Fixed Northwest Firearms DNS Issues

[Joe Link]

Some members are reporting that they are unable to access Northwest Firearms from certain locations or devices. The cause of this error appears to be due to slow DNS propagation by Comcast (and possibly other ISP's). This propagation can take as long as 48 hours, though most users were able to access the site within 5 minutes of the DNS changeover. This issue will be resolved automatically once your ISP updates their DNS records for the site, but we have no way of knowing when that might happen. To clarify, if you wait and do nothing, this will be resolved by your ISP eventually.

To resolve this issue immediately, you will need to change the DNS servers. Instructions on how to do this can be found here. Those who already know how to do this, we recommend using 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, which we have verified are working correctly.

After changing DNS servers please try to visit again. If you still cannot access the site please try flushing your DNS using the instructions found here.

Any information or feedback on what worked and what didn't, including which ISP you're using, would be helpful and appreciated.

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[U201491]

Sent it to him. Thanks

 

[U8395279]

I do not believe that changing DNS servers is necessary for anyone to do. If you are seeing a lot of this from Comcast users, they are probably directly connected via a cable modem. A lot of Comcast users just keep their computers on, or at least let it sleep, instead of turning it off. They are probably just continuing to get the old DNS records from their local Windows DNS cache. They are thus not even accessing the network to get the new DNS records.

To deal with this sort of thing in the future, all one should have to do is to either reboot your computer, and/or flush your local Windows DNS cache, which will get rid of the old DNS records.

You can do that by entering CMD, and hit the ENTER key. That will then give you a command line prompt. Then simply type in this command at the prompt:

>ipconfig /flushdns

Voila, problem is solved!

.

 

[mcfoto]

I do not believe that changing DNS servers is necessary for anyone to do. If you are seeing a lot of this from Comcast users, they are probably directly connected via a cable modem. A lot of Comcast users just keep their computers on, or at least let it sleep, instead of turning it off. They are probably just continuing to get the old DNS records from their local Windows DNS cache. They are thus not even accessing the network to get the new DNS records.

To deal with this sort of thing in the future, all one should have to do is to either reboot your computer, and/or flush your local Windows DNS cache, which will get rid of the old DNS records.

You can do that by entering CMD, and hit the ENTER key. That will then give you a command line prompt. Then simply type in this command at the prompt:

>ipconfig /flushdns

Voila, problem is solved!

.

I am accessing on an iPad and have dumped cache and rebooted but still cannot access.

 

[Joe Link]

I do not believe that changing DNS servers is necessary for anyone to do. If you are seeing a lot of this from Comcast users, they are probably directly connected via a cable modem. A lot of Comcast users just keep their computers on, or at least let it sleep, instead of turning it off. They are probably just continuing to get the old DNS records from their local Windows DNS cache. They are thus not even accessing the network to get the new DNS records.

To deal with this sort of thing in the future, all one should have to do is to either reboot your computer, and/or flush your local Windows DNS cache, which will get rid of the old DNS records.

You can do that by entering CMD, and hit the ENTER key. That will then give you a command line prompt. Then simply type in this command at the prompt:

>ipconfig /flushdns

Voila, problem is solved!

.

This was my original thought as well, until I tried to do exactly that. It seems Comcast and some other ISP's ignore the TTL settings specified in the DNS records and substitute their own (much longer) TTL's. If I switch my DNS servers back to Comcast I still can't connect.

 

[Don H]

I am accessing on an iPad and have dumped cache and rebooted but still cannot access.

Same here with Comcast. At work my iPhone works just fine as does accessing NWFA over AT&T LTE.

 

[Joe Link]

I've been finding quite a bit of information regarding Comcast's slow DNS propagation. I suppose I'll ask the million dollar question.

Is anyone who isn't using Comcast having issues connecting?

 

[edslhead]

I'm on Commycast. I couldn't get on till I changed the DNS to 8888. Might let people know that that is one 8 for each box when changing. Kinda threw me off. The site came right up after the change. I got the message from your facebook site

 

[Joe Link]

I'm on Commycast. I couldn't get on till I changed the DNS to 8888. Might let people know that that is one 8 for each box when changing. Kinda threw me off. The site came right up after the change. I got the message from your facebook site

Good to hear it worked for you. I sure wish people didn't have to go through that. So far I haven't had anyone who isn't on Comcast experience this.

 

[edslhead]

One more rate hike and I won't be either

 

[Mephistopheles]

I have Comcast and wasn't getting anything. Went to your Facebook page and changed DNS. All is right now. Wasn't able to post on Armslist with Comcast and had to use a free email address to post.

 

[Hayshaker]

I've been finding quite a bit of information regarding Comcast's slow DNS propagation. I suppose I'll ask the million dollar question.

Is anyone who isn't using Comcast having issues connecting?

Yup several of us here in eastern OR are hooking fine ~butnot Comcast. Sounds like Comcast it the problem

 

[Joe Link]

I have Comcast and wasn't getting anything. Went to your Facebook page and changed DNS. All is right now. Wasn't able to post on Armslist with Comcast and had to use a free email address to post.

Yup several of us here in eastern OR are hooking fine ~butnot Comcast. Sounds like Comcast it the problem

Thanks for the feedback guys. Always helps to find the common denominator!

 

[U8395279]

This was my original thought as well, until I tried to do exactly that. It seems Comcast and some other ISP's ignore the TTL settings specified in the DNS records and substitute their own (much longer) TTL's. If I switch my DNS servers back to Comcast I still can't connect.

So Joe, are you specifying specific Comcast DNS server addresses? Did you at any point try using the option to OBTAIN DNS SERVER ADDRESS AUTOMATICALLY?

I have always simply set my DNS server option to AUTOMATIC.

What about the rest of the Comcast users? Are you using AUTOMATIC like I am, or providing specific server addresses?

.

 

[Joe Link]

So Joe, are you specifying specific Comcast DNS server addresses? Did you at any point try using the option to OBTAIN DNS SERVER ADDRESS AUTOMATICALLY?

I have always simply set my DNS server option to AUTOMATIC.

What about the rest of the Comcast users? Are you using AUTOMATIC like I am, or providing specific server addresses?

.

Yep, automatic. I'm not using this to talk bad about Comcast, but it appears they're the common denominator here.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Mine was set on Automatic, didn't work until I set 8888 and 8844 per NWF Facebook directions.

 

[Joe Link]

Though I'm no DNS expert, I find it odd that the secondary Comcast DNS server (75.75.76.76) is resolving it correctly.

 

[U8395279]

Mine was set on Automatic, didn't work until I set 8888 and 8844 per NWF Facebook directions.

What those numbers are doing is setting your computer to use Google's DNS servers.

.

 

[U8395279]

In researching DNS issues, I came across a pretty cool freeware utility called NAMEBENCH that Google has available to download. Download, install and run this program, and it will find the fastest available DNS servers available for you to use.

It takes several minutes to run and query thousands of servers. But it then comes back with recommended DNS server settings that will give you the fastest possible responses.

Pretty nifty little program, available for different operating systems from Google downloads. Here is a link to the Windows version:

https://code.google.com/p/namebench/downloads/detail?name=namebench-1.3.1-Windows.exe

 

[flashpan]

Hey folks
I do not have authority to change settings on my company lap top.
Any other ideas on how to fix this irratant? Yes it's Comcast. No problem accessing every other firearm related site I use daily.