DNS is a service without which using the network would not be as easy as it is today. It provides, among other things, mechanisms that allow you to assign domain names (e.g. www.whatmobile.net) to the IP addresses on which the service is running. This frees users from having to remember website addresses in numerical form. DNS also contains a lot of information that is used in communication between servers – e.g. what server is responsible for mail support for a given domain.
Why DNS is Important?
DNS is so important, and it caused problems as well. One of the most common errors related to the Internet connection in Windows is the error: “DNS server not responding“. At the same time, you lost access to the Internet. The connection icon will most likely have a yellow triangle, and the browser will most likely get the error “Unable to find DNS”, “err name not resolved” or something like this when trying to open a website. This problem is caused by the failure of the DNS server that is responsible for the redirected IP addresses to the domain. If we talk about the reasons for this error, there are various causes. The culprit may be the computer itself, the router or the equipment on the supplier’s side.
What should you do in the event of a DNS server error? We suggest how to solve the problem in this post.
What is DNS?
DNS (Domain Name System) is a server system that stores data about domain addresses. The DNS function is to translate domain letters and numbers into IP addresses appropriately assigned to devices in the network.
The server operation diagram is as follows:
- You enter the website address in the browser,
- The DNS server is connected,
- DNS server sets the address of the destination server where the website you selected is located.
Malfunctions – Network Connection
If the cause of the interference is a network failure, the first step to resolve the problem will be to check that your computer has a working network connection. It should be assessed whether:
the cable connection is not unplugged, the computer or router correctly detects the network card.
In the last case, you need to check if the LEDs for Internet connection are on and try to reset the router by disconnecting it from the power supply for several seconds.
Pinging – Diagnosing Network Connections
It may be helpful to ping other computers on the network or website (learn guide on Pinging an IP address on Windows 10).
To measure ping:
- Open the system command prompt (enter “command prompt” into the system search engine or select + r on the Windows keyboard and type “cmd“);
- Enter the ping IP command (PING device_name / IP address, e.g. PING 192.168.1.1 or PING, name of the website, no spaces).
If you are still not connected to the internet, the cause of the DNS error is elsewhere.
Manually Entering DNS Addresses
To solve the problem, you can try connecting via the preferred and alternative DNS addresses you entered yourself (the addresses depend on your ISP and network connection hardware).
Step by step instructions:
- At the command prompt, type ipconfig/all. data regarding network connections will be returned;
- Having the correct DNS addresses, open the network and Internet settings and then the properties;
- In the TCP settings enter the DNS addresses of the network operator;
- Apply the changes and try connecting to the network again.
Replacement of Equipment
It is possible that the used hardware may be outdated, which means that it does not correctly support standard WEP encryption and cannot automatically assign an IP address. There is nothing else but to get the right new network card.
Final Words
To sum up, DNS servers translate domain names into IP addresses, thanks to which browsers know which resources to refer to after entering a specific domain name. It is worth remembering that each device connected to the Internet has its own unique IP address. Imagine the endless number of addresses that we would have to know today to shop freely, sell a car, or order cinema tickets. Each of these addresses would have to be saved somewhere – this task is performed by DNS for all of us.
If you have other doubts related to the operation of networks or servers, if you want to find out more information that is interesting and fixing tactics, we invite you to read other articles on our blog.
