Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Win2K machine cannot access DNS servers

0 helpful
8 replies

by txitguy 1 view

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

We have a small network here, 1 NT 4 Server, 2 Win9x machines, and 1 Win2K Pro machine. All of these machines are able to see each other on the network, and share resources, so I know the LAN hardware is working properly. However, for some reason,the Windows 2000 Pro machine is unable to access the internet's DNS servers. Since it has no way to find out that www.microsoft.com is 207.46.230.220, it cannot retrieve web pages.
This machine was purchased from Dell as a network workstation, andcame with the OS installed and configured...all I did was add the settings specific to our network. I have checked them with our ISP, and they are correct.
Dell refuses to help, claiming that it is our ISP's problem. Our ISP has tried to help,but doesn't know what else to do. Neither do I, and not being able to access the internet with this computer is somewhat problematic for us (it makes it more difficult to get the latest service packs for it to begin with).
This computer is in the same position relative to the firewall as all of the other computers on the network, so I know it isn't a firewall problem. I have also installed Service Pack 2 in hopes that it was a bug that the SP would fix...didn't help.

So...I have 250 techpoints for the first person to provide a solution that works.
How do I get this Windows 2000 Professional computer to access the Domain Name System?

8 replies

by ciscofred

So do you have an in-house dns? If not i would set one up and enable forwards to your ISP dns when it can not find an IP on the local LAN. How we have our lan setup, we have raptor firwall, that also runs our dns-(small lan) We put forwards in our dns records to point to our ISP's dns servers. Also have you tried running nslookup? Type nslookup at a cmd prompt and than type ?. Hope this helps.... Good Luck!

by shanghai sam

nslookup ? returns:

*** Cannot find server name for address ###.###.###.###: Timed Out
*** Cannot find server name for address ###.###.###.###: Timed Out
*** Default servers are unavailable
*** Request to UnKnown timed-out
DNS request timed out.
Time Out was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
Time Out was 2 seconds.
Server: UnKnown
Address: ###.###.###.###

I checked the DNS IPs listed against the IPs provided me by my ISP. The primary DNS one was wrong, but I fixed it and still got the same results from nslookup.

I have considered hosting our own DNS, but we only have one server just now and I'd rather not run more than I have to on it. Besides, I understand its generally not advisable to run DNS services on a web server.
Thanks anyway.
P.S. Our firewall will run NAT, but not DNS, so I don't really have that option either.

by erikbutler

are you running W2k DHCP for ip address assignments. if so in the scope specify the Dns servers that you need. the first should be the in house DNS if present and the second should be your ISP's. By chance does the computers name have and _ in it. some BIND servers will not address the underscore correctly as well

by shanghai sam

No, our ISP has given us 16 static IPs. The router uses 1, leaving 15 for the networked computers. The server uses 6 of them to host web sites, 3 more are used for workstations, leaving 6 empty for future use. As stated above, we do not have an in-house DNS server. I have considered it, and will do so eventually, but it isn't really feasible right now. That said, I doubt the _ makes any difference anymore, but no, none of the computers on our network have an underscore in the name.
Thanksanyway.

by stillatit

Your ISP has provided one or more IP numbers for its nameservers. If you do not know these, go to one of the 9x machines, click start, run, and type

winipcfg /all

in the box and hit Enter. Look at he pop-up window for the DNS server IP addresses.

Now, on the W2K box, go to a command prompt and type the word "ping" followed by one of the DNS IP numbers and hit Enter. If you get a "Request timed out" message, you need to look at the following:
a) Your IP address.
b) Your subnet mask.c) Your Gateway address, (and is it on the same subnet as your IP).
d) If you try to ping another box on your LAN, does it work? (You probably have multiple protocols installed, and your resource sharing might not be using IP.) If you cannot ping them, your IP stack may have a problem. Remove the tcp/ip protocol and re-install it.

If your W2K box CAN ping the DNS server, your entries for the DNS servers on the W2K box are somehow wrong. Blank them and re-enter them. NOTE that even if you are using DHCP to get DNS names, if you have entries in the boxes in the Network control panel (tcp/ip properties), those will override the ones that DHCP gives you.

Good luck.

by stillatit

In your comment above, look at the real numbers in the messages:

*** Cannot find server name for address ###.###.###.###: Timed Out
*** Cannot find server name for address ###.###.###.###: Timed Out

Those numbers are the DNS servers your box is trying to reach.

by txitguy

I'm sorry I took so long to reply, other more important issues came up. I don't know everything there is to know about networking, but the name server's were the first thing I checked. They were correct, and the ones the the messages returned by nslookup matched the ones I had configured.
At any rate, I am fairly certain now that something was not Windows 2000 compatible on our ISP's system, because the problem disappeared when we switched internet service providers. Thanks for your help anyway, everyone.

This discussion is closed to new replies.