My mom has a Linksys WRT120N router. I had it set up to have an ethernet connection from the router into her desktop PC (Windows XP), so that her desktop would maintain a direct connection while other computers in the house could get a wireless connection. Her connection started screwing up recently, and she began getting DNS failures. Direct connection works fine (bypassing the router), so I don’t think it’s the modem. I did a hard reset, and I can ping the router, but I’m still getting the DNS failures.
Do the other computers also have problems? If not, then I would assume it’s a configuration problem on her computer. (The direct connection uses a completely different configuration.) On most routers, the DNS server has the same IP as the Gateway.
If the problem is on all machines, then I’d first look at the router’s settings. Make sure it is set to the proper DNS IPs. Heck, replace one with 8.8.8.8 (a free DNS server by Google), to see if the problem is with your ISP. My IP’s DNS servers go down occasionally, so I did that.
If everything is automatic, make sure DHCP is on, and, if so, switch to the manual configurations mentioned above.
Thanks. DHCP was enabled. I did try to add that Google DNS as well, but no dice. I try to ping addresses outside of the router’s address and get no response.
Since I reset the router, I’m going to try a firmware update and see if that does anything. Otherwise, I think she needs a new router.