Router log file with pages of DNS errors

[davidw40]

One of my son's works permanently from home, connected via the internet to his base.

I was looking at the log file on the Sagem Router and saw that there are over 200 pages of DNS errors, which obviously relate to my son's work. A typical entry reads:

DNS name resolution failure (wpad.exodustrav.internal.theadventuredivision.com

I would have thought this failure must have some impact on the working of the system my son uses. So I was wondering if there was any way of resolving the problem. A ping of the URL fails, but a ping of "theadventuredivision.com"works. I assume this is because "wpad.exodustrav.internal" is an internal address on "theadventuredivision.com" server.

I asked my son to draw this to the attention of the IT dept at work,  but they didn't seem to be interested.

[Skynet_TX]

Hi @davidw40,

Just thought I'd mention this, as I made this change last week and it has worked a treat for me...

If the large amount of DNS errors in the log are an annoyance there is a setting you can change that may well get rid of them, at present your router will be acting as the DNS server for all of your devices, however you could configure your router so that it just tells all of your devices to use the TalkTalk DNS servers directly, therefore your devices won't use the router as a DNS server, and so the log won't get the DNS entries in it. You may well also find that this resolves your problems with occasional DNS resolution failures, as the router will no longer be doing any DNS resolution for you.

If you wanted to try this you just need to follow the instructions for the 'Wi-Fi Hub' here, if you have never changed these settings before you will probably find the the primary DNS server is set to 192.168.1.1 (i.e. the router itself). You could change the settings as follows :

Primary : 79.79.79.79

Secondary : 79.79.79.80

These are the current preferred TalkTalk DNS servers (they are mentioned at the bottom of that webpage so you know they really are genuine TalkTalk DNS servers).

Having changed the settings you would need to make your devices disconnect and reconnect to the router (you could just reboot the devices or the router). When your devices have reconnected, if you checked the network properties on your devices you would then see that they would show those addresses mentioned above as the DNS servers. So from that point on the devices will use the TalkTalk DNS servers directly rather than going via the routers DNS service. Once all of your devices had reconnected to pick up this new settings you should find you no longer get any DNS errors in the router log (as it is no longer being a DNS server for any of your devices).

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi david,

I understand. The new firmware for the Sagemcom should be available very soon, however we haven't been provided with a specific date at the moment.

Thanks

[davidw40]

Now I know what is causing the apparent loss of connection, it's an easy job to reboot the router. So changing to a Huawei router would be a sledge-hammer/nut solution. In any case, I "upgraded" from Huawei to Sagem due to persistent problems with the Huawei.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi david,

Sorry, I've just noticed your second post. If it is affecting the connection then we can send a Huawei Wifi hub as we don't currently have an exact date at the moment? Would you like us to send this? We would also send a router returns bag for the Sagemcom router.

Thanks

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi david,

Ok thanks for confirming. As soon as the new firmware is available then the router will be automatically updated to the latest version.

Thanks

[davidw40]

Hi Michelle

I do hope the new firmware will permit more to be done with the log file. Downloading, Deleting and Restarting would do,

What is the timescale for the updated firmware? At the moment it could be classed as "not fit for purpose".

Regards

[davidw40]

We have also experienced the occasional reluctance to resolve DNS names. Rebooting the router normally does the trick. However, I was not aware that the router, itself, was the cause of tthe problem.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi david,

Apologies for the delay. We do have new firmware coming soon for the Sagemcom router. Is this still not service affecting at the moment?

Thanks

[Skynet_TX]

Hi @davidw40,

This is fairly normal for the Sagemcom Wi-Fi hub, the current version of firmware does have some DNS related bugs, there is a new version of firmware being tested at the moment that will resolve the problems. If your son is not seeing any problems then don't worry about it, my Sagemcom hub was just the same but it didn't give me any problems for a long time.

Some customers (including me) end up having more serious DNS related issues with the router where either DNS resolution is very slow (i.e. you try to go to a website and the router takes many seconds before there is any response), or sometimes the router stops resolving DNS at all until you reboot it. Again the new firmware will fix these issues when it is released.

So basically there is nothing you can currently do to the router to 'fix' it, so if all appears to be working ok then I'd just carry on using it as normal. If you did start to experience more serious issues then the staff here would be able to help, in the short term (until the new firmware is released) they tend to send out a router of a different make as a replacement.