no DNS until I PING something??

[ttrsux]

Just got a new laptop, and I'm experiencing something I've never seen before. I can't come up with the correct "keywords" to find the problem (or resolution rather) for this via google.

I have Windows 7 Pro, Dell Inspiron 1750 64-bit. I bring my laptop from home to work and back, every day. I keep my NIC on DHCP. Everytime I "plug in", whether it be wired ethernet or connect to a wireless network, I cannot seem to browse the internet until I ping ANY random dns name. When I IPCONFIG /ALL, I notice there are not DNS servers assigned to my NIC(s). After I ping something, and do another IPCONFIG /ALL, my DNS servers show up.

When I turn my computer on, I know I need to wait a minute or two for everything to start (although Windows 7 is the fastest boot up I've yet to see). After a minute or 2, I'll open IE, Google Chome, or Firefox (I've tested all browsers), and I can tell it's THINKING or trying to connect but can't. I'll leave the browser window open while it's thinking, and quickly open a cmd prompt, ping google.com, and as soon as I get my first PING REPLY, I can see in the background the homepage finally appears. If I don't ping anything, the browser times out (page not found or whatever).

Any ideas anyone? I thought about manually assigning some DNS servers like verizons or openDNS but that would cause problems at work (at home it'd be fine).

gracias

 

[ttrsux]

------------------- UPDATE -------------------

Right after creating this post, I created a DHCP reservation at work (been meaning to do that for a while). I restarted my computer, checked my IP settings and the reservation worked... AND I can see my two DNS servers listed, however I'm still not able to browse the internet until I PING something, so, it's not that I'm not being assigned DNS servers, because I am now, and the problem persists. Not sure what to troubleshoot, especially since it's a new laptop (not that new is perfect by any means)... :S

 

[StaplesMan]

have you tried nslookup instead of ping and see if that also makes everything work?

You can set your IP address as dynamic and you DNS as static in your network properties. Does that make it connect the first time?

Try and post..

CCNA, A+, HP Certified Professional

 

[ttrsux]

sorry for the late reply, for some reason i wasn't notified about your post. no, i haven't tried nslookup. what exactly would i do, set my server to my internal dns server and attempt to query a dns name? i'll try that and see what happens. i suppose since i only use hard-wire at work, and always wireless at home, static DNS wouldn't hurt.

thanks for the suggestion. i'll post results.

 

[StaplesMan]

You notied above that you ping any DNS name and it starts working. I'm wondering if the "ping" is fixing the problem or the "DNS lookup" is fixing the problem. I have a feeling the DNS lookup for whatever reason is fixing your problem and not the ping fixing it.

If you ping google.com first ping has to request a DNS lookup to get the IP address and then it starts pinging it.

So if we do a nslookup google.com then we try and use the internet with internet explorer then we know the fix is not the ping it's self but the domain name.

By doing this it could have something to do with a DNS issue on your laptop.

My next idea would be to change the DNS server that your router hands out. Instead of using your router's DNS server use some public servers. 4.2.2.2 or opendns.

If the nslookup works and you still can't access the internet then we would look more into routing and other issues is all I could think of.

Later,
Bobby

CCNA, A+, HP Certified Professional

 

[SimonDavies]

I am wondering if it's still looking at the old resolver cache (thinking that it is on the old network rather than the new one). If you do an ipconfig /flushdns on the machine can you then resolve dns names without doing a ping?

Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[StaplesMan]

Is your home network and work network just happen to be on the same subnet. For example home IP address 192.168.0.x and work is also 192.168.0.x. If this is correct change the subnet at home to something else and try it.



CCNA, A+, HP Certified Professional

 

[ttrsux]

@StaplesMan - I am on two different networks (home is 192.168.100.x and work is 192.168.1.x)

@SimonDavies - flushing DNS didn't work. This morning, these are the steps I took which all failed. At the end, a ping to google.com instantly removed the yellow exclamation mark from my network status icon -- which looks like a computer monitor with a little pitch fork on it):

1. powered up, nothing, changed to static DNS, nothing, left static DNS and rebooted, nothing

2. removed static DNS, flushed DNS, nothing

3. opened nslookup, queried google.com, got 4 timeouts

4. set server 4.2.2.2, queried google.com, got 4 timeouts

5. right-clicked network icon in sys tray, clicked "troubleshoot", it did it's diagnostics, and finally said "Your computer appears to be correctly configured, but the device or resource (

http://www.microsoft.com)

is not responting" with a little yellow triangle exclamation icon after that sentence.

6. Pinged google.com and the nic sys tray icon immediately went from the yellow exclamtion mark to the normal icon (this isn't the usual vista icon with the little blue world over the icon, but the windows 7 which is just a square computer screen with a pitch-fork looking thing on the left side of the icon)

X_x

 

[ttrsux]

I got a "Welcome!" flyer from Dell boasting the excellent support I get with my new laptop. Since they sent it to me I decided to humor myself by calling them for help with this.

Bob... helped me reinstall my network drivers and when that produced the same results they proceeded to tell me they'd like to reinstall the operating system. Well let's see, I only have the office 2007 suite installed, sql mgmt studio, visio, visual studio, expression, and all other web tools, CS4, adminpak, all my remote assistance tools, instant messaging, video editing, rosetta stone, video game emulators, vmware and perfectly configured VM's, music library and playlists configured... so I asked to be escalated to at least tier 2. Was denied. Laughed, hung up, and created a batch file to run at startup to ping google.com continuously until I simply closed the window.

reminds me of the classic vendor apology "sorry, we're sorry".

I am giving up and hoping there will be a mysterious windows update that will install itself along the line somewhere that will just fix this annoyance.

Thanks,
D

 

[normntwrk]

Perhaps a "repair" on Windows 7 might fix it

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

Norm

 

[ttrsux]

well, it works now. didn't do anything different and didn't notice any win updates at all.

here's the sequence of actions:

booted up and my internet mysteriously worked (wireless enabled and cat5 plugged in already) -- can't verify the cat5 has always been plugged in prior to bootup in the past when this originally started, but i'm pretty sure i always plug everything in during bootup (cat5, mouse, keyboard, extra monitor cord, and sound cord)

(note: my continuous ping has been disabled for a few days because i got tired of closing it after bootup)

just to be sure it had nothing to do with my wireless enabled and cat5 plugged in prior to bootup, i disabled my wireless (with the hotkey) and rebooted. internet worked!?... without any pings

final test, i unplugged the cat5, rebooted (with wireless enabled to simulate the problem i've always had)

internet worked as expected with no problems.

----//----

this is why i'm leaving the cpu field, because of these stupid little annoyances (lets not forget the huge annoyances as well) that cannot be asnwered by me or the manufacturer. all the while damanging my integrity with my employers. i like to know the answers to things, and that's usually never the case with computers. my boss asked me what was the problem and how can we prevent it from happening in the future. i gave him a blank stare and shrugged and said, "ya can't". he shook his head.... my thoughts exactly. anyway, i'm reverting to a "user" by choice, kinda like a car mechanic who gets sick of fixing cars for other people but glad he can fix their own (to an extent). good luck to my fellow IT admins, and when the frustration level gets too high, know there are other more sane and tangible career choices out there!

 

[StaplesMan]

Fantastic! Glad to hear it's working...

May I ask what this new direction is that your taking.

Good luck man.

CCNA, A+, HP Certified Professional

 

[ttrsux]

biology (probably animal/plant), equally frustrating i know but i feel it will actually be worth the frustration. when the email goes down in this new career, i'll just sit back and let the i.t. guys worry about it, and go get a cup of coffee...

by the way, i'm slightly embarrassed to admit, but i think i know what the issue was. i keep my laptop off the domain for a couple good reason, but i mimic my workgroup & credentials with that of my work domain. BUT, when i go home i usually change my password because all my roommates know it, and i've set up somewhat of a simple network sharing environment (because i have a desktop i never use anymore which all the roommate use for music/movie storage) where they've all mapped drives to it with saved credentials. i've taught them how to access cpus using UNC so that's why i simply change my pwd on my laptop when i go home. ANYWAY, this morning i came in, and my internet wasn't working again. i thought of this password thing, thinking maybe my DNS server is rejecting queries because it's not.... open? to anyone or something. so i change my password on my laptop so it mimics my domain credentials, rebooted, and internet worked w/out pinging anything.

so, i'm assuming there's a tweak on my dns server to allow everyone, even people not on the domain, to at least use it to query. i just checked and there's a security tab when i right-click the DNS server, and saw EVERYONE with read permissions only.

anyway, thought i'd share that to inform whoever is scratching their heads.

 

[ttrsux]

ok, it's not the password thing. i changed my password to something completely random, rebooted, and my internet is working w/out pinging anything.

beats me...

 

[ttrsux]

nice. just realized I can't even connect to a VPN because, even though I have internet (after pinging something), my ethernet/internet status is still "not connected" and says "connections are available". so, no connection, no VPN. !@#$%^&*(