Connection Problems Specific to Mac

[kfander]

I am having a problem that occurs every now and then, remains a problem for hours, and then goes away without any positive interference on my part. In other words, I can never figure out what's causing it or come up with any ideas as to what to do about it, but it eventually fixes itself.

The problem is that I cannot connect to specific web sites or locations, apple.com being one of them. Usually when this occurs, I also cannot connect to the App Store, although today I can. Generally, I note this problem when I am unable to connect to Mafia Wars on Facebook, although I can connect to Facebook without any trouble. It won't connect to google.com either.

It does not appear to be browser specific. While today, it occurred in Google Chrome, trying it in Safari or Firefox doesn't help.

It does appear to be specific to my MacBook, as I have a PC sitting alongside my MacBook that will connect without difficulties. In other words, I can connect to apple.com on my PC and I can log into my Facebook account and access Mafia Wars through the PC without difficulties. Both are on a wired Ethernet connection.

Unplugging the connection and using the wireless connection doesn't help either, and I didn't see why it would, but felt the need to try something.

Other than apple.com, Mafia Wars, and the App Store, I can connect to most sites that I try to visit on the Internet. I am connecting here just fine, for example.

Clearing the browser cache doesn't help, either.

Does anyone have any ideas?

I am including links to screenshots of the errors received when trying to access apple.com, google.com, and Mafia Wars.

http://www.miscellaneousstuff.net/kfanderscreenshot1.png
http://www.miscellaneousstuff.net/kfanderscreenshot3.png
http://www.miscellaneousstuff.net/kfanderscreenshot2.png

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MB51.007D.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.32f8
Serial Number (system): W8905V9B1AQ
Hardware UUID: 1C9705D2-E393-5E17-A162-9C3BF34ECEC9
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled


System Software Overview:

System Version: Mac OS X 10.6.6 (10J567)
Kernel Version: Darwin 10.6.0
Boot Volume: Macintosh HD
Boot Mode: Normal
Computer Name: Ken Anderson’s MacBook
User Name: Ken Anderson (kenanderson)
Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled
64-bit Kernel and Extensions: No
Time since boot: 2:45

Ethernet:

Type: Ethernet
Hardware: Ethernet
BSD Device Name: en0
IPv4 Addresses: 192.168.1.100
IPv4:
Addresses: 192.168.1.100
Configuration Method: DHCP
Interface Name: en0
Network Signature: IPv4.Router=192.168.1.1;IPv4.RouterHardwareAddress=00:23:69:ed:3e:d5
Router: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Masks: 255.255.255.0
IPv6:
Configuration Method: Automatic
DNS:
Domain Name: gwi.net
Server Addresses: 192.168.1.1, 207.5.171.1, 207.5.171.2
DHCP Server Responses:
Domain Name: gwi.net
Domain Name Servers: 192.168.1.1,207.5.171.1,207.5.171.2
Lease Duration (seconds): 0
DHCP Message Type: 0x05
Routers: 192.168.1.1
Server Identifier: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Ethernet:
MAC Address: 00:23:df:a1:42:e2
Media Options: Full Duplex, Flow Control
Media Subtype: 100baseTX
Proxies:
Exceptions List: *.local, 169.254/16
FTP Passive Mode: Yes
Service Order: 0

AirPort:

Type: AirPort
Hardware: AirPort
BSD Device Name: en1
IPv4:
Configuration Method: DHCP
IPv6:
Configuration Method: Automatic
Ethernet:
MAC Address: 00:23:6c:94:5e:c4
Media Options:
Media Subtype: Auto Select
Proxies:
Exceptions List: *.local, 169.254/16
FTP Passive Mode: Yes
Service Order: 1

 

[kfander]

After a couple of hours, things started working again but it'll happen again. If anyone has a solution, please let me know.

 

[macintoshi]

After a couple of hours, things started working again but it'll happen again. If anyone has a solution, please let me know.

Actually it happens tome too,i have a 100Mbit speed lan and sometimes website keep loading and it says server not found while other friends of me can access it... and i have a macbook pro early 2009 osx lion and what i also notice is firefox crashes alot but after trying a couple of time to load a page while my provider says my line is ok and my modem too!

 

[Alameda]

Maybe try changing your DNS server to 8.8.8.8?

 

[macintoshi]

Maybe try changing your DNS server to 8.8.8.8?

Tried this and it works well, now explain me why? I know 8.8.8.8 is the google secure name server and speedy. Look i have 4 DNS ip's from my provider and when connecting they interchange. But i ask myself why this is happening, that me with a 100Mbit's speed have connection problems on the providers DNS...

 

[macintoshi]

I switched back to my 4 provider dns and it works again well, i think osx lion has problems with more than one dns...

 

[Alameda]

I switched back to my 4 provider dns and it works again well, i think osx lion has problems with more than one dns...

The DNS Server is a server that lists the IP address of every domain name on the Internet. So when you type in "forums.macrumors.com", your computer has to find out from your DNS server that the IP address of the server is 173.192.108.232. That's the only thing a DNS server does, but it's very important. If your computer doesn't know what IP addresss to go to, it can't get any data no matter how fast the connection. And a typical webpage has lots of domains, because of all the ads and images and stuff.

So maybe your DNS server is flaky. Just stick with 8.8.8.8, it's very reliable, that's why Google set it up.

One way to test your DNS server is to PING it in Terminal. Open a Terminal window, type the word ping, followed by the IP address, like so:

MacAirocuments $ ping 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=46 time=56.731 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=46 time=38.318 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=46 time=46.402 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=46 time=36.839 ms
^C

It will spit this out constantly until you type control-c
It's the time value that really matters. The higher the number, the worse. If your ping time is over 150 ms, that's pretty bad. Next time your Internet starts acting up, try to ping your DNS server and see how it's doing.