I'm staying at a hotel for a week and the wifi is "Out" and Management says it won't be fixed any time soon...only, it isn't actually off. The Wifi connects and if I already know the IP address I want, I can connect to many things. Skype works just fine, presumably because Skype only uses IP addresses. Downloading from Usenet is working just fine, I just swapped the .net entry for the server IP address and bam, works perfectly.

So, clearly, the DNS service is down. Easy, I swapped the DNS service in IPv4 to Google DNS 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4...only, web browsing STILL does not work. Even typing in the IP address of the desired web server does not work (is not TWW also at http://208.79.81.66/ ?). Chrome does a DNS check and fails, odd since I told it to go to an IP address, IE just fails. I'm completely confused. I can ping 8.8.8.8 and it returns just fine. Someone please help me out here >.<

[Edited on July 15, 2015 at 11:35 AM. Reason : .,.]

7/15/2015 11:15:11 AM

can you ping google.com?

Maybe it's an issue with port 80 and some kind of proxy redirect?

7/15/2015 3:17:44 PM

I cannot ping google.com
I can do a DNS lookup on my cell phone and successfully ping the IP address of google's web server. But, if I try putting that IP address in http://74.125.226.115/ it returns "HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found." It does the same whatever web server I'm trying to reach. I can ping them just fine, just can't get any web services.

7/15/2015 3:59:39 PM

Just set up a socks proxy or something and tunnel your http traffic (for everything with something like proxifilier) through it. I usually do that anyway.

7/15/2015 4:24:55 PM

No flies on LoneSnark, but my man is struggling with how sending a request to a server via its IP address might result in the request getting handled differently (or not at all) than by its domain name. "Just set up a SOCKS proxy" is an unhelpful thing to say in this scenario.

LoneSnark, I assume you're using Windows. You should be able to search up instructions for how to edit the HOSTS file on your version of Windows. You can manually add the IP addresses and hostnames for the sites you want to visit to sidestep the DNS issue, and your requests to those sites should get routed normally. You'll probably find that lots of sites' images and stylesheets don't necessarily download correctly, though.

7/15/2015 4:36:50 PM

Quote :

""Just set up a SOCKS proxy" is an unhelpful thing to say in this scenario."

Why? I have a socks proxy set up via an SSH tunnel and it all goes through an IP which is obviously accessible. Everything is then routed through there. Even if you don't have a tunnel to go through you can proxy through a single IP somewhere else as long as you find a fast proxy. Would solve all your browsing problems.

7/15/2015 4:51:39 PM

why is it unhelpful to tell this fellow to intubate himself

i am a doctor, i do it all the time

7/15/2015 4:53:48 PM

You're over complicating it. He said the DNS service is down. I said so bypass it and suggested one method to do so. I don't see why that isn't helpful.

--Also adding to that to answer your question on why you can't go directly to an IP address:

http://ask-leo.com/why_doesnt_accessing_a_site_by_its_ip_address_work.html

Also no idea how that guy popped up #1 on Google. Lol.

[Edited on July 15, 2015 at 5:30 PM. Reason : s]

7/15/2015 5:14:41 PM

*whoosh*

7/16/2015 8:09:10 AM

Thank you for the replies, but it seems just as I was going to try the suggested fixes, now it is completely down and nothing gets through at all.

Although I am still left wondering why switching to Google's DNS servers didn't work. If in fact packets were getting through unmolested, then switching DNS service to 8.8.8.8 should have fixed everything, but it fixed nothing, so clearly something else is going on here I don't understand.

7/16/2015 9:42:41 AM

Allow me to make a terrible analogy.

Imagine you have two roommates, Bill and Ted. I write a letter to Bill, address the envelope with his name and your mailing address, and put it in the mail. The mail carrier delivers the letter, you check your mailbox, you find Bill's name on the letter I sent, and you deliver it to Bill.

The same process applies if I'm writing to Ted, except I would put Ted's name and your mailing address on the envelope instead of Bill's name and your mailing address.

Now, imagine one day that I send a letter to your mailing address with neither Bill's name nor Ted's on the envelope. Who is the letter for?

You are the web server. Your mailing address is your IP address. The envelope is the HTTP request. Bill & Ted's names are the domain names of the intended recipients of the request. Just like the letter will find its way to your house but still not reach a specific person, so too will an HTTP request reach the intended server without the server being able to route the request to the intended endpoint.

"But it works for some sites," you protest. Sure. There is a staggering variety of applications that can respond to HTTP requests and a staggering variety of ways web servers can route those requests to those applications. Perhaps you live alone, and all mail delivered to your address is implicitly addressed to you. That's fine, but not everyone lives alone.

7/16/2015 2:55:07 PM

No no, I agree, I get why slapping an IP address by itself in a web browser didn't work, I got that just fine. What I still don't get is why Google DNS didn't work. Only theory I have is that the network was purposefully inspecting my packets to intercept DNS requests sent to distant servers and blocking them. Perhaps with the intention of changing the destination from the true web-site to a hotel sponsored "Agree to our terms and service!" page on a web server that is not working. All packets got through, be it a usenet transfer or Skype messaging or Ping requests, but DNS requests went no where.

7/17/2015 12:02:37 AM