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Error: DNS Server unreachable or unavailable

If you receive this error message on your home networking connection it means that a connection to the internet cannot be made.

In order to fix this problem, please work through the following steps:

Has your password been changed recently?

If you update the password for the screen name used to configure your modem router you must also change the password on your modem router.

Password guidelines:
1. The password must be between 6 and 8 characters long.
2. The password must consist of letters and numbers only (ie, no spaces, or special characters such as: ! £ ? % and spaces)
3. The password must be all lower case (no CAPITALS allowed)

Check the physical setup


Failure to connect might be caused by something as simple as a loose connection to the modem router or a filter not being plugged in properly. Check the connections are correctly set up as follows:

1. Check that the ethernet cable is securely connected to the ethernet port on the modem router and the PC. If your modem router has more than one ethernet port the cable can be inserted into any of them.
2. Connect the modem router to the broadband-enabled telephone line via the port marked DSL using your ADSL cable.
3. Ensure that all phone sockets are filtered correctly. Each phone socket that has a telephony device attached to it (this includes Sky Digital) must have a filter connected to it.


Check the network properties for the router

Windows Vista users:

1. Click Start and select Control Panel.
2. Double-click Administrative Tools.
3. Double-click Services.
4. Click Continue.
5. Locate DHCP Client and check the Status column. It should say Started.
6. If it is not Started, right click DHCP Client and select Properties.
7. Set Startup type to Automatic and click Start.
8. Click OK.
9. Locate the DNS Client and check the Status column. It should say Started.
10. If it is not Started, repeat steps 6-8 for DNS Client.
11. Click the X in the top right-hand corner of the screen to close the screen.

Windows XP/2000 Professional users:

1. Click Start, Settings and select Control Panel.
Windows XP - click Start and select Control Panel.
2. Double click Network Connections or Network and Dial Up Connections.
3. Right click the Local Area Network Connection and left click Properties.
4. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
5. Click Properties.
6. Ensure that Obtain an IP address automatically is selected.
7. Check that Obtain DNS server address automatically is selected.
8. Click OK.

Windows 98/ME users:

1. Click Start, Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double click Network.
3. Select TCP/IP over the Network card.
4. Click Properties.
5. Ensure that Obtain an IP address automatically is selected.
6. Click the WINS Configuration tab.
7. Ensure that Use DHCP for WINS resolution is selected.
8. Click OK to close and apply the window


If you are connecting wirelessly, check the network properties for the wireless adapter

Check your firewall software


An active firewall on your computer could restrict the AOL software from making a connection. If you have firewall software installed, please configure it to allow the AOL software to access the internet.

Visit Firewall Software for further information and instructions to configure your firewall.

For all firewall packages, the program files you should set to permit/allow are as follows:

1. waol.exe
2. aoltpspd.exe
3. AOLacsd.exe
4. AOLDial.exe

AOL 9.0 VR users should permit/allow the following files:

1. waol.exe
2. AOLacsd.exe and acsd.exe
3. AOLDialer.exe
4. aolwbspd.exe
5. AOLTray.exe
6. AOLMediaPlaybackControl.exe


Check your PC for spyware


Spyware is a prime cause of connection problems and can slow down your computer. We recommend that you run spyware protection such as Ad-Aware or Spybot - Search & Destroy regularly.

For more information about spyware, see Safety, Security & Privacy Help.



Last Updated: Tuesday, 13 November 2007, 04:45 GMT