Robert Watcher
Well-known member
It may just be the country that I am living in - but I think that it happens other places as well (otherwise I wouldn't have found the solution so easily) …
… we have had a strange phenomena with out computers when connected to our internet service. Some webpages will load while others don't. A "can't find the server" page is what displays.
The other day, it was really getting irritating, because I was unable to get to any of the photography forum websites that I frequent each day. My Google email displayed fine - Facebook was generally OK, but sometimes came up without styles - Twitter was hit and miss. There was no consistency. One time a page would not load and then later in the day, it might decide to.
Knowing that web browsers cache pages, I figured that the empty pages were maybe cached - - - and so I emptied the browser cache on different occasions, which never really did anything. I even went to the extra effort to figure out how to flush my computer's DNS cache (had been recommended to me other times in the past), but that didn't resolve it.
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Network DNS Server Settings
An detailed Google search, came up with a solution on a forum - that had to do with changing the DNS server to another one than my internet provider has set up. It stated that using the fast Google DNS server can make significant differences in speed of page display.
I had no clue what this was referring to, but went ahead and made the changes on my Macbook - - - and like magic, all webpages were loading and were loading fast as they should be. Next step was to change the settings on my wife's iPad Mini as she was experiencing the same issues. Then this morning after Anne fired up her PC laptop to do some work on it, she found that webpages would not load there either. And so we figured out how to make the changes to a Windows machine.
For anyone experiencing the same type of issues, it may be worth giving this a try. All of our computers are back up to snuff now, in delivering the webpages we request.
Apparently there are different DNS servers that can be used. For ease, I chose the Google settings of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
For my Macbook Air, it was simple: System Preferences > Network > Advanced button > DNS > Add DNS server values on left side panel (click "+" and enter 8.8.8.8 and then click "+" and enter 8.8.4.4)
For Anne's iPad Mini, it was simple too: Settings > Wi-Fi > click wifi connection you are using > DNS >
enter values 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 (both settings go on the same line with a comma separating them)
… we have had a strange phenomena with out computers when connected to our internet service. Some webpages will load while others don't. A "can't find the server" page is what displays.
The other day, it was really getting irritating, because I was unable to get to any of the photography forum websites that I frequent each day. My Google email displayed fine - Facebook was generally OK, but sometimes came up without styles - Twitter was hit and miss. There was no consistency. One time a page would not load and then later in the day, it might decide to.
Knowing that web browsers cache pages, I figured that the empty pages were maybe cached - - - and so I emptied the browser cache on different occasions, which never really did anything. I even went to the extra effort to figure out how to flush my computer's DNS cache (had been recommended to me other times in the past), but that didn't resolve it.
------------------------
Network DNS Server Settings
An detailed Google search, came up with a solution on a forum - that had to do with changing the DNS server to another one than my internet provider has set up. It stated that using the fast Google DNS server can make significant differences in speed of page display.
I had no clue what this was referring to, but went ahead and made the changes on my Macbook - - - and like magic, all webpages were loading and were loading fast as they should be. Next step was to change the settings on my wife's iPad Mini as she was experiencing the same issues. Then this morning after Anne fired up her PC laptop to do some work on it, she found that webpages would not load there either. And so we figured out how to make the changes to a Windows machine.
For anyone experiencing the same type of issues, it may be worth giving this a try. All of our computers are back up to snuff now, in delivering the webpages we request.
Apparently there are different DNS servers that can be used. For ease, I chose the Google settings of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
For my Macbook Air, it was simple: System Preferences > Network > Advanced button > DNS > Add DNS server values on left side panel (click "+" and enter 8.8.8.8 and then click "+" and enter 8.8.4.4)
For Anne's iPad Mini, it was simple too: Settings > Wi-Fi > click wifi connection you are using > DNS >
enter values 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 (both settings go on the same line with a comma separating them)