{"id":5045,"date":"2014-11-04T19:45:10","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T03:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/stage\/?p=5045"},"modified":"2014-11-04T19:46:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T03:46:51","slug":"unable-to-access-gmail-in-any-browser-but-all-other-sites-on-the-internet-are-accessible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/unable-to-access-gmail-in-any-browser-but-all-other-sites-on-the-internet-are-accessible\/","title":{"rendered":"Unable to Access Gmail in Any Browser But All Other Sites on the Internet Are Accessible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In addition to Microsoft Outlook client, I also use different Web-based email clients on a regular basis, including Outlook.com and Gmail. There is one problem that I run into with Gmail that has been bugging me for about a year. This is an ongoing problem that other people have also encountered. Here&#8217;s the problem and a solution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PROBLEM<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Once in a while if my Internet connection is lost, even for a second, I lose connection to Gmail. Even if I reboot my router my Gmail connection is lost but I can access all the other sites on the Internet, including Google. I get the following error when I lose the connection and try to refresh the page in Firefox.<\/p>\n<p><em>Server not found<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-5051\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/ServerNotFound-300x160.png\" alt=\"ServerNotFound\" width=\"300\" height=\"160\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I am also unable to access Gmail in Internet Explorer and the error says:<\/p>\n<p><em>This page can&#8217;t be displayed<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Make sure the web address <span id=\"webpage\" class=\"webpageURL\">https:\/\/mail.google.com <\/span>is correct.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/GmailPageNotFound_IE.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-5052\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/GmailPageNotFound_IE-300x118.png\" alt=\"GmailPageNotFound_IE\" width=\"300\" height=\"118\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I have been searching for a solution on the Internet for quite some time. I have tried numerous suggestions in forums, messed around with about:config (I use Firefox as my primary browser), enabled\/disabled the add-ons, temporarily disabled the firewall, cleared the browser cache, history and cookies; renewed my IP address, cleared the ARP cache, cleared NetBIOS cache, Cleared DNS cache, added Google&#8217;s DNS server to my Hosts file, added Gmail to my trusted site in the browser and and a whole lot of other options that I won&#8217;t bother listing. <strong>The only thing that works is rebooting the computer.<\/strong> That&#8217;s not very convenient when I am in the middle of doing multiple things and have several applications open. Logging out and logging back doesn&#8217;t help either. I had to reboot the computer to get Gmail working.<\/p>\n<p>I would like to point out a few things.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>I can get to every site on the Internet, except https:\/\/mail.google.com and therefore I can&#8217;t access Gmail. I seem to lose connection only to the mail server because I can&#8217;t ping mail.google.com successfully.<\/li>\n<li>I can get to https:\/\/accounts.google.com but when I click to sign in I get the above &#8220;Server not found&#8221; error.<\/li>\n<li>I can get to Google and search the Internet without any problem.<\/li>\n<li>I cannot access Gmail in Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Chrome unless I reboot the computer.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>SOLUTION<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Apparently, for some people the Gmail connection is restored if they wait long enough. Well, may be I didn&#8217;t wait around long enough for me rebooting was the only thing that worked until I finally found a solution. I read somewhere in a forum that by adding Google&#8217;s DNS server directly to my PC&#8217;s IP configuration I can get to Gmail. Well, that works and I don&#8217;t have to reboot my computer to revive my Gmail connection any more.<\/p>\n<p>Adding Google&#8217;s DNS server directly to your PC&#8217;s IP configuration permanently is not really a viable solution for anyone. But don&#8217;t worry. All you have to do is temporarily add the Google&#8217;s DNS server (8.8.8.8) to your IP settings, access Gmail and then change the settings back right away. This works 100% of the time, takes very little time and I don&#8217;t have to reboot my computer. Here&#8217;s what you can do when your Gmail becomes inaccessible.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to your computer&#8217;s IP settings. In Windows 8.1 go to Control Panel -&gt; Network and Internet -&gt; Network and Sharing Center.<\/li>\n<li>Click on <em>Ethernet<\/em> under Connections.<\/li>\n<li>Click <em>Properties<\/em> and then double-click <em>Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP\/IPv4)<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Your screen should look similar to the screenshot below. Most computers are configured to obtain an IP address and DNS server address automatically from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IPConfguration.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-5050\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IPConfguration-268x300.png\" alt=\"IPConfguration\" width=\"268\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IPConfguration-268x300.png 268w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IPConfguration.png 413w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 268px) 100vw, 268px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>In the lower section select the radio button <strong>Use the following DNS server addresses<em>.<\/em> <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Enter 8.8.8.8 for the Preferred DNS server, as shown in the screenshot below.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/ConfigureDNS.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-5049\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/ConfigureDNS-269x300.png\" alt=\"ConfigureDNS\" width=\"269\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/ConfigureDNS-269x300.png 269w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/ConfigureDNS.png 414w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 269px) 100vw, 269px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>OK<\/strong> and then click <strong>Close<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Go to your browser and refresh the page (F5). You should be able to access Gmail. You will also be able to ping mail.google.com successfully.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Ping_Google_Mail.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-5053\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Ping_Google_Mail-300x109.png\" alt=\"Ping_Google_Mail\" width=\"300\" height=\"109\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Ping_Google_Mail-300x109.png 300w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Ping_Google_Mail.png 722w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Go back to step 6 and switch back to the original setting <strong>Obtain DNS server address automatically<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IPConfguration.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-5050\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IPConfguration-268x300.png\" alt=\"IPConfguration\" width=\"268\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IPConfguration-268x300.png 268w, https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IPConfguration.png 413w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 268px) 100vw, 268px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>WARNING!<\/strong><\/span> Do not forget this last step or else you will have all kinds of problems with your Internet connectivity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That&#8217;s it. It takes very little time to change the setting and switch it back and there&#8217;s no need to reboot the server. For some reason the Google&#8217;s mail server becomes inaccessible and needs to be nudged. I have yet to experience this kind of issue with any other server in the world. Based on people&#8217;s comments in the forums this issue has been around for at least 3 years that I know of. I still don&#8217;t know the exact reason why only Google&#8217;s Gmail server goes off the radar for people around the world but at least I have a workaround that doesn&#8217;t require rebooting my computer all the time.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-small; font-family: Verdana;\">Copyright \u00a92014 Zubair Alexander. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In addition to Microsoft Outlook client, I also use different Web-based email clients on a regular basis, including Outlook.com and Gmail. There is one problem that I run into with Gmail that has been bugging me for about a year. This is an ongoing problem that other people have also encountered. Here&#8217;s the problem and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,43,25,11,66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-applications","category-articles","category-browsers","category-tips-tricks","category-troubleshooting"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/ServerNotFound.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zubairalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}