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Cristishor201
Cristishor201

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What do you do when you find a new error on google chrome in the middle of the night ?

#networking #dns #isp #retrospective

Yesterday at 4 AM, I booted up the PC (courtesy of a noisy neighbor), and I came across the DNS_PROBE_STARTED error, which quickly became a challenge.

What I tried

I ran the Windows Troubleshooter, and ended up with DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NO_INTERNET, which I have to admit, I hadn’t come across errors like these before.

  1. Unplugged the router power socket for 30 sec
  2. Reset DNS configurations: 
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
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  1. Changed DNS servers, ending up with the mix of Cloudflare and Google
  2. Cleared Chrome’s DNS cache chrome://net-internals/#dns and reset all experimental flags chrome://flags/
  3. Isolated the issue by testing edge browser and smartphone, where I got the same error, which confirmed it was a local network problem
  4. Checked downdetector.ro but no outages were reported.
  5. Tried Bitdefender VPN, which failed with Error code 9 - no internet
  6. Unplugged the router, disconnected the fiber optic cable for 2 minutes, plugged the fiber back in, and then reconnected the power.

What actually worked

In the end, I contacted my ISP, and I opened 2 tickets because I wasn’t sure which email was the right one.
The dispatcher on the phone told me that my fiber optic line might be damaged.
A technician came over, inspected the fiber optic tip, and used a digital meter, to check the signal power.He then sprayed a special optical cleaning solution inside the router port … and it worked.
I felt a bit silly because the fix was so simple, yet I hadn’t even considered it. I really didn’t think that the dust from the floor could get inside the router, and affect the internet connection.
Granted, my router is sitting on the floor, but it’s not like my home lab has a better spot. I am considering a rack in the future, but those are pricey , so it will take a while.

Next steps:

I researched that signal measuring tool, so I can include optical power values in future support tickets and be better prepared. I also found out about one-click cleaner , but it’s quite expensive, which explains why the technician used the spray instead.

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