DNS error

C

clayton

I used Entourage when I first set up my new iBook without incident.
Shortly thereafter I started receiving the following message
"[PERMFAIL] destination not valid within DNS". This doesn't occur all
the time. It does it frequently, but not always. My ISP is Comcast and
they were of no help whatsoever, "We don't support Mac." As one who's
returning to the Mac I have to admit a lot of frustration that I made
the switch.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
 
W

William Smith

I used Entourage when I first set up my new iBook without incident.
Shortly thereafter I started receiving the following message
"[PERMFAIL] destination not valid within DNS". This doesn't occur all
the time. It does it frequently, but not always. My ISP is Comcast and
they were of no help whatsoever, "We don't support Mac." As one who's
returning to the Mac I have to admit a lot of frustration that I made
the switch.
Click to expand...

Hi Clayton!

A quick search on Google found this and other similar reports.
<http://www.24help.info/showthread.php?p=1086748#post1086748>

Apparently, Comcast's email server is trying to resolve the name of the
email server of the person you're trying to send to and it's timing out
before it gets the correct IP address. Or the domain name in the email
address that you're sending to can't be found.

If you're sure the email address is correct (be sure you don't have a
slightly misspelled address from an earlier mistake popping into place)
then this is an issue that only Comcast can resolve. They either need to
extend their server's timeout while looking for the receiving email
server or possibly correct some network traffic issues.

Hope this helps! bill
 
C

clayton

Do you have any recommendations on how to deal with Comcast when they
just keep repeating "We don't support Entourage" or "We don't support
Macs"? I agree that this is likely a Comcast issue, but so far it seems
that they insist the problem is with my choice of platform and/or
software.

TIA!

Christine
 
W

William Smith

Do you have any recommendations on how to deal with Comcast when they
just keep repeating "We don't support Entourage" or "We don't support
Macs"? I agree that this is likely a Comcast issue, but so far it seems
that they insist the problem is with my choice of platform and/or
software.
Click to expand...

Hi Christine!

Ideally, you would test this with a Windows machine to see if you get
the same results. Then you can tell Comcast the problem is not dependent
on the platform.

However, you probably don't have a Windows machine at your disposal, so
you can always try escalating your problem to a second level technician.
Be insistent. Ask how they would handle this on a Windows machine and
see what they say. If they have instructions, write them down and we can
see how we'd apply them to a Mac.

If you can record specific times that you see this problem, provide them
the times and the email address you were sending to. You can suggest
they check their server logs for anything happening at that time.

You may still not get the customer service you want but most cable
subscribers have little choice in whom they choose. If you have an
option, you're best bet is threaten switching to another company if you
don't at least get an explanation or decent customer support for what's
happening.

Hope this helps!

bill
 
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