What The...!!!

[Jae1000000]

The laptop that I am using has become rebellious, it keeps failing to locate webpages that I use regularly, I use the Opera and Google Chrome browsers and it is the same problem. On the Opera browser I received the following message..' This webpage is not available
The server at servedby.adsplats.com can't be found, because the DNS lookup failed. DNS is the network service that translates a website's name to its Internet address. This error is most often caused by having no connection to the Internet or a misconfigured network. It can also be caused by an unresponsive DNS server or a firewall preventing Google Chrome from accessing the network'. I do have connection to the internet so that cannot be the reason why this constantly happens. Can any of you clever guys out there help me. Thanks

[rojash]

"The server at servedby.adsplats.com"
Generally speaking you'll get this message, not when the website that you are visiting cannot be found but when you visit an advertising *** site like AB.
It means that the page you are visiting (for example, AB) can't finish loading until it's loaded content from an advertising site that is currently not available. It's a combination of advertising sluttery and poor programming by the developers of the website you are trying to access.

[rojash]

*** = s-l-u-t

[Buenchico]

I'm assuming that the problem is only occurring when accessing the internet via your home router (rather than, say, while enjoying a pint and the free wi-fi access in your local Wetherspoon's pub).

If so, I'd go into the router's settings and change the DNS from the current setting to use OpenDNS. I can point you in the right direction, as to how to do that, if you'll tell me the make of your router.

Chris

[Buenchico]

Rojash:
Surely a 'hanging' ad server wouldn't result in a 'server can't be found' message, would it?

Jae1000000:
If the messages always refer solely to ad servers (and not to the main pages that you're trying to access), installing Adblock Plus (so that your laptop doesn't try to load the ads in the first place) might fix the problem:
http://adblockplus.org/en/firefox

[Jae1000000]

Question Author: Hi Chris, the router that I am using is D link, the model is DSL 2640R. Thanks a lot.

[Noth43]

Chris..I might have this wrong but didn't someone mention a while back that it was against the rules to promote that here?

[Jae1000000]

Question Author: Thanks to you both for explaining to me what the problem is, now I know that the problem is not with the laptop.

[Buenchico]

Noth43:
I've seen a post from the Ed stating that AB would rather that people didn't use ad blockers but then actually recommending Adblock Plus to anyone who chose to do so!

Jae1000000:
Type 192.168.1.1 into the address bar of your browser (and click 'Go'). That should take you to a password-protected page. If nobody has changed the default settings, enter 'admin' as both the username and password. (NB: If 192.168.1.1 doesn't work, 192.168.0.1 should do so)

Then follow the instructions here:
https://store.opendns.com/setup/device/dlink-dsl-2640
(The default username and password are both 'admin').

Chris

[ChillDoubt]

Blimey, I usually get severely censured for even using rhyming slang to make reference to such software! LOL

[Noth43]

Oh OK. Was Bit confused there...

[Jae1000000]

Question Author: Hi Chris, thank you so much for the information.

[rojash]

"Rojash:
Surely a 'hanging' ad server wouldn't result in a 'server can't be found' message, would it? "

Yes, Chris, it can result in that message, if the calling site is programmed in such a way that the hosting page can't finish loading until the remote advert has been loaded. I've experienced it myself on AB.