To me nothing has changed but the pihole isn't working at all anymore.
Actual Behaviour:
After last update i'm completely lost on why it isn't working. I'm not well versed in networking. On my dashboard everything seems to be fine but i can see the Pi cpu isn't doing much. No debug issues are present. Yesterday i did have a dnsmasq error. Found a solution that changed FLT off the master and everything worked. This morning it isn't blocking anything anymore. I found the code that bring FLT back to master and tried that still nothing.
Your debug log shows the following entries that show that Pi-hole is working properly and blocking domains:
*** [ DIAGNOSING ]: Name resolution (IPv4) using a random blocked domain and a known ad-serving domain
[✓] tnctufo.com is NOERROR on lo (127.0.0.1)
[✓] tnctufo.com is NOERROR on eth0 (192.168.0.248)
[✓] doubleclick.com is 142.251.32.14 via a remote, public DNS server (8.8.8.8)
Mar 9 15:41:39 dnsmasq[1003228]: query[A] ssl.google-analytics.com from 192.168.0.117
Mar 9 15:41:39 dnsmasq[1003228]: gravity blocked ssl.google-analytics.com is 0.0.0.0
2025-03-09 15:30:11.757 GMT [1003228M] INFO: Imported 43430 queries from the long-term database
2025-03-09 15:30:11.757 GMT [1003228M] INFO: -> Total DNS queries: 43430
2025-03-09 15:30:11.758 GMT [1003228M] INFO: -> Cached DNS queries: 26395
2025-03-09 15:30:11.758 GMT [1003228M] INFO: -> Forwarded DNS queries: 5700
2025-03-09 15:30:11.758 GMT [1003228M] INFO: -> Blocked DNS queries: 7374
2025-03-09 15:30:11.758 GMT [1003228M] INFO: -> Unknown DNS queries: 0
2025-03-09 15:30:11.758 GMT [1003228M] INFO: -> Unique domains: 1572
2025-03-09 15:30:11.758 GMT [1003228M] INFO: -> Unique clients: 10
2025-03-09 15:30:11.759 GMT [1003228M] INFO: -> DNS cache records: 408
Your DHCP server is providing a DNS other than Pi-hole in parallel with the Pi-hole IP:
*** [ DIAGNOSING ]: Discovering active DHCP servers (takes 6 seconds)
Scanning all your interfaces for DHCP servers and IPv6 routers
Timeout: 6 seconds
* Received 300 bytes from 192.168.0.1 @ eth0
Offered IP address: 192.168.0.248
Server IP address: 192.168.0.1
Relay-agent IP address: N/A
BOOTP server: (empty)
BOOTP file: (empty)
DHCP options:
Message type: DHCPOFFER (2)
server-identifier: 192.168.0.1
lease-time: Infinite
netmask: 255.255.255.0
ntp-server: 132.163.97.6
broadcast: 192.168.0.255
dns-server: 192.168.0.248
dns-server: 192.168.0.1
router: 192.168.0.1
--- end of options ---
Pi-hole should be the only DNS server available to clients.
It's strange as i only have Pihole in primary dns no secondary. I tried nslookup google.com on my PC and it came back with pihole address as it should. It's strange, any pihole test website shows lots of adds or if i google and have a sponsor link it still opens them, as before this was all blocked.
In my experience, most of those test websites have no value. They select some domains (and in some cases URL elements, not domains) and then provide some score depending on how many of them you block.
The domains chosen may not be domains you visit in real life use, etc.
The real test of software that blocks ads - do you see ads in your normal activity?
Please provide examples of the sponsored link URLs that you are able to open.
The router is likely filling in the blank with its own IP. Try the following:
Put the Pi-hole IP in the second position.
Put an unused IP from your LAN range in the second position.
Everything on his page used to be blocked for me. Now i see every ad.
On google any product you would search that provided a sponsored link would not open previously. Example you type in Amazon Toys, any link that said sponsored wouldn't open. Now it does.
I added the pihole address to secondary DNS nothing new has changed. Sorry i'm not proficient enough to give better details
I'm not sure what exactly fixed the issue. Maybe adding the secondary DNS as my Pihole address did it but today it's working as intended. Both the website i provided and sponsored links on google are now back to being blocked. Thanks again!!