Cannot Flush DNS

[Paddy]

When I attempt to repair my internet connection by right-clicking on the tray icon and selecting "Repair" I get the following error when the process reaches the DNS flush stage:

"Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action cannot be completed:
Clearing the DNS cache

For assistance, contact the person who manages your network."

Well, I contacted myself, but I wasn't home :P

I tried flushing the DNS cache manually by going through the Start > Run... > CMD > ipconfig /flushdns approach, but I received yet another error:

"Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution."

I also read Microsoft's solution to the problem, but it didn't work. They suggested that my DNS Client service was not running, but it was/is - and I've tried restarting the service, restarting the system, rebooting my router, and wiggling the power cable. Nada.

Any ideas?

Cheers.

[shanebrown]

Hi Paddy

I have been having exactly the same problem. Did you managed to resolve your problem?

regards
Shane

[Paddy]

Sorry man, I haven't been able to fix it.

If anyone else on the forum would like to pitch in, Shane and I would be very grateful! :)

[MartyMcFly]

Hi

What address have you for DNS. You said you have router, is that an ADSL Router?

If so, try setting the IP to the Router IP, or loopback address 127.0.0.1

GL, David

[Paddy]

Hello Marty ;)

Yes, it is an ADSL router. I have set up a static IP address for the purposes of port forwarding, although my actual WAN IP is dynamic.

Now, when you say that I should set the IP to match the router's IP, which IP do you mean? Do you mean that I go into the internet connection settings and then into the "Intenet Protocol" bit, where the IP, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway settings are? If so, I've already altered those entries for the port forwarding static IP thingy...

I hadn't knowingly changed any settings prior to this problem...it was working fine last month, and then bam, it screwed up :(

Cheers for the reply, I was beginning to lose hope ;) hehehehe

[MartyMcFly]

Actually on the problematic PC. Yeah, on LAN or WIFI Connection, go to the properties of the TCP/IP, and add it there, under IP, Subnet, Gateway.

Of course, make sure you remember your old settings. It should be worth trying both the Routers IP Address, (which should be the default gateway anyway) and loopback address (127.0.0.1). You can actually add both, or one at a time, and leave an old address there.

I just thought that maybe your ISP had problems with it's DNS, or closed it down, ... You can ping the address to find out if it is there at all.

[Paddy]

I pinged my ISP's DNS address (I'm not sure if I did it right - I went into CMD, then typed "ping 158.152.1.58") It sent 4 packets, received 4 packets, and lost none. I'm assuming that means everything is alright at my ISP's end.

Currently, my Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) settings are as follows:

IP address: 10.0.0.11 (This is my computer's address as assigned in the router, for port forwarding etc. The other computer connected to the router uses the 10.0.0.8 address).

Subnet mask: 255.0.0.0 (This was set automatically when the other vlaues were set, if I remember correctly)

Default gateway: 10.0.0.2 (This is the router's address)

Below that are the DNS values:

Primary DNS server: 158.152.1.58 (I got this directly from my ISP's info page)

Alternate DNS server: 158.152.1.43 (Same as above)

Like I said, these settings worked fine up until a month ago, when the problems began. They haven't been changed or anything.

Maybe it's a problem with the router itself. I've always had a little bit of trouble setting it up, because I have no idea who manufactured it, and therefore can't find any specific documentation for it (see this thread and this thread). No documentation came with it either, other than instructions on how to turn it on. I'm gonna get a new one at some point - one with a 5,000 page manual! Anyway...

Any ideas?

Thanks for your time mate, much appreciated.

P.S I just checked the other computer in my network, to see if it can flush the DNS. It can, so I guess it's not the router that's casuing the problem. The other computer is set up exactly like mine (except for its IP, which is 10.0.0.8 whereas mine is 10.0.0.11). The only other difference is that I am using Windows XP Professional SP2, and the other PC is using Windows XP Media Centre SP2.

The plot thickens!

[MartyMcFly]

I apologies, looks like I have lead you on a merry ride, I should have just searched EE to start with.

Disable the firewall in Xp (done in control panel)
then give it a try,
(ipconfig /flushdns)
if it doesn't work...
. boot to safe mode with network support
. then try your ipconfig /flushdns

That sorted someone else out with the same problem. Hope this helps.

Sorry, David

[Paddy]

Hehehe no worries ;)

The Windows Firewall is disabled - I never use it. I booted into Safe Mode (with Network support; it wouldn't let me access the ipconfig function with a minimal "Safe Mode" boot). I received the same error as I do when not in Safe Mode:

"Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution."

I'm just about out of ideas haha. Well, maybe a clean install of the OS, but I'm in no mood for that right now! :p

I use the "Comodo Personal Firewall", if that matters. I don't think it does, because I shut it down, and then tried the DNS flush again, but received the same error. Plus it didn't load in Safe Mode anyway.

Watcha reckon?

EDIT: Could it be my anti-virus software? I use Avast! Anti-Virus. Although I did disable network protection for a while. It didn't help the problem.

[MartyMcFly]

I'm starting to think this is a connection problem, apparently rebooting the PC would Flush the DNS anyway.

Is this connected via WiFi. If so, make sure you have WEP Security enabled. If this PC is WiFi, and the other is through a LAN cable, could you try the fault PC using the Working PC connection. If they are both cabled, try swapping cables. If they are both Wifi, try using a Lan cable with the Fault PC.

Could you provide the following information.

If you still have problems, please provide;

Router model - ..................
Working PC Connection - ......................
Fault PC Connection - .....................

I'm sorry I haven't found a good solution so far, but still think it's out there somewhere, Regards, Dave

[Paddy]

I reinstalled Windows yesterday, and that solved the problem. At least now we know it was a problem with the OS rather than the router (the router's configuration hasn't changed).

Thanks for your help guys :)

[Goho]

I reinstalled Windows yesterday, and that solved the problem. At least now we know it was a problem with the OS rather than the router (the router's configuration hasn't changed).

hello

i had the same problem and i managed to solve the problem....

in the comand prompt enter....

netsh winsock reset

hope this will help u guys in the future

[xcellpro6]

Hi Paddy

My Pennies worth.

XP seems to have a problem when changing IP addresses. If you change one you need to change the other..... Meaning that if your computer name is paddy and you change IP settings you must also alter your computer name. XP remmebers the old name and who it was assigned to.

So in conclusion if you change your IP change computer name as well

Change user name of Paddy to Paddy1 and i think this would have saved you reinstalling the OS.

Darren
South Africa

[Paddy]

I'll remember this advice guys, thanks for taking the time to reply. Fortunately I'm not having any problems as of late :D

Cheers!

[kafiend]

Hi there, I know this thread is old now but...

Most likely cause of being unable to flushdns is that the dns service is not actually started.

Goto Start/Run. Type services.msc then hit OK. Check down the list of services and see if DNS Client is running. If its not you know what to do :P

[zelkea]

I apologies, looks like I have lead you on a merry ride, I should have just searched EE to start with.

Disable the firewall in Xp (done in control panel)
then give it a try,
(ipconfig /flushdns)
if it doesn't work...
. boot to safe mode with network support
. then try your ipconfig /flushdns

That sorted someone else out with the same problem. Hope this helps.

Sorry, David

Just some clarification on this posting..... This needs to be executed via a command line Start->Run->cmd->enter

At the dos window type ipconfig /flushdns then to register your dns type ipconfig /registerdns. This does not need to be executed via safe mode.

[espiddly]

reading all of the above is deja vu for me. i am still reinstalling the lot because of the dns problem. i tried everything i could think of, everything everyone in the world couyld think of and some things noone thought of. nada. i even contacted my inet server, three times and had those unqualified peeps think of things. i also eliminated all hardware (lan card, system drive, cables, phone jacks (for pete's sake), accounts etc. also did restore, flush, blush and stopped short of Crush. eliminated the drive with cloned hd of problem drive....worked fine! determined it was definitely the system drive/installation/xppro. couldn't fix it so now i'm reinflinkingstalling all.
that's not a lot of help, but at least it may point you to something in your windows installation for the problem.
good luck.

cheers

[espiddly]

oops. misread the thread. newbie stuff still :(

still, the orig prob wasn't corrected by netsh winsock reset so maybe there might be more cases that resetting may not work.

and i see the OS was determined to be the location of the problem...my experience too.

the netsh winsock reset may be the answer for some but there are others who like reinstalling 50 gigs of progs and configuring them all for weeks. ;)

[deluxchixbone]

I am having the same problem, but I dont have a router.
I to just recently installed a knew anti virus........Kaspersky.
I cant flush my dns

[theoneownz]

Winsock has nothing to do with dns! You just had winsock issue
Flushing you Dns on your pc has nothing to do with your isp or router. When your running this command your just flushing stored information locally on your computer.

I know this topic is old but people still will find this topic through search engines, so i felt like adding an additional step that should resolve the issue

When you run the ipconfig/flushdns command on Windows XP, you receive an error similar to:

Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution.

When you attempt to Repair the Network Connections, you receive an error like:

Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action could not be completed:
Clearing the DNS Cache

For assistance, contact the person who manages your network.

This behavior will occur if the DNS Client service is not running. (Run even if it is started or will not respond to your command attemping to start the service.)

To fix this problem:

1. Open CMD

2. Type (or Paste) the following command and press Enter:

REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache /V Start /T REG_DWORD /F /D 2

3. Shutdown and restart Windows XP.

DONT reinstall windows lol

[spaceyjane]

I know this an old thread, but I've been reading it because I'm having a similar problem. I've done all sugguested in entire thread, including last step, to no avail as far as connectivity, while strangely the computer right next to my computer sharing the same network and router can access the internet perfectly.

Does anyone have more experience with solving this connectivity issue? Any help you could give me would be emmensly appriciated!

edited to add:
sorry about this, but I neglected to say that afte following the above, I was able to flush DNS and I am no longer getting the specific error, but now I still can't seem to connect. What else could be wrong?

Thanks!

[egobreed]

I know this an old thread, but I've been reading it because I'm having a similar problem. I've done all sugguested in entire thread, including last step, to no avail as far as connectivity, while strangely the computer right next to my computer sharing the same network and router can access the internet perfectly.

Does anyone have more experience with solving this connectivity issue? Any help you could give me would be emmensly appriciated!

edited to add:
sorry about this, but I neglected to say that afte following the above, I was able to flush DNS and I am no longer getting the specific error, but now I still can't seem to connect. What else could be wrong?

Thanks!

I had the same problem last night and tried everything in this thread. Turns out it was one of the last two windows security updates, installed on the 9th of July 2008. I removed them and it worked fine.

Do you use zonealarm by any chance? I did some further research today and it appears there is a conflict. I'm gonna follow zonealarm's advice tonight and then re-install the updates.

[spaceyjane]

I had the same problem last night and tried everything in this thread. Turns out it was one of the last two windows security updates, installed on the 9th of July 2008. I removed them and it worked fine.

Do you use zonealarm by any chance? I did some further research today and it appears there is a conflict. I'm gonna follow zonealarm's advice tonight and then re-install the updates.

OH MY GOSH! I thought it was that, but I couldn't figure out which one to uninstall out of the updates! There was one dated the 9th of July, but it had updated on the 8th at night, and right after that I could no longer access the net, and then had problems with the DNS, etc. When I did wonder if it could be that, it was the next day and the date on the security update was the 9th, which was that date, and I thought maybe they were unrelated, as it started the night before, even though it started RIGHT AFTER THE UPDATE! AND, yes I do use ZoneAlarm!

I finally got so frustrated that I wiped my hard drive, reinstalled my OS, and am in the process of reinstalling all my programs. Thankfully all my data and stuff is on another drive, and I made quick backups of OE address books, mail accounts, explorer favorites, and even dreamweaver site settings, etc. so all those things are back in place now painlessly.

Oh I wish I had tried to uninstall that one, it would have saved me some misery. ;) But you know how it goes when you wipe your system and start fresh? I always get amazed at how speedy my computer is and I always think I shouldn't have waited so long! ;)

Anyway, thanks for the reply... hopefully others will not have this happen. Next time I will look at the ZoneAlarm site too.

Take care and good luck with your system!

[egobreed]

OH MY GOSH! I thought it was that, but I couldn't figure out which one to uninstall out of the updates! There was one dated the 9th of July, but it had updated on the 8th at night, and right after that I could no longer access the net, and then had problems with the DNS, etc. When I did wonder if it could be that, it was the next day and the date on the security update was the 9th, which was that date, and I thought maybe they were unrelated, as it started the night before, even though it started RIGHT AFTER THE UPDATE! AND, yes I do use ZoneAlarm!

I finally got so frustrated that I wiped my hard drive, reinstalled my OS, and am in the process of reinstalling all my programs. Thankfully all my data and stuff is on another drive, and I made quick backups of OE address books, mail accounts, explorer favorites, and even dreamweaver site settings, etc. so all those things are back in place now painlessly.

Oh I wish I had tried to uninstall that one, it would have saved me some misery. ;) But you know how it goes when you wipe your system and start fresh? I always get amazed at how speedy my computer is and I always think I shouldn't have waited so long! ;)

Anyway, thanks for the reply... hopefully others will not have this happen. Next time I will look at the ZoneAlarm site too.

Take care and good luck with your system!

Thankfully I didn't get to that stage but I did waste two hours of my life last night in utter frustration, trying to clear a DNS cache and checking my wireless keys etc. I thought that karma was punishing me for ordering another gig of RAM that I don't really need...

[spaceyjane]

Yeah, that computer karma will getcha won't it! ;)

Glad you figured out what was wrong... hopefully there won't be a next time. :) Enjoy your RAM!

[jsmith6752]

seems so easy to enable...thanks for the info I had no idea it was disabled seems to run better

[Mattymattmatt]

I've read all the replys on this thread and none of them have solved my problem, the DNS client wasn't enabled BUT when i tried starting it is said "Could not start the DNS Client on Local Computer. Error 1058: The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enable devices associated with it." If someone could please help i would be appreciated.

[intvglm]

in my case, I started DNS Client from services and clearing DNS works fine.
But then error on next stage - registering DNS.

Anymore windows services need to be started?

Should DNS client, or any services set automatic start to fix this?

thx guys.

.yogi..

[isamalhassan]

try this my friend
To resolve this problem, follow these steps:
Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
In the list of services, click DNS Client.
Make sure that the Status column displays Started and that the Startup Type column displays Automatic.
If the service is not set to Started or if the startup type for the DNS Client service is not set to Automatic, follow these steps:
Right-click DNS Client, and then click Properties.
In the DNS Client Properties dialog box, click the General tab, and then click Automatic in the Startup type list.
Click Start, click Apply, and then click OK. sooner i will having my website www.e-mircales.net and i will have problem solving for windows.
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[isamalhassan]

did you try it ?