XP DNS stopped working?

From: Ian <hellyb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 Time: 00:41:35

XP Home. Worked OK for several years. Automatic MS update enabled. PC connected to home router.

During an update last week, the update stopped suddenly before completion. Since then, it has been impossible to access the internet with IE or OE: page not found, server not found etc. All other PCs connected to the router continue to function normally.

From the faulty PC I can use IE to log in to the router, so http isn't
blocked. Pings to known IP addresses on the internet work fine.

But whenever I try to ping internet sites by FQDN (e.g. ping www.bbc.co.uk) I get host unknown responses, as if DNS isn't working. However, NSLOOKUP works fine.

NETSTAT -AN and IPCONFIG give expected results.

I've tried disabling the firewall, to make doubly sure nothing is blocked.

I've tried rebooting the router, then the PC. The DNS server addresses in the PC (set up by DHCP) are fine.

I've tried reverting to the previous System Restore point. No joy.


More evidence. Looking back through the Event Log, it looks as if things went wrong during an aborted update to SP3. The events reported around this time (earliest first):

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Timeout waiting for App Layer Gateway Service to connect
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ALGS failed to start: the service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The System Restore filter encountered unexpected error 0xC000009A while processing xpsp1res.dll on harddiskvolume 1. It has stopped monitoring the volume
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SP3 installation failed. Insufficient system resources
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Server unable to allocate from the system nonpaged pool because pool empty
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SP3 uninstall failed. System cannot find the file specified (classic MS error message: which *** file are you talking about ??????)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SP3 installation failed, leaving windows partially updated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately there isn't a Restore Point prior to this failed update that I can revert to.

I don't understand why there was a lack of resources. There is over 40GB free on disk, and the RAM is 1GB.

Going back to the DNS failure, I put a valid host entry in the hosts file, and it was possible to access the host using its FQDN. So network access is possible, but not using DNS.

Any ideas on any of this? I really want to get a clean MS update, but without DNS I can't talk to the MS update site.

--
Ian
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Urgent! New router and big disaster
    ... Both NICs should point to his internal IP for DNS. ... forward ports to it reliably in the router. ... I should have been more clear about internet connection.. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Urgent! New router and big disaster
    ... Both NICs should point to his internal IP for DNS. ... You should give your SBS a fixed external address so you can forward ports to it reliably in the router. ... I should have been more clear about internet connection.. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Urgent! New router and big disaster
    ... The SBS DNS server, running on ... its IP it means that your problem is now DNS. ... forward ports to it reliably in the router. ... I should have been more clear about internet connection.. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Urgent! New router and big disaster
    ... In the TCP/IP properties for the external NIC, you need to specify an external DNS server for DNS, instead of the server's own IP address. ... You should give your SBS a fixed external address so you can forward ports to it reliably in the router. ... I should have been more clear about internet connection.. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Networking Questions
    ... The DNS address is sent as a secondary element, mostly because there's no point for nearly all internet connections without DNS. ... The PC asks for an address by sending a DHCP request out the route to the DSL device which is either a modem or a router. ... No need for DNS until host names get involved and those hosts are on a different network segment. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.as400.misc)