connect to the internet.

Best of luck,

Chad

Answer 2

The DNS is what turns something like google.com into something the computer can understand.

Look into connecting a a different DNS service like OpenDNS.

http://www.opendns.com/

Answer 3

DNS is what makes an address like www.yahoo.com map to the associated IP address. if you don't have a DNS server then you don't have a way to type addresses in and go to web pages

Answer 4

It isn't the DNS server as there are more than one DNS servers you will connect to in case of failure and if that many DNS servers were down it would be a huge outage. Try resetting your router again but leave it unplugged for five minutes, also do the same to your modem if it is different from your router. The DNS takes ip address such as 69.147.76.15 and gives them a name such as www.yahoo.com. It just makes it easier for you to navigate the internet. When your computer can't resolve to a DNS server then you wont find anything by typing in a name online. Try using the IP I gave you above. Just put it in your browser and if you get to yahoo then it is DNS if not then it is something else.

Answer 5

Whatever the case, you need to call the ISP and tell them, they can find the problem and fix it.

Try going to 64.233.161.103 (that's the IP for Google.com).

If you can get there then it's definately the DNS server that's the problem.

A DNS (Domain Name Server) translates what you type (www.google.com) into it's internet address (64.233.161.103) so your computer can communicate with it.

Answer 6

Computers have addresses which are associated with the URL you type in the address bar.

When you type www.yahoo.com - the DNS server translates that into a number called an IP address.

If your DNS server is down - you will get an error. The computer cannot connect to the webserver which hosts www.yahoo.com because it can't resolve the numeric address (IP address)

You get the DNS address from your service provider and it gets stored on your router.  Sometimes your ISP changes the DNS servers address (already a IP address) and your router hasn't received the update.  Cycling fixes it yes