Unable to resolve target system name

traplake · 06-18-2009, 06:00 PM

Please help. I have been on the phone for four days with ISP support, web site support, and phone company to no avail. Here is the situation. I can be running merrily along and all of a sudden get the IE message that the page cannot be found because "I am not connected to the Internet, etc". However I can access any other site just fine. 99% of the time it is www.fidelity.com but that is probably because I am on that site most of the time. If I do a tracert on www.fidelity.com (at that moment) I will get the "unable to resolve target system name" response. Similar results on my laptop running off the same DSL modem. ISP provider says "not my problem, talk to fidelity". Fidelity says I am the only one in the world with this problem. Phone company says it is my computer (even though their laptop failed in a similar manner that they attributed to a problem with their computer). The phone company replaced a lot of connectors and even replaced the modem, all to no avail. I was using a linksys router to support my laptop wirelessly so thought that might be the problem. Physically removed the router but still have the problem. Did a system restore on both computers to a point 30 days ago as a last resort. Still have the problem. I am convinced it is either the ISP (or perhaps the phone company) but need some "proof" or some type of solution. This started Monday morning but no one will admit to making any changes. There was a storm over the weekend that did blow the dsl line surge protector. That was replaced Monday. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

**johnwill** · 06-19-2009, 03:10 PM

This is most likely an issue deep within the bowels of their network. I've seen this exact issue a number of times, and it always turned out to be a routing issue within the ISP network.

Try accessing the site through a proxy server and see if when they can't find it locally, you can get to it indirectly.

traplake · 06-20-2009, 04:58 AM

Johnwill, it appears that you are correct - seems the problem is in the bowels of the network, about the 6th hop down. After all else failed with everyone pointing the finger at each other and ultimately the phone company saying it was my computers that were screwed up, I finally took my laptop to the local phone company office. When my laptop failed there, they said, again, it was my computer (no explanation for why my desktop failed other than it must now be screwed up as well). However, when I got one of their office computers to fail (slightly different manifestation as they were running XP and I was running Vista) with the "unable to resolve" message, they were back to saying it was fidelity. Finally reached a network specialist at Fidelity who really seemed to know what he was talking about. Had me trace to a physical IP address which got me past the "unable to resolve" message and ultimately failed on an ATT server that the local phone company contracts with. This server showed a problem on traces from both my home and from the phone company office. Supposedly the phone company is now contacting ATT. I am performing one more test this morning - taking my laptop to the nearest available wireless network (35 miles away) and seeing how it works on a different ISP running through a different phone company. In theory it will work fine (just as it always did before). I really hope it works.

traplake · 06-21-2009, 05:55 AM

Further update: probably not a problem with the ATT server either. Took laptop to different town and got on different wireless network. Everything worked fine. Went back home and nothing worked. Changed over to using OPEN DNS - now everything is working on both computers. Apparently the problem is with my ISP and their DNS servers but so far they have not acknowledged it.

**johnwill** · 06-21-2009, 08:17 AM

Well, the DNS server itself was resolving the correct address, so my take is that it's a routing issue within their network. If their DNS server and OpenDNS come up with the same IP address, it should take the same route from your location.

As long as it's working, I guess it's all that counts. The main point here was, it was not anything you were doing.

06-18-2009, 06:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
traplake Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 3 OS: vista (current)	Unable to resolve target system name Please help. I have been on the phone for four days with ISP support, web site support, and phone company to no avail. Here is the situation. I can be running merrily along and all of a sudden get the IE message that the page cannot be found because "I am not connected to the Internet, etc". However I can access any other site just fine. 99% of the time it is www.fidelity.com but that is probably because I am on that site most of the time. If I do a tracert on www.fidelity.com (at that moment) I will get the "unable to resolve target system name" response. Similar results on my laptop running off the same DSL modem. ISP provider says "not my problem, talk to fidelity". Fidelity says I am the only one in the world with this problem. Phone company says it is my computer (even though their laptop failed in a similar manner that they attributed to a problem with their computer). The phone company replaced a lot of connectors and even replaced the modem, all to no avail. I was using a linksys router to support my laptop wirelessly so thought that might be the problem. Physically removed the router but still have the problem. Did a system restore on both computers to a point 30 days ago as a last resort. Still have the problem. I am convinced it is either the ISP (or perhaps the phone company) but need some "proof" or some type of solution. This started Monday morning but no one will admit to making any changes. There was a storm over the weekend that did blow the dsl line surge protector. That was replaced Monday. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

06-19-2009, 03:10 PM	#2 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,940 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Unable to resolve target system name This is most likely an issue deep within the bowels of their network. I've seen this exact issue a number of times, and it always turned out to be a routing issue within the ISP network. Try accessing the site through a proxy server and see if when they can't find it locally, you can get to it indirectly. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

06-20-2009, 04:58 AM	#3 (permalink)
traplake Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 3 OS: vista (current)	Re: Unable to resolve target system name Johnwill, it appears that you are correct - seems the problem is in the bowels of the network, about the 6th hop down. After all else failed with everyone pointing the finger at each other and ultimately the phone company saying it was my computers that were screwed up, I finally took my laptop to the local phone company office. When my laptop failed there, they said, again, it was my computer (no explanation for why my desktop failed other than it must now be screwed up as well). However, when I got one of their office computers to fail (slightly different manifestation as they were running XP and I was running Vista) with the "unable to resolve" message, they were back to saying it was fidelity. Finally reached a network specialist at Fidelity who really seemed to know what he was talking about. Had me trace to a physical IP address which got me past the "unable to resolve" message and ultimately failed on an ATT server that the local phone company contracts with. This server showed a problem on traces from both my home and from the phone company office. Supposedly the phone company is now contacting ATT. I am performing one more test this morning - taking my laptop to the nearest available wireless network (35 miles away) and seeing how it works on a different ISP running through a different phone company. In theory it will work fine (just as it always did before). I really hope it works.

06-21-2009, 05:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
traplake Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 3 OS: vista (current)	Re: Unable to resolve target system name Further update: probably not a problem with the ATT server either. Took laptop to different town and got on different wireless network. Everything worked fine. Went back home and nothing worked. Changed over to using OPEN DNS - now everything is working on both computers. Apparently the problem is with my ISP and their DNS servers but so far they have not acknowledged it.

06-21-2009, 08:17 AM	#5 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,940 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Unable to resolve target system name Well, the DNS server itself was resolving the correct address, so my take is that it's a routing issue within their network. If their DNS server and OpenDNS come up with the same IP address, it should take the same route from your location. As long as it's working, I guess it's all that counts. The main point here was, it was not anything you were doing. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience