Website connection failures starting last evening....

[GabeU]

Toggling web acceleration makes no difference.  Restarted modem numerous times.  IE, Edge and Chrome...it does it with those (Firefox yesterday, but not so far today).  It took four attempts just to be able to sign in to this site, and two attempts so far in posting this.  My speeds are very good.   Another person suggested it could be a handshake issue.

This following is a pic of an attempt to connect to the community, which seems to be the most affected.  It sometimes does this while attempting to connect to Amazon, as well.  Also did it with a couple of other websites.  It seems to be intermittent, sometimes connecting and sometimes not.  I do seem to have better luck with Firefox for some reason.

Edit:  Additional info.  I'm presently on a LAN connected desktop, but it's also doing this with a laptop connected through WiFi, so it doesn't seem to be affecting only a single device, nor a single connection method.   Using a specific DNS server, like Google's, doesn't make a difference, either.  Adblock Plus being on or off makes no difference. 

Also, sometimes, depending on the page, it will automatically retry and eventually connect within five or ten seconds.

Chrome...

Edge...

IE.  Goes to page, but when I go to sign in, this is what I get....

[Liz]

Hi Gabe,

Thanks for all the details. Does clearing the browser cache make a difference? If the site fails to load, try loading it via a non-HN connection, like on your cellphone, does that work?

We can also check if we're getting similar reports, and if so, hopefully we can find a trend. Otherwise, I haven't seen the same behavior on this end.

Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

[GabeU]

@Liz

I cleared my cache in Chrome and was able to come to the Community, but when I clicked to sign in I got the failure again.

With my cell phone it's difficult as it's only a cheap 2G Tracfone, but using its Opera Mini browser I was able to successfully sign into the site, and twice.  Trying to post a reply from the phone would be far too difficult because of what it is (you have to type from a phone pad type key layout and moving arond the screen is very hard), but it did successfully sign into the site on two separate tries. 

I understand it can take some time to figure this out, especially if it's only happening to me, but I'm patient.  The Firefox browser seems to be more of a success today, too, so I at least have that. 

Thanks for the help. 

Edit:  A little additional info.  It seems today that the Community is what is having the most difficulty.  I've been able to use Chrome successfullly with going to Wikipedia, CNN and IMDB.  Yesterday there were problems all over the place, but today it seems to be more the Community, and a little bit of Amazon.   I have had occasional problems with Amazon for months, though, so what's going on today with Amazon may not be related to what's going on with the Community, and the main issue may just be with the Community.  If I notice anything more this evening that could be helpful I'll add to this thread.  Thanks again. 

[GabeU · Accepted solution]

@Liz

On a whim I decided to flush my DNS cache, and since doing so everything is fine.  I had tried Google's DNS servers and was still having the problem, so I didn't think flushing the DNS cache would make any difference, but I guess it did.  

I did notice, while using Firefox, that the TLS handshake was the most prominent thing showing during the process of a web page opening, which I could see on the lower left of the page.  From discussion with Corrosive, I understand that Firefox basically takes a longer time to try to open a web page before it gives up, and this may be why Firefox was not messing up like the other three.  It would take a while to open the page sometimes, and, as mentioned, I could see that it was performing a TLS handshake during these delays.  I guess the other three would give up too quickly.  

I'll keep an eye on it (it'll be kind of hard not to) and will post again when I know for sure whether the problem is solved or not.  

Thanks again for the help.  

[Liz]

No, thank YOU for the detailed updates. 

[GabeU]

@Liz

I think I can say conclusively that the issue has been resolved.  Whether by flusing the DNS cache or coincidence, I've not had one issue since doing so.  It's working perfectly now.  

[Gwalk900]

DNS values are stored in several places:

The Modem, The Router and the OS.

Powering off the Modem will dump that one, powering off the Router will dump that one as well.

Opening a command prompt and doing a ipcong/flushdns will dump the OS values.

Cleaning out all the dust bunnies is the only sure way.

[MarkJFine]

If loading errors are from the TLS Handshake, DNS could have been at fault, but it'd think it's more likely due to latency.

Resetting the modem could have popped you into a less populated outroute with less latency.

[GabeU]

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@MarkJFine wrote:

If loading errors are from the TLS Handshake, DNS could have been at fault, but it'd think it's more likely due to latency.

Resetting the modem could have popped you into a less populated outroute with less latency.

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I had reset the modem numerous times, both on the evening when the problem started, and the next day.  It didn't make any difference, at least on its own.  That's not to say that it wouldn't for others having similar problems, though.    

[Liz]

Thanks for the update, Gabe. Glad it's all back to normal. 🙂