DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

Shawnology

Hi,

I am currently getting the following message with every website that I visit.

The funny thing is that after ~2secs after it displays that message, the website will actually load normally. Occassionally, a website might load incomplete (i.e. images won't get loaded), but a refresh fixes that problem.

I'm quite certain that this "DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN" issue only started recently, possibly after the last Vivaldi update, as I have never had this problem previously (I have been using Vivaldi for over 4 months).

I am currently on Vivaldi 4.1.2369.16 (Stable channel) (64-bit)
OS is Windows 10 OS Version 2009 (Build 19042.1165)

I dont' seem to have this problem when I tested it in Opera, so I'm not sure if this is an issue with Vivaldi or Windows.

Is anyone else experiencing this behaviour? Or know if there's something I can try to rectify this issue?

DoctorG

@shawnology said in DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN:

getting the following message with every website that I visit.

How do you open that site? By bookmark or typing in address field?

Do you have special/changed DNS settings in Vivaldi or Windows?

Shawnology

@doctorg it happens when I type the url into the address bar.
I don't have any special DNS settings in Vivaldi or Windows. It's set to automatic in Windows and I haven't touched the DNS settings in Vivaldi.

I've unchecked the Google Services "DNS to help resolve nvaigation errors" in Vivaldi but that hasn't made any difference.

I will try to use my ISP's DNS server settings for a bit to see whether that will make any difference, but I really can't figure out why this could be happening out of the blue.

Pathduck

@shawnology I assume you've already tried restarting the browser?

This error message seems very common on Chrome and Chromium-based browsers. Problem is that trying to search for it results in hundreds of SEO-spammed "help" sites with the exact same "solutions", many of which will try to push some product/malware to "fix" your problem.

There's also extremely little documentation from the Chromium project what this error message actually means, apart from the obvious - that DNS resolution fails.

The best I could find was this:
https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/dns_probe_finished_nxdomain/
It seems very thorough and has most of the things I would try.

Other things:

Try vivaldi://net-internals/#dns and clearing host cache.
Try vivaldi://net-internals/#sockets and closing sockets/flushing socket pools.
Try disabling DoH (Secure DNS) in chrome://settings/security to use your ISP DNS (I guess this is what you're doing above?)
Try the general troubleshooting steps:
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/troubleshoot/troubleshooting-issues/

Shawnology

@pathduck Thanks for the information, it was useful and allowed me to try a few more options, however, none of them was able to fix this DNS issue. Neither did changing the DNS server over to the one provided by my ISP.

I'll keep experimenting with other options and putting up with this issue for now, and hopefully an update somewhere (Chromium or Windows) will miracously make this issue go away as suddenly as it appeared.

DoctorG

@Shawnology If you start Vivaldi with a new test profile (see Add a new Profile), does it work without the DNS error?

WildEnte

@shawnology I had a similar problem for a while, in particular when I used the default bing search. I would type a search term, and for a split second I would see some DNS error, then the website would load without any further interaction.

This was a time when I had general problems with my cable internet connection. I called the support of my ISP, they looked into my connection, laughed at the signal to noise I had, and 3 days later they had sent me a new router. Ever since the problem has not reappeared.

EDIT:
@shawnology said in DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN:

Occassionally, a website might load incomplete (i.e. images won't get loaded), but a refresh fixes that problem.

This supports my assumption that you face a similar problem with general stability problems of your connection.

Shawnology

@doctorg I tested using "Guest Session" and I am still getting the message.

Pathduck

@shawnology Are you sure this only happen in Vivaldi, not other browsers?

Do you have an anti-virus/anti-malware/VPN/Firewall or similar software installed that might interfere with the network connection?

Try launching Vivaldi with completely clean data dir like this:
vivaldi.exe --user-data-dir=%temp%\vivaldi
(will not touch your default profile)

DoctorG

@shawnology Please test a fresh extra profile, not Guest Window, and do not make any changes in settings, do not add extensions.

If your issue happens again in a fresh test profile, the something on your Windows is broken or some security tools block DNS.

Shawnology

@pathduck This is actually happening with other Chromium browsers as well. I tested Opera and Edge and am getting the same message.

I launched Vivaldi with a new profile using the command you provided, tested it by opening a website from a Google search result and it is still displaying the message (for about 1-2secs) before proceeding to load the page. Very frustrating this is.

Shawnology

@wildente Thanks for the suggestion. I'll get in touch with my ISP tomorrow and ask them to confirm whether my Internet connection is in a healthy state, or whether there is something they can try on their end.

Pathduck

@shawnology That's too bad, sounds like something on your system (AV/Firewall/VPN) is doing this, or a bad connection from your ISP.

What is your DNS setup? Do you use a router as primary DNS that forwards to the ISP?

I guess you will need to use some network troubleshooting tools.
Do a ipconfig /all from cmdline and look at the values of DNS Servers.
Do a nslookup <host> from cmdline.
Do a nslookup <host> 1.1.1.1 from cmdline.

Try using DNSQuerySniffer from Nirsoft:
https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/dns_query_sniffer.html

Shawnology

@pathduck Yes, I use a router as my primary DNS. To eliminate any possible interference, I disabled my firewall / VPN, but still seeing the same behaviour. I will try the DSN sniffer you mentioned tomorrow. Thanks.

DoctorG

@Shawnology I saw such trouble a few years ago when:

old router had issues with IPv6 routing
Solution: Changed to newer router
ISP had problems with IPv6 DNS resolution
Solution: Disabling IPv6 in router