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Stormyguy
Sep 17, 2004, 11:18 AM
Hi

I have 3 macs & 1 PC on my network here - all connected by ethernet cables except my PB which is airport via airport express. All of a sudden this afternoon my desktop iMac (G3 10.2.8) has just stopped accessing the internet for anything - no web access, no e-mail, can't get software updates. In Sharing i'm told I have an active connection to the internet over Built in Ethernet but it will just not do anything internet-based. The machine is connected to the network (I can look in my shared folders on othe machines) and the router is giving it an IP address.

I am no expert (hence the post) but I cannot for the life of me figure out what's happened - I don't remember turning on anything or clicking anything or whatever so any suggestion gratefully received. Sure it's something very simple so apologies in advance!

PS - Yes I've tried the cable in my PB and the PB gets the juice, also tried the Mac at another station and still no connection so it's something with this particular Mac for sure....?

Thanks in advance guys
Danny


emw
Sep 17, 2004, 11:29 AM
Almost sounds like a DNS issue. That is, you have an IP address but can't look up anything by name. Do your other boxes have DNS entries in Network Preferences and the iMac doesn't?

Also, if you try to get to http://64.233.167.99/ (which is Google), does it work, or do you get the same error?
Stormyguy
Sep 17, 2004, 11:33 AM
emw

yes I get the google homepage up no worries.....

this mac (the problem one) has entries in the DNS boxes - I don't think the others do (but one is OS9, other is a PC so not sure where to look but these two ARE working OK).
Stormyguy
Sep 17, 2004, 11:35 AM
OK, my PB definitely has nothing in the DNS boxes in sys prefs
emw
Sep 17, 2004, 11:36 AM
emw

yes I get the google homepage up no worries.....

this mac (the problem one) has entries in the DNS boxes - I don't think the others do (but one is OS9, other is a PC so not sure where to look but these two ARE working OK).

You get to Google by using the IP address on the iMac? So you can get to the internet on the iMac if you don't use names? This does sound like a DNS issue. Try eliminating the DNS entries and then going to http://www.google.com instead of http://64.233.167.99/ and see if it works.
Stormyguy
Sep 17, 2004, 11:40 AM
emw

All sorted out thanks my friend!! :)

Where did those DNS entries come from?! Or is that stuff that's on a "need to know basis" and I don't need to know!

Danny
emw
Sep 17, 2004, 12:10 PM
emw

All sorted out thanks my friend!! :)

Where did those DNS entries come from?! Or is that stuff that's on a "need to know basis" and I don't need to know!

Danny

Glad to see it's fixed - I know it can be frustrating.

DNS stands for Domain Name System (or Server or Service, depending on who you ask). Essentially, DNS is what translates a call for "www.google.com" to be directed to the IP address "64.233.167.99". It just makes all of our lives easier so that we don't have to remember all those numbers.

How the number got in there is a bit of a question. It could have been manually entered by someone, or it may have been added by the system at some point when getting its DHCP address from your router. Not really sure on that one. I would tend to think it was manually added, since they didn't work. Even if your ISP changes your IP address through DHCP, their name servers generally remain the same. In either case, the DNS handling should be done by your router anyway.
BakedBeans
Sep 17, 2004, 12:12 PM
your with ntl also then??????