Tough XP name resolution issue

I have a laptop that I use at work, at home, at the cottage, on the road, etc. etc. As a result, I am frequently switching my networking setup. For example, when I move from work to home in the morning or afternoon, I often switch of the networking at my departure site, hibernate my machine, move to my destination, set up the laptop and switch on the networking at my destination. Sometimes I am connecting to a corporate network via VPN, sometimes I am connecting directly to a LAN with internet access.

I am running XP, sp2 on my machine. About 40% of the time, I have no networking issues. But frequently XP seems to get confused about name resolution. When I look at the network configuration using ipconfig /all, the networking is set up fine (IP, DNS, gateway, etc. are all correct). I can ping any IP address without issue, so long as I use the raw IP address. I can resolve any name via nslookup without issue (nslookup uses the raw IP to connect to the nameserver, and communication with the name server is fine). But any application that attempts to connect to a site via a name, will fail. For example, while I can ping a raw IP address, I cannot ping the same site using its name - ping gives me an error about not being able to resolve the name. Firefox, IE, etc. all are unable to connect to a site using its name ("site not found" or something similar), but all can connect using a raw IP address.

When I look a the routing tables (route print), routing is set up fine (as it would have to be given the connectivity described in the preceding paragraph.)

netbios settings do not affect this behaviour. I can turn netbios on, turn it off, the behaviour is the same.

If I put a name in the hosts file, the XP will resolve he name for any application. Otherwise, with a sniffer looking at traffic, I never see any DNS traffic from XP - it seems not to even try to resolve the name. I have turned of the negative DNS resolution cache, so this is not the issue.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

I was going to suggest the cache, but you said you've disabled it. Still, as a shot in the dark, try flushing any cached entries with ipconfig /flush and see if it helps.

I too move between different networks, including VPN, with both my work laptop and my personal one, and I've not run into that issue. Work laptop is a Dell Latitude D810 running XP SP2, personal laptop is a Sony AR670 with Vista Home Premium.

 

You should really do a cold boot when you change locations that use a different network config. That's the only way for MS to keep things straight. It will clear out all of the cache and will not have these odd issue.

 

Tried that too. No use. But thanks for the reply.
My guess on the matter is this. It seems that some part of XP does not realize that it has changed interfaces (network interface, that is), and it then decides it is going to use a now disabled interface for its name resolution. Since the interface it decides to use is disabled, it doesn't even bother to try any name resolution beyond host file lookup. that is the only reason I can think of to explain why I do not see any network traffic at all when sniffing the live interface. If it is looking at the wrong interface, then correct gateway settings, DNS settings, etc., on the live interface become irrelevant. What puzzles me is that if XP looked at the routing tables to decide which interface to use, it should find the correct one, since the routing tables are set correctly. does this make any sense?

 

That's a copout! Of course that works. But the whole point is to be able to switch on the fly, without taking the 1/2 hour to shutdown and restart. And yes, it can take up to 1/2 hour to restart everything cleanly. If I am at home and switching between being on the corporate network via VPN and being off it, doing a cold re-boot each time is a MASSIVE time waste. If I am in a location for a short time (e.g. airport waiting for 45 minutes), having to cold reboot means I may as well not even start working. And if I am changing locations frequently, that means I may not get any work done. So, this is really not an option. And besides, if it is supposed to work, then damn it, its supposed to work, and if it doesn't, somebody somewhere should fix it! Anyway, that's my rant. ;-)

 

If no one has a solution, does anyone have any favorite other forums where I might find someone who knows the answer?

 

FWIW, I've never had a problem switching between wireless/wired interfaces, or between internet/VPN connections, with either XP or Vista. So I question whether it's a pure Windows issue, or rather something else about your system or network stack that is the culprit.

 

If MS coded it you should expect problems. Vista did not get the nick name of MEII for no reason......

If you want it to work buy and Apple....

 

lol. I agree 100% - though I am partial to Linux (inspite of my name). Unfortunately, industry demands force me to deal with MicroShlock Windoze.

 

I suspect it is something about the network stack, but the question is what??? The network stack is, after all, part of XP.

 

The network stack includes your network drivers and your network configuration, and is potentially affected by various other system settings (power management, for instance). Add in the specific routers/APs you're using, and you wind up with enough variables involved to still make your situation somewhat unique, even if you share identical PC hardware with someone else.

It could be XP combined with something else specific to your system. But if it doesn't affect everyone, then it obviously isn't strictly XP. What exactly it could be, I don't know.

 

Well, I have made one set of changes, and so far I have not seen the problem again, though it is too early to tell if I have really fixed it.

The issue seemed to be with the connection-specific DNS suffix. When I start my VPN to connect to the office, the connection-specific DNS suffix on the logical VPN interface was being set up correctly, but the connection-specific DNS suffix on the underlying physical interface was not. Setting both of these to the same value, i.e. to the DNS suffix of the office, seems to do the trick.

Similarly, when the VPN network was turned off, the connection-specific DNS suffix for the underlying real interface was being set to my primary DNS suffix, which really should not cause a problem, but clearing it seems to fix the issue.

 

Well, that is NOT the answer. It seems to have improved things, but not fixed things. Here is a printout of a command line session showing the problem:

C:\Users>ipconfig /release

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\Users>ipconfig /renew

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.230
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.1

C:\Users>ipconfig /flushdns

Windows IP Configuration

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

C:\Users>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : laptop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : davidmcintosh.ca
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : davidmcintosh.ca

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-AA-BB-CC-DD-EE
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.230
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : January 29, 2008 9:20:29 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : January 29, 2008 10:20:29 AM

C:\Users>route print
===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x70002 ...00 AA BB CC DD EE ...... Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection - Packet Scheduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 VVV.XXX.YYY.1 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 25
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
VVV.XXX.YYY.0 255.255.255.0 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 25
VVV.XXX.YYY.230 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 25
VVV.XXX.YYY.255 255.255.255.255 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 25
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 25
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 1
Default Gateway: VVV.XXX.YYY.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None

C:\Users>nslookup yahoo.com.
Server: b.davidmcintosh.ca
Address: VVV.XXX.YYY.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: yahoo.com
Addresses: 66.94.234.13, 216.109.112.135


C:\Users>ping yahoo.com
Ping request could not find host yahoo.com. Please check the name and try again.

C:\Users>



..........................power cycle laptop .....................................

C:\Users>ipconfig /release

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\Users>ipconfig /renew

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.230
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.1

C:\Users>ipconfig /flushdns

Windows IP Configuration

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

C:\Users>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : laptop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : davidmcintosh.ca
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : davidmcintosh.ca

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-AA-BB-CC-DD-EE
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.230
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : VVV.XXX.YYY.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : January 29, 2008 9:57:32 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : January 29, 2008 10:57:32 AM

C:\Users>route print
===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 AA BB CC DD EE ...... Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection - Packet Scheduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 VVV.XXX.YYY.1 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 25
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
VVV.XXX.YYY.0 255.255.255.0 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 25
VVV.XXX.YYY.230 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 25
VVV.XXX.YYY.255 255.255.255.255 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 25
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 25
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 VVV.XXX.YYY.230 1
Default Gateway: VVV.XXX.YYY.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None

C:\Users>nslookup yahoo.com.
Server: b.davidmcintosh.ca
Address: VVV.XXX.YYY.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: yahoo.com
Address: 216.109.112.135


C:\Users>ping yahoo.com

Pinging yahoo.com [216.109.112.135] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=52
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=52
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=51
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=274ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 216.109.112.135:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 15ms, Maximum = 274ms, Average = 88ms

C:\Users>

 

From what I see you are having problem with your dns server. You point to your gateway, which is not normally the case. Normally these have public IP address. May want to use one of the public dns servers if the problem still presists.

 

Adding a few thoughts, suggestions, ideas...

This situation has happened to me twice:

same XP Pro machine, different routers each time, same cable modem though...anyone think it could be the cable modem messing stuff up? it is a little "old".

1st time
I can't remember how the situation was resolved the first time, it was technically over my head with a phone call to my isp.

2nd time
Was tonight, came across this thread while looking for help with my blackjack. lol
Seems as though everyone is suggesting the same stuff I tried to resolve the issue, and never worked. and, as I am typing this from my now working computer, this is basically the story-

Surfing internet, internet stops responding, checked my network connection and was unable to access the Status window, nothing would happen when i clicked on Status. cmd, ipconfig /all, everything looked "okay", i was able to ping to a wan raw ip address, but no DNS resolution. got in my router, released the connection, waited about 30 secs, renewed the connection, then was able to view the Status window and was able to Repair the connection, and now on internet again.

 

That indicates the router may need a firmware update. I had a problem similar with my current router when it was new. It would only update the lease twice, then failed. Till I got a fix, I had to manually release and renew the ISP connection to get a valid DNS & Gateway. One I got the updated firmware all is fine.