I've tried restarting the router (5 times) and factory reset it which did not change anything. Once logged into the router, it says there is not internet connection contact your ISP (the internet works fine despite this message). Also, the router is almost non responsive, probably because it's so busy sending requests. I disabled Pi-Hole but the router sitll kept pinging that web server. Once I changed the IPV4 DNS address from 192.168.0.27 to googles 8.8.8.8, the router restarted and no longer add the no internet warning and was much more responsive.
My Question
Did Comcast or Netgear update things so local DNS don't work anymore? Will DCHP help me fix this or IPV6 DNS (which I do have set but doesn't seem to block ads). Or is there something wrong with Pi-Hole?
No updates on Comcast side for that, as the ISP has no access to the firmware (unless is a Comcast owned device).
Is it a Modem/Router combo?
There are several posts reporting similat behavior, as the Netgear Modem/Router combo device allows DNS setting of local IPs under the internet settings, however routing is broken or disabled at firmware level.
Nothing to do with Pi-hole or the ISP.
My netgear devices also go in this query frenzy sometimes, when they flood the DNS with some netgear domain requests that goes for days if not rebooted.
I’d say it happens 3-4 times a year ...
Did you recently update the firmware (or auto update?) on the router?
Yeah I do believe the firmware auto updates. But, even though I bought the router/modem combo, Comcast controls when the firmware updates, I have no options to do such in the GUI nor roll back firmware updates. Else I would have tried that, I did restart it several times and factory reset it but this did not change anything.
I was worried it would be a firmware thing, I hope it's a bug and they'll have a fix for it soon. But if it's a new policy thing, I will ditch Netgear and find another brand.
What's weird to me is even if I disable the Pi-Hole, it still quires like theres no tomorrow, unless I switch the DNS to an external one. If the Pi-Hole is disabled it should just let traffic through as normal? Which leads me to believe, like you said that internal routing is broken on this firmware update.
See here this thread. Maybe it helps a bit, especially the Ddwrt part or openwrt.
Or this:
I highly doubt that Comcast or any ISP for that matter pushes firmware updates to customer owned devices.
It is illegal to do that as you own the hardware.
While certain parts of the firmware (bootfile) IS Comcast owned, it has nothing to do with the rest of it.
It’s a complex (kinda secret process) on how the ISP network communicates with the device once connected to the network (hence the limited brands and models that the ISP supports).
The ISP provided bootfile only has access to a low level section of the device (call it a bios to kinda get the picture) where it authorizes the device, sets the speed tier, measures connection parameters and resets the device.
Long story short ISP has access only to “bios” and NEVER updates your “OS” on your device.
It does it on the devices you would lease from them.
Perhaps, it’s a Netgear thing.
Looks like a pattern to me... this would be the third report this week for the same issue.