IE6 stopped - Cannot find server or DNS error

[Ron C.]

I have recently removed some very active spyware/adware from my
XPpro laptop.

Since the removal, all the popups have stopped but so too
has IE. (v 6.0.2800.0006....). It can no longer find *any* websites, by
name or IP address. "Cannot find server or DNS error".

There is nothing special in the connection setup (DSL) , the LAN settings
set to automatically detect settings.

I have tried to reinstall IE6 and repair the OS, but no luck. I have also
installed mozilla which does not experience the problem, and finds
the sites OK.

Any help would be appreciated

regards
Ron

 

[Ron C.]

It's getting weird

If I type a url into explorers address bar, explorer navigates to the
website.

Typing the url into iexplorer, gives the message "
Cannot find server or DNS error"

As always, any help greatly appreciated

Ron

 

[Ron C.]

Hi Kathy,

I guess we must be on our own island.
Pitty I actually need to use IE, or i'd just use another product.
There's obviously a simple answer, just no-one to give it

cheers

 

[Mark]

Hi Kathy, Ron

Sorry to say but I have to come stand by you on your
little Island

Everything i have seen so far leans towards either a
Trojan, Spyware, adware or browser highjacking

I am getting a similar problem to you two I even went down
the avenue or reinstalling windows and formatting my 'C'
(hard drive needed cleaning down anyway). But I am still
getting the same error but not quite as frequently
managed to finish downloading 170mb of a file without a
hitch. I to have run all the checks and not found
anything.

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Hi Kathy,

I guess we must be on our own island.
Pitty I actually need to use IE, or i'd just use another product.
There's obviously a simple answer, just no-one to give it

The answer may be simple but the solution likely is not.
The symptoms being described here suggest a hijacking of your
browser's AutoSearch function. Apparently some of the latest variants
defy the efforts of the best tools and users may be forced to resort to
some brute force hacking to regain control of their systems.
Unfortunately not many users have the necessary skills to perform
such repairs.


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
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[Guest]

I've finally fixed my problem. The Norton firewall rules was blocking me out
of IE6. Symantec referred me to their support site

http://service1.symantec.com/Support/nip.nsf/docid/2002042908585736

I followed the instructions to remove all my firewall rules and using their
program wizard rescanned my computer and reinstalled new rules and now IE6
works.
Hope this helps you.

 

[MMD]

I have this problem sporadically but I can't get to a
website I have hosted on "(e-mail address removed)". It is very
frustrating. Earlink says its the host and the host says
its Earthlink. Nice finger pointing. Will try the
symantec solution. Any other help would be good. Thanks

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

I have this problem sporadically but I can't get to a
website I have hosted on "(e-mail address removed)".

That's an E-mail address you are showing us.
What is the URL that you are having trouble with?
Also make sure when you use it that you provide a proper protocol
prefix to try to avoid any confusion with the AutoSearch feature.

FWIW whenever I have trouble connecting to a site here is what I do.
Switch to a command window and enter:
nslookup
Without options nslookup just tests your DNS server addresses.
If they aren't working that explains why you can't connect.

Next I enter the server name. (See my question above about what your
URL is for your web site). E.g. if the web site I was trying to open was
http://bucks.com/ then I would enter bucks.com for nslookup to resolve
into an IP address. In fact, here is what I get when I do that:

<example>
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: bucks.com
Address: 63.240.105.137
Aliases: www.bucks.com
</example>

And if that step didn't work that would explain a problem symptom too.

Notice that www.bucks.com is an alias for the domain name.
Sometimes that seems to be an issue for some DNS servers.
I have speculated that perhaps they don't retain a list of aliases
and have to do extra requests of their own to adjacent and even
more remote DNS servers to resolve the alias name. In any case,
it seems that resolving alias names can take more time than
it takes to resolve the corresponding canonical name. And then
the next time you request it especially if you request it right away
it takes less time. I have suggested that that might be a useful
workaround as a way to prime the lookup for IE's attempt.

Next, I would like to know if there is an open port 80 on that server.
To do that I use telnet. For example:

telnet bucks.com 80

If the screen clears that means the port is open.
If there is a timeout that means either that there is no open port
or that there is no path to that server.

To check the latter you could use first: ping -n 1

ping -n 1 bucks.com

If that works there is at least a path to that server for ICMP packets.
If it doesn't work it unfortunately doesn't mean much any more
because many large sites now inhibit ICMP packets to guard
against the moronic Denial of Service "exploits" that the Internet
has been plagued with.

You can try to find out how far the ping gets by using tracert

tracert bucks.com

Again, it doesn't help a lot with your problem of getting an HTTP
connection working but at least it can tell you something about
the path to the server and if you have previously done it while
the server was working for you it may even give you some useful
clues about whether your ISP or the site was to blame for your
poor service.

Note that none of this has anything to do with IE and I am not
a networking expert. So if you need more detailed help you
may be better off posting your query to a newsgroup which
specializes in networking for your OS.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
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