**** NOTICE: Error in DNS table makes Free Republic unavailable in some areas (#2)****

9/23/01 | Jim Robinson

[Ron C.]

There is an error in the DNS tables that contains the information necessary to route traffic from the ISPs all around the country and the world to Free Republic. We discovered the error around midnight on Friday night. At this time, we do not know what caused the error to occur. We assume it was an error made by the domain registration people who are handling our account, however, no one there seems to know how it happened either.

We submitted an update to correct the error shortly after we discovered it Friday night. They tell us that it takes at least 24 hours for the update to start circulating out to the DNS servers and it may take another 24 to 48 hours or more to reach them all after that.

Worse, it seems that not all servers have been updated yet with the erroneous information. That means if your DNS server happens to get updated with the bad IP addresses today, you may suddenly find that you cannot reach Free Republic.

If your browser suddenly reports that Free Republic cannot be found or you get to a page that says Free Republic is under construction, then you will know that your DNS server is affected. When this happens, you may still get to Free Republic by using our IP address.

The url is:

http://206.112.97.70

Unfortunately, you will not be able to login or post while using our IP address. The login cookies only work by domain name.

If you are technically inclined, there is a work around. You may edit your local "HOSTS" file to include an entry for Free Republic that will override the DNS tables. The entry would look similar to this: "www.freerepublic.com 206.112.97.70"

There is a discussion about how to do this for Windows users here:

http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3bad3d29442f.htm

And for Mac users:

http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3badfdcd77ea.htm

If you do edit your local HOSTS file, be sure to remove your edit after it is no longer needed.

TO EVERYONE:

Whether you are affected by this error or not, be sure to visit and bookmark our contingency site on Yahoo! Clubs. We posts notices and information here anytime there are problems with Free Republic or the network and Free Republic is down for more than just a few minutes:

http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/freerepublic

There is also an ongoing discussion on Yahoo regarding how to find work arounds for this problem.


We are truly sorry that this error occurred and we apologize that it's taking so long to get it cleared up. We were hoping that it would all be cleared up by this morning, but obviously that has not happened for all.

[Ron C.]

See THREAD #1 for additional possible help.

[MissAmericanPie]

When I click on your windows link above, I get "Page cannot be displayed". I get the same on different articles I try to read.

I kept messing around until I got on, I have no idea what I did as I tried so many different things. Don't know how long it is going to last though.

[Pericles]

The topics seperator is also not working.

[nopardons]

It is also bad for Webtv users. I can get into some things (my mail, a thread ) and then I can't. It's all very hit and miss.

[nopardons]

I can't even access the THREAD 1 link on this thread . It , as so many other things , just comes up that freerepublic can't find that page.

[TERMINATTOR]

If you already have a decent (non microsnot) operating system skip to step #3

1) Save your personal data.
2) Format your hard drive and install a good OS, preferably Unix.
3) In Linux/Unix, edit /etc/hosts, add: 206.112.97.70 www.freerepublic.com
Done! No reboots needed in Unix.

To arms, to arms, the terrorists are coming!

America's Militia wants YOU!

Nine out of ten Americans will fight to keep George W. Bush in the white house, and Osama bin Laden out!

Bible quotes in favor of annihilating jihadists
Poll: bin Laden's skull can be best used as an ....

[Lent]

That's curious. When I use Netscape 4.7 I get the under construction message. When I use Netscape 6.1 I get in fine with no limitations?

[TERMINATTOR]

Try these. Note how I've replaced - www.freerepublic.com - with the dotted quad(numbers).

Windoze: http://206.112.97.70/forum/a3bad3d29442f.htm
Mac: http://206.112.97.70/forum/a3badfdcd77ea.htm

[nopardons]

I am a WebTV user . We poor sould have neither Windows, nor netscape , nor anything at all like that. It's just lousy Webtv !

In order to answer you, I had to click onto another poster's nic and type your nic , after I erased that one. I can't get into my mail, I can only open a few threads, and it's all just hot or miss.

[nopardons]

WebTV users are adversly effected as well. We don't have Windows or Linex, or anything else.

[cbkaty]

A whole weekend without FR..... I was blinded, cripled, wandering in the desert, but not tempted by the local Houston Comical...nor another discussion site!

Welcome home FR! Even my MS ME edition of blue screens is happy this morning!

[mystery-ak]

I have webtv too...what I do is log off FR and turn off the web box for several minutes...turn it back on and go to FR and log in...this clears your cookies...this seems to work most of the time, but not always....remember to log off FR...good luck.
Webtv uses do not have the options computuer users have. I hope this problem clears up on it's own.

[I am still Casey]

Last week there was this great American Eagle flying around here that could be used as desktop wallpaper. But sometime during the night it disappeared.

Is there some sort of connection (pardon the pun) with DNS server problems and the missing eagle, or did somebody just shoot it?

[afraidfortherepublic]

Filing article at tech_index

[afraidfortherepublic]

Perhaps this explains the problems we were experiencing Saturday.

[PhiKapMom]

Thanks for the information! Looks like AOL is working this morning! It is really frustrating to read something and not be able to post. I could get in through Netscape to lurk but that was it! I wasn't about to mess with my computer so I figured that sooner or later AOL would get the word!

[tbeatty]

It looks like someone is squatting on your IP. From work, I see a web page that says "www.freeRepublic.com" and a "Site Under COnstruction" with a bunch of information how to buy domain names. Is www.freeRepublic.com being held hostage?

[Hajman]

It looks like someone is squatting on your IP. From work, I see a web page that says "www.freeRepublic.com" and a "Site Under COnstruction" with a bunch of information how to buy domain names. Is www.freeRepublic.com being held hostage?

If malicious, it could be a DNS redirection hack. Annoying, but fixable.

-The Hajman-

[Syncro]

LOL I actually raked some leaves and found my lawn!

It is nice to be able to post again...

Apparantly the problem is being fixed (at least in my area) and that other FreeRepublic site is NOT FR.

[stylin_geek]

I would also like to let everyone know I could not get to Free Republic until the morning of 09/25/01. I went directly to it using the IP address. LBGA gave me the idea of resolving the IP address. She was also kind enough to send me this thread and from reading it, it appeared to me that cookies and history files are also creating problems. I deleted all the cookies and history files (I run WinNT 4.0) and voila', I type in www.freerepublic.com, and I am here.