[lug] Re: Problem with resolving

[D. Stimits]

...
> port 80. I did try Dan's idea of telnetting to a URL on port 80. It
> did not resolve. I have been very reluctant to blame the problem on
> the ActionTec modem as two people have suggested.

So you know for sure now it is not a browser problem, nor a web site 
problem, but something in between.

Find the dotted decimal address, and try "telnet <dotted-decimal-IP> 
80". If you get any response at all, it is entirely DNS. If you get no 
response, like before with a named address, then it is in the route 
mechanism. Use the host command (or nslookup if on older stuff) to find 
the actual IP.

> I was/am at wits end, so I decided to give it a try, and just point at
> the nameserver that is a real nameserver rather than the one in the
> modem. BUT when I got home from work and went to try it, the machine
> was already resolving correctly before I did anything. I had not
> rebooted it since yesterday when it was NOT working. I then rebooted
> to see if that would make it start failing again. Of course it didn't.
> I guess I just run it like this until it begins to not work correctly
> again.
> 
> Does anyone think they understand this behaviour? Does this maybe
> re-enforce the idea that it is a flakey nameserver in the modem?
...

Caching and stupid hardware trying to be smart. Perhaps it is timing out 
and has some sort of rules to keep it from flooding by querying too 
soon. If it is the DNS name problem, then the test listed above skips 
DNS name resolution and will tell you immediately. Try the "host 
<plain-text-name>" and see if that fails too.

D. Stimits, stimits AT comcast DOT net