This is a common error message seen often in web browsers:
"Netscape is unable to locate the server: www.whatever.com. The server does not have a DNS entry. Check the server name in the Location (URL) and try again."
If this problem happens all the time:
  • Your dial-up configuration may be incorrect, meaning you don't have the right names or numbers entered into the "domain name servers" section of your computer's networking configuration. For most computer setups you do not need to configure this information. 
    You need to refer to the setup pages or contact technical support.
  • You might be behind a firewall which doesn't allow you to connect to some (or any) web sites or requires you to use a proxy server to connect to web sites. This is often the case if you're trying to connect to web sites from a computer at work. A common example of this problem is that you can access web sites with another web browser (e.g. Opera) but not with Netscape or IE You will need to contact your company's network administrators to see if you are behind a firewall and to find out how to configure your browser to be able to access sites on the Internet.
  • You may have your browser configured to access the Internet through a proxy server when you don't need to. 
  • If you are using content filtering software, such as Net Nanny or Surf Patrol, then your hosts file may have been changed. To fix this, search your computer for a file called hosts, it should be located in the C:\Windows directory. Once you have found this file, rename it to hosts.old
If you encounter this problem intermittently, common causes of this error are:
  • You have entered the wrong URL. Check that the URL is correct.
  • You have mistyped the URL. Check the spelling of the URL, especially the server name.
  • The website you're trying to contact is down. Try connecting to a few different web sites to see if you can connect to another site.
  • Your network is having a momentary problem. Try entering the same URL again; it might work this time.
  • The website or network is overloaded. Try connecting during less busy hours of the day, such as in the early morning.
If you get this error as soon as you try to read mail or news:
  • The names of your mail and news servers as you specified them in your email program setup are probably incorrect. Your network administrators or technical support will be able to tell you the settings you should be using.
DNS:
"DNS" (Domain Name Server) refers to the way that your computer tries to look up the name of a server to find its numeric IP address so it can connect to the server. It's similar to looking a phone number up in a telephone book when you want to call someone on the phone.
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