DNS Server Not Responding: Diagnose and Fix It in 10 Minutes
Your browser can't reach the internet's phone book — but your connection is probably fine. Here's how to tell, and the five fixes that actually work.
"DNS server not responding" is one of the most misleading errors your browser can show you. It sounds like a specific website is down, but it actually means your device couldn't reach the phone book of the internet at all — so no website loads, even though your internet connection itself is probably fine.
This distinction matters, because the fixes are completely different from the ones you'd try for a genuinely down website. Here's how to diagnose and fix the problem in about ten minutes, from the easiest checks to the deeper ones.
What "DNS server not responding" actually means
Every time you type a web address, your device asks a DNS server to translate that name into an IP address — the numeric location of the actual server. Your browser shows "DNS server not responding" when that translation request fails. The site you're trying to reach might be perfectly healthy; your device just can't look it up.
This is different from errors like DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN, which means the DNS server answered but said the domain doesn't exist. "Not responding" means you got no answer at all — usually a problem on your side of the connection, or with your ISP's DNS servers.
Step 1: Confirm it's a DNS problem, not your connection
Before changing anything, spend 60 seconds confirming the diagnosis:
Test one: try loading a site by its IP address. Type http://1.1.1.1 or http://8.8.8.8 into your address bar. If those load but normal websites don't, it's definitively a DNS problem — your internet works, only the lookup step is broken.
Test two: check another device. If your phone (on the same Wi-Fi) loads sites fine while your laptop doesn't, the problem is on the laptop, not the router or ISP. If nothing on the network loads anything, it's the router or your ISP's DNS.
Test three: run our free checker — if it shows the site you wanted is up and everyone else can reach it, the problem is yours to fix.
Step 2: Restart in the right order
The classic restart works more often than people expect, because DNS caches corrupt themselves surprisingly often. But order matters: power off your computer or phone, then unplug your router and modem, wait a full 60 seconds (not five — capacitors need time to drain), plug the modem back in and wait for its lights to stabilize, then the router, then your device. Two minutes, and it clears stale DNS state everywhere in the chain.
Step 3: Flush your device's DNS cache
Devices remember recent DNS answers to save time. If one of those remembered answers went bad — pointing at an expired IP, for instance — every attempt to reach that site fails until the cache clears. Forcing a flush fixes it instantly:
Windows: open Command Prompt and run ipconfig /flushdns. You should see "Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache."
Mac: open Terminal and run sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder, then enter your password.
Chromebook and Android: Chrome has its own cache — visit chrome://net-internals/#dns and click "Clear host cache".
Also try a different browser. If Chrome fails but Firefox loads the same site, the problem is Chrome's internal DNS handling (or a broken extension), not your network.
Step 4: Switch to a faster public DNS server
This is the fix that works when your ISP's DNS servers are slow, overloaded, or partially down — which happens more than ISPs admit. You can point your device at a public DNS provider in about two minutes:
Popular options include 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare), 8.8.8.8 (Google), and 9.9.9.9 (Quad9, with security filtering). On Windows, go to Network Settings → change adapter options, right-click your connection, choose IPv4 properties, and set the DNS servers manually. On phones, change DNS in your Wi-Fi network's advanced settings, or set it once on the router so every device in the house benefits.
Why this helps long-term, not just today: public DNS providers run global anycast networks that are almost never all down at once, while a single ISP's servers are one outage away from leaving you stranded. Many people also see measurably faster lookups.
Step 5: Check the router and ISP
If every device on your network is affected, the problem is above your device:
Router: log in to your router's admin page and check what DNS servers it's handing out (often it just passes through your ISP's). Some routers have a "DNS relay" or "DNS proxy" mode that can break — disabling it and letting devices query directly sometimes fixes the error. Also check for a pending firmware update.
ISP: your provider's DNS servers do go down. Call or check their status page, or just switch to a public DNS as above — if sites suddenly load, you have your answer and your workaround at once.
Antivirus and firewall: overzealous security software occasionally blocks DNS traffic (port 53) outright. Temporarily disable your third-party firewall or antivirus for a minute as a test — if the error vanishes, you've found the culprit and can whitelist DNS in its settings.
When to stop troubleshooting and just wait
If you've flushed caches, restarted everything, and switched DNS providers — and every device still fails — you're almost certainly looking at an ISP outage or a network fault upstream. In that case, more tinkering won't help: check your ISP's status page, report the outage, and switch your phone to mobile data for now.
One last sanity check worth running: verify the site you actually want is up. A DNS failure and a real website outage can coincide, and it's an easy trap to keep debugging your network when the destination itself is down.
Frequently asked questions
What does "DNS server not responding" mean?
It means your device tried to look up a website's address (translate the domain name into an IP address) and got no answer from the DNS server. Your internet connection is usually working — only the lookup step is failing, which is why no websites load.
How is it different from DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN?
NXDOMAIN means the DNS server answered but reported that the domain doesn't exist. "DNS server not responding" means you got no answer at all — typically a local device, router, or ISP DNS issue rather than a problem with the website itself.
Can I fix it by restarting my router?
Often, yes. Restarting the router clears its DNS cache and forces it to reconnect to your ISP. Power it off for a full 60 seconds, then power it back on and wait for the lights to stabilize before reconnecting your devices.
Should I change my DNS server to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8?
If your ISP's DNS servers are slow or down, switching to a public provider like Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) or Google (8.8.8.8) usually fixes the problem immediately. Set it on your device or directly on your router so every device benefits.
Why does the error affect only one device?
If your laptop shows the error but your phone works on the same Wi-Fi, the problem is on that device — a corrupt DNS cache, a browser's internal DNS resolver, or firewall/antivirus software blocking DNS. Flush the DNS cache and try a different browser to narrow it down.
Don't guess — test it. Our free checker tells you in seconds whether any website is up or down.
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