PLEASE HELP ME!!!

[Guest]

Hi

For the past 2 weeks, the following url does not work: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs
I always get the "Cannot find sever or DNS error
The site worked fine before they got new servers
This is the only site that does not work for me
The part of the site that doesn't work is the message boards.(www.gamefaqs.com works for me

I have Win 98, and dial up internet

I try pinging the site, but I get an "unknown host" error

I have tired the following with NO luck
-Contacting my IS
-Contacting the site admi
-Using Netscape Navigato
-Searching for spywar
-Finding my HOSTS file and removing the localsever I
-A whole bunch of "internet options" fooling aroun
-that winsock fix thing
-and probably more that I can't remember..

PLEASE HELP ME!

I am desperately trying to fix this(I used to use the site everyday), and I think I have exhausted my options..

Even if I have listed an option that I have done already, please list it again as I had no idea what I was doing for most of the options

Thank you for your time

 

[Guest]

Remove all your cookies. They are still liked with the
old servers which is why you can't access the new ones.

-----Original Message-----
Hi.

For the past 2 weeks, the following url does not work: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/
I always get the "Cannot find sever or DNS error"
The site worked fine before they got new servers.
This is the only site that does not work for me.
The part of the site that doesn't work is the message

boards.(www.gamefaqs.com works for me)

I have Win 98, and dial up internet.

I try pinging the site, but I get an "unknown host" error.

I have tired the following with NO luck:
-Contacting my ISP
-Contacting the site admin
-Using Netscape Navigator
-Searching for spyware
-Finding my HOSTS file and removing the localsever IP
-A whole bunch of "internet options" fooling around
-that winsock fix thing.
-and probably more that I can't remember...

PLEASE HELP ME!!

I am desperately trying to fix this(I used to use the

site everyday), and I think I have exhausted my options...

Even if I have listed an option that I have done

already, please list it again as I had no idea what I was
doing for most of the options!

 

[Guest]

I've tried that with no luck...

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

I try pinging the site, but I get an "unknown host" error.

That proves you have a DNS problem.
Did you see my reply in your first thread (before you disclosed your OS)?

<example>
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: c10-gs-forum-lb.cnet.com
Address: 216.239.115.136
Aliases: boards.gamefaqs.com
</example>

You could try ping'ing that canonical name or the IP address
instead of the alias.

Have you reported your difficulty to your ISP? They might at least
be able to give you some different addresses for DNS servers.


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Thank you for your help, but could you explain exactly what I have to do please.

Please leave at least some of the thread intact so we can refer to it
in our replies.

I don't do spoon-feeding but I will explain what I wrote.
I gave you the results of my nslookup for your problem site name:

<example>
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: c10-gs-forum-lb.cnet.com
Address: 216.239.115.136
Aliases: boards.gamefaqs.com
</example>

I then wrote a suggestion:

<suggestion>
You could try ping'ing that canonical name or the IP address
instead of the alias.
</suggestion>


What do you think I meant by that? Hint: realize that I assume you already
know what "ping'ing" means because you wrote in your opening post:

I try pinging the site, but I get an "unknown host" error.

</quote>

Are you telling me that you think you used the command incorrectly?

And yes, I tried my ISP, but they told me stuff I already knew, so no help from them...

The difference is that now you have something to tell *them*,
especially if it turns out that you can

ping c10-gs-forum-lb.cnet.com -n 1

or
ping 216.239.115.136 -n 1

but still can't
ping boards.gamefaqs.com -n 1


Or even better that you can telnet to them on port 80 or even open
those alternate addresses using your browser but can't open the alias
the way that you used to be able to. (Note: exercise for the reader. <g>)


Good luck

Robert
---

 

[Guest]

----- Robert Aldwinckle wrote: -----

"Andrew" <[email protected]> wrote in message

I gave you the results of my nslookup for your problem site name:

<example>
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: c10-gs-forum-lb.cnet.com
Address: 216.239.115.136
Aliases: boards.gamefaqs.com
</example>

I then wrote a suggestion:

<suggestion>
You could try ping'ing that canonical name or the IP address
instead of the alias.

</suggestion>

Thank you for your time and your help.
Okay, I can ping the IP and the "c10-gs-forum-lb.cnet.com", and I can even access them. The thing is, they are a "shared" server- GameSpot and GameFAQs both use them for their boards(they merged, causing all this grief for me...).
So, if I put in "c10-gs-forum-lb.cnet.com"or the IP address, it takes me to the GameSpot forums, not GameFAQs(since they are shared), same if I click on their links on GameSpot's site. I try the same for GameFAQs(using the sites links), but I get the "Cannot find server" error...
Since they are shared, they would forward you to the site's boards that you wanted. The weird thing is, I can access the GameSpot's boards, but not GameFAQs.

The question I have now is, since they are shared, and I can access the GameSpot side of the shared servers, do you think this "sharing" of servers is confusing my internet, and only allowing me to one side of the servers, thinking that it is on;y one?


Thanks!

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

....

do you think this "sharing" of servers is confusing my internet, and only
allowing me to one side of the servers, thinking that it is only one?

Let's review. You don't have nslookup so the only way that you can
check on your DNS is by using ping -n 1. (We are assuming that the
address returned for that lookup has not been overriden by an invalid entry
from your HOSTS file.) You can't ping boards.gamefaqs.com but you can
ping what I have told you appears to be its canonical name and its address.
Therefore, it appears that the problem is your DNS is not giving you any
way to do a lookup for boards.gamefaqs.com.

The proper solution to this problem is to get your ISP to fix their DNS
or for them to give you an address of a different DNS server which doesn't
have the problem.

A temporary solution is to *add* an entry into your HOSTS file so that
you can do a lookup for boards.gamefaqs.com and let it return the address
that we now know is shared by other servers for other services.

Here is how you could code the line:

216.239.115.136 boards.gamefaqs.com


Try that and see if it lets you get to the service you want.
Then please notify your ISP about *their* problem.
Once their problem is fixed be sure to remove the override
from your HOSTS file or eventually it may come back to haunt
you, e.g., in the event that the proper lookup changes.


Good luck

Robert
---

 

[Guest]

Once again, thank you for your help

I'm going to e-mail my ISP tongiht, and one last question
Is this my real HOSTS file
File

# Copyright (c) 1998 Microsoft Corp

# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP stack for Windows9

# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Eac
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address shoul
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least on
# space

# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individua
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol

# For example

# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source serve
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client hos

216.239.115.136 boards.gamefaqs.com


I added that gamefaqs part in, and saved it

Is that what I am supposed to do exactly

Thanks again!

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Is that what I am supposed to do exactly?

Those blank lines are questionable.
They probably will be ignored but I would leave them out
or make them into proper comment lines (# in column 1)
Otherwise, yes.


Good luck

Robert