Sky broadband - cannot find DNS server

Leiden

Hi, we've recently switched from BT to Sky Broadband with fibre optics which involved a change of cabling and router. On the face of it, the router is working correctly (we've had an engineer out to check it) and we have a consistent,strong signal.

However we're getting intermittent problems where websites are slow in loading/ won't load, there's no common pattern to which ones. We then get the 'cannot locate DNS server' error message. Tried all sorts - switching between Chrome and Microsoft Edge, disabling/re-enabling the firewall on windows defender, clearing DNS cache, running virus and malware scans, changing DNS settings to Google ones (8.8.8.8. and 8.8.4.4.). Task manager is not showing any unusual activity.

The only thing which seems to 'work' is closing down the internet connection and immediately starting it up again. Suddenly the website that wouldn't load appears instantly! It seems like something is holding up the connection until it times itself out but what or why we can't figure. And also, what triggers it, a website that was loading perfectly well 5 minutes ago suddenly won't load.

Needless to say, Sky agents are worse than useless and even the engineeer who came out admitted that he has no expertise beyond the physical hardware and cabling.

Has anyone experienced similar problems and, if so, how did you solve them?
Thanks in advance.

IvanOpinion

You say 'strong signal' so I assume you are connecting by wifi.
What CPU do you have? 
I have read about some wifi issues between AMD processors and intel wifi cards - I am not sure what the issue is or if there is a resolution or if your issue is the same, but it might give you a starting point.

Leiden

The PC is a Lenovo Desktop 8SDPUCQ and the Processor is an AMD A10-8700 Radeon R7 12 Compute Cores 4C + 8G, 3500 mhz with 8GB RAM. It operates on Windows 10 and apparently this model isn't compatible for Windows 11.
I do connect with Wifi and normally use Google Chrome although MS Edge is also available. The router is a SKY FQIQ. I use Windows Defender firewall. There is a Nord VPN but it is not active on this PC.

Originally when this problem occurred I noticed that Task Manager was showing 'system interrupts' which was driving the CPU up to 100% but this is no longer the case. When it's happening now I can't see any unusual activity on Task Manager nor is the activity level particularly high.

My 'feeling' is that the problem is related in part to the PC even though we never had this problem with the old BT router. My mobile uses the same router and has never shown any problem. There is also a laptop upstairs and again no problem although it's used too infrequently to say for sure.

It's the random nature of it that's most puzzling. Any other thoughts or suggestions welcomed.

Vitor

Can you try with Nord VPN enabled? This should prevent the SKy Router interfering with the DNS, overriding what you've set on the PC.

Can you run an ethernet wire from PC to router to rule out a WiFi issue?

Also, if you can access the Sky Routers admin page, see if you can set a static DNS there rather than Sky's own ones, and set to Google (8.8.8.8) or Cloudflare (1.1.1.1). Also try disabling IPv6 on your computer if it's enabled.

bob2302

Leiden said:

The only thing which seems to 'work' is closing down the internet connection and immediately starting it up again. 

I'm not sure what you mean by closing down the connection. If you mean restarting Sky's equipment, then check to see if someone is running Bittorrent or other P2P software - it may be necessary to reduce  the number of allowed simultaneous connections.

Boohoo

Have you got the new Sky router.?

I have heard that Sky router can not change the DNS as on the old router's.

Try this link as you may get more replies from people who have more knowledge on all things Sky related. 

I am not saying MSE forum users are less good by the way.

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/bd-p/sky_broadband

IvanOpinion

Is it possible there is a router channel clash ?
You could try another channel to see if that helps.

Boohoo

IvanOpinion said:

Is it possible there is a router channel clash ?
You could try another channel to see if that helps.

The new Sky Max router has Sky Shield settings on permanent I was told and not able to be changed that easily.

I could be wrong but but it's worth checking out if it is the new type of router.

I am on Vodafone and I can't change my channel on the router in the settings as the did a firmware update and blocked customers from changing it.

Leiden

Vitor said:

Can you try with Nord VPN enabled? This should prevent the SKy Router interfering with the DNS, overriding what you've set on the PC.

Can you run an ethernet wire from PC to router to rule out a WiFi issue?

Also, if you can access the Sky Routers admin page, see if you can set a static DNS there rather than Sky's own ones, and set to Google (8.8.8.8) or Cloudflare (1.1.1.1). Also try disabling IPv6 on your computer if it's enabled.

I'll try the VPN thing, thanks.

Not sure if we've got a wire but will check

Have already been able to reset the DNS to Google's (8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4)

bob2302 said:

Leiden said:

The only thing which seems to 'work' is closing down the internet connection and immediately starting it up again. 

I'm not sure what you mean by closing down the connection....

I simply meant shutting Chrome down and then re-opening it.

Boohoo said:

Have you got the new Sky router.?

I have heard that Sky router can not change the DNS as on the old router's.

Try this link as you may get more replies from people who have more knowledge on all things Sky related. 

I am not saying MSE forum users are less good by the way.

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/bd-p/sky_broadband

I'm not sure if it's a new router or not but I have been able to change the DNS (see above)

I had looked at the forum you mentioned. Interestingly a number of people seem to have raised the same issue but no definitive solution that I could find. I'll certainly give it another look though.

IvanOpinion said:

Is it possible there is a router channel clash ?
You could try another channel to see if that helps.

Sorry, I didn't understand this. Can you tell me, how do you change the channel?


Thank you for all your suggestions, I'll certainly follow up those I haven't tried.

debitcardmayhem

It’s better , since sky makes everything difficult/ impossible, change the DNS server on your kit .
For windows google “windows 11 change dns server“ similar for android and apple kit, linux etc.

e.g. for windows https://www.pdq.com/blog/change-dns-server-settings-in-windows/

Vitor

Try encrypting the DNS requests so Sky can't interfere - How to enable DNS over HTTPS (DoH) on Windows 11 - Pureinfotech