Solved "Hmm. We're having trouble finding that site" for some sites (but can reach from phone)

This is winver 24H2.

Now and then, like right now, about 8:15 EDT on 7/16/2025, many sites (reddit for example) will not load on my computer. I'll get "Hmm. We're having trouble finding that site" on my preferred Firefox browser, but see the equivalents for the same sites on Edge and Chrome.

Yet the same sites load, on wifi, and from the web, not from an app, on my phone.

Meanwhile, lots of other sites - google, yahoo, far lesser-known sites - will load fine on the computer.

Restarting the computer hasn't helped.

It's not a cookie problem; Edge and Chrome have no cookies in them for the problematic sites.

Flushing my DNS cache hasn't helped.

ipconfig /release (then ipconfig /renew) hasn't helped.

This happens every couple months, maddens me, then "fixes itself" within an hour. Including at least once when I was in a hotel and obviously couldn't play with the router.

Firefox can use its own DNS cache.

abactuon said:

Firefox can use its own DNS cache.

Click to expand...

The same problem is happening on all my browsers, including using their incognito modes. But for the sake of discussion, how do I flush a browser dns cache?

Are you using VPN?

about:networking

112022 said:

how do I flush a browser dns cache?

Click to expand...

cmd prompt as admin

• Type "ipconfig /flushdns" and press Enter.
• Type "ipconfig /registerdns" and press Enter.
• Type "ipconfig /release" and press Enter.
• Type "ipconfig /renew" and press Enter.
• Type "netsh winsock reset" and press Enter.
• Restart the computer.

Hummm...I have a similar issue... I recently switched from Spectrum to AT&T Fiber. They installed a BG320-500 gateway router. I can't download firmware updates via my AS4002T from Asus with the NAS update. I can't access Pluto TV or Tubi TV on any Android device using the appropriate apk. But I can go to Asus updates and download the Firmware and I can go to Pluto.tv and tubi.tv on the Android devices with a web browser like firefox or Chrome. The goons at AT&T can't figure it out and I can't either.

Tubi and Pluto - Work on a web browser OR if I switch off the wifi and use mobile data the apps work fine. It's all mighty strange to me. Feel sure it's some firewall thing but I don't have enough know how with that BG320 to figure it out.

flhthemi said:

I have a similar issue

Click to expand...

Try @FreeBooter batch file. Right click on it and select run as administrator

112022 said:

Yet the same sites load, on wifi, and from the web, not from an app, on my phone.

Click to expand...

When you say that above how do you mean "on wifi?" Do you mean on your own network or some other wifi? I ask because your issue sounds like a typical Provider DNS issue. However if by "wifi" you mean on your own home internet then the same DNS resolvers would be used whether ethernet connected or wifi connected.
If this is a Provider based DNS issue you might be able to set/use alternate DNS.

Update.

I had tried all the things mentioned in my original post, plus suggestions here, and nothing worked.

@BamaInArk , what I meant by "the same sites load, on wifi, and from the web, not from an app, on my phone," was that a site I could not access from my computer, I could get to on my phone using wifi (not using 5G phone data) through a web browser (not using, for example, the reddit app - reddit was one of the sites I couldn't access from my computer when many other sites would load).

Not expecting it to help - after all, I *did* have wifi, and many/most web sites were accessible - I power cycled the modem and the router. Modem came back online, but when the router was finally up and running the red light was on by the "globe" icon - meaning no internet connection.

Called Spectrum, they re-verified my modem was working fine, and after trying some other things told me that my Sagemcom router, from 2014 they said, was old anyway, and probably not working. So they're sending a tech tomorrow.

I left the office; one of my colleagues stayed, and he said that eventually internet was restored, but that HE was having problems getting to some sites normally easily accessible.

I don't quite understand it, but is it possible for a failing router to be able to access some web sites, yet fail on others?

This problem was solved. It turned out that, whether our router was bad or not, there were some problems at the splitter in the building, feeding our internet. The excellent tech we had did signal testing after getting us a new modem and router, and there was next to no signal reaching the modem. When he worked backward from the cable coming into our office, he found and fixed the problem. I don't know enough technology to explain why we could access some sites but not others from a computer, and why a phone using wifi could access sites the computer couldn't, but a colleague had the same problems I did with his computer, and we've been running fine since the tech came.