Under certain situations, DNS requests sent to your ADSL modem/router may stop working - leaving you with an unusable Internet connection for all intents and purposes.

Identifying this problem is fairly easy - try browsing to http://202.138.0.12/, then try browsing to http://www.hotkey.net.au/. Both addresses should load the same website, however if the latter doesn't work then you need to manually assign DNS servers for your computer to use.

Note: Before beginning, it's important that you check your network configuration using the Windows XP ADSL Network Setup guide.

Click Start, open the Control Panel. If it says "Pick a category" up the top, click the "Switch to Classic view" link in the top-left of the window. Click Network Connections. Ignore anything in the Dialup or Broadband sections - the connection to your modem or router will be in LAN or high-speed Internet.

First, check for icons that are marked as "Disabled". Generally, nothing should be disabled - right-click on any item that's disabled and select Enable. Ignore any item called 1394 Connection (that's your Firewire port) and - unless you're configuring a wireless router - you can also ignore any Wireless Network Connections. There will generally only be a Local Area Connection remaining; this will be the connection to your modem/router.

Right-click on the icon and select Properties. On the General tab, click the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) component (you'll find it in the list in the top half of the window) and click the Properties button.

On the new window that opens, ensure that Obtain an IP address automatically is selected. In the bottom half of this window, select the Use the following DNS server addresses: option, then enter the Hotkey DNS resolver servers in to the boxes below:

Preferred DNS Server: 202.138.0.10
Alternate DNS Server: 202.138.0.11

Click OK, then close all other windows and exit out of any programs you have running. Open Internet Explorer (or any other Internet application); you should now be able to connect.