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NOTICE: Error in DNS table makes Free Republic unavailable in some areas
Free Republic
| 09/23/01
| Jim Robinson
Posted on 09/23/2001 11:34:22 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
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.
TOPICS: Announcements; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS:
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To: Jim Robinson
BTTT
2
posted on
09/23/2001 11:37:49 AM PDT
by
Roscoe
To: Jim Robinson
There is also an ongoing discussion on Yahoo regarding how to find work arounds for this problem. I just clicked on the link that said "Founder's personal home page" on the Yahoo site, and here I am!
To: Jim Robinson
Thanks, Jim. No problems here, but good work.
4
posted on
09/23/2001 11:39:32 AM PDT
by
quimby
Comment #5 Removed by Moderator
To: Jim Robinson
If you do edit your local HOSTS file, be sure to remove your edit after it is no longer needed.I place the DNS number in my HOSTS file last year when the entire system was changing. Was there some reason I should have removed it? Does it adversely affect system performance if a HOSTS entry is used when it's unnecessary?
6
posted on
09/23/2001 11:43:25 AM PDT
by
Willie Green
(Go Pat Go!!!)
To: Jim Robinson
This is not invoman, but his wife, Kitt. I know exactly how you feel! They had told me it would take 24-48 hours for our DNS to take affect. It didn't occur until almost a week after. When I called them after 48hrs, they had said everything's fine, and it had to do with our end. After talking to several people higher up, it was on their end. Thanks, QWEST! I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone when this stuff happens:)
7
posted on
09/23/2001 11:46:44 AM PDT
by
invoman
To: Willie Green
Well, it will not cause any problems that I'm aware of other than if we ever change our IP address again, and you forgot that you edited your HOSTS file, you may have problems figuring out why you can't reach us.
To: Jim Robinson
Thanks Jim. I got back online this morning after adding the line in the Hosts file, cleaning out my cache and rebooting. It's working fine now.
9
posted on
09/23/2001 11:48:57 AM PDT
by
Roebucks
To: Jim Robinson
I experienced a problem last week after changing my phone number to the one Earthlink wanted me to use. I would lose FreeRepublic all the time, and get messages that server could not be found. Once I put my connection back to the old number, I didn't have the problem any longer. If anyone has recently changed their connection number, maybe that is their problem.
To: Jim Robinson
I am not a "techie" but, encountering this problem last night I eventually did a Google search on FreeRepublic and got the latest post. I then substituted that FR address for my prior one and..., it worked.
11
posted on
09/23/2001 11:54:20 AM PDT
by
ExSES
To: Jim Robinson
My other ISP isn't working, so I'll try to fix it with this later. Thanks!
To: Jim Robinson
I cannot get in through aol today. Tried several times and came up with a screen that said www.freerepublic.com is under construction. It did not look anything like a free republic announcement. Maybe you should check out what's gong on with aol. I have no problem getting in through Netscape.
To: Jim Robinson
Well, it will not cause any problems that I'm aware of other than if we ever change our IP address again,Well, I'm addicted enough that I'll probably see an anouncement from you or John before I get caught off guard. And there's always the contingency site at Yahoo! where I can figure out what's going on.
Thanks for the clarification.
Bttt.
14
posted on
09/23/2001 12:02:52 PM PDT
by
Willie Green
(Go Pat Go!!!)
To: Roscoe
For webtv users like I....try logging off and turning off your web box for about 20 min, turn back on and log- on to FR....it worked for me, at least for now.LOL
To: Jim Robinson
Thanks for your hard work, Jim!
16
posted on
09/23/2001 12:06:22 PM PDT
by
WIMom
(and putting up with the lame jokes!)
To: Jim Robinson
Thank you Jim. So far so good from tinfoil east..
To: WIMom
ALL....All Slicks fault, I blame everything on him when no one else handy.
18
posted on
09/23/2001 12:13:57 PM PDT
by
cynicom
To: Jim Robinson
This is what I got this morning repeatedly, until I was finally able to get to the correct IP address and login:
Atticus
PS I'll say one thing, this error did prompt me to get out my credit card and contribute to FR. Thank you Jim Robinson. Thank you for FreeRepublic.com
19
posted on
09/23/2001 12:14:26 PM PDT
by
AtticusX
Bump for those without Netscape. (Mac users - what are they?)
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