Recommended Tests

I originally made this post in the New Members forum because I'm new, but it should probably actually go here, I think.  So I'm re-posting it:

Hey everyone, I know absolutely 0 about IT stuff.  I only know a little about computers in general, but I'd rather learn than pay someone else to do stuff for me, so here I am.  Same way I feel about cars; I never know how something works till it breaks and I have to figure out a way to fix it Very Happy

So the problem that brings me in is this: I have Verizon DSL which works well on some webpages, but on others (for instance ESPN.com) most of the website comes up but it will never load entirely.  Pictures and certain links just continuously act like they're going to be loaded but eventually I get the "timeout" message.  Any website where you have to post becomes a problem...such as this one here.  We'll see if I can actually post this message.  Heh!  I may have to bum off my neighbor's internet to post this.  His connection works perfectly.  It should also be noted that this Verizon connection works perfectly on everyone's computer but mine.

I've done the whole ipconfig /release ipconfig /renew thing, and one thing I've noticed is my Connection-specific DNS Suffix always comes back "domain_not_set.invalid".  Now talking to my IT friend very briefly, my understanding of DNS servers is that they're used to contact outside web sources so anything stored on a different location from the website I'm visiting won't show up if my DNS isn't set right.  That's probably not right, so feel free to correct me.  I can find the TCP/IP advanced portion of XP, where you can manually enter a DNS address but I have no idea what I'd enter.

Any tips?

For posterity's sake, here are my ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew stats:

ipconfig /release:

Connection-specific DNS suffix:
IP address: 0.0.0.0
subnet mask: 0.0.0.0
default gateway:

ipconfig /renew:

Connection-specific DNS suffix: domain_not_set.invalid
IP address: 192.168.1.66
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
default gateway: 192.168.1.1


Any insight or education at all would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

-Nate

I perferablly like using OpenDNS. I've always had great success using their DNS IP's. It also lowered my ping times, not by much but enough. Try using that website, and see if that works. Also, please read up on these two pages http://www.testmy.net/t-3924 & http://www.testmy.net/t-2097.

- Philly.