Slow DNS Lookups in Firefox on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

by Craig Mayhew on Nov.07, 2009, under Guides/Fixes, Linux/Ubuntu

Unfortunately the IPv6 issue is still at large in Karmic Koala and will effect just about every internet application.

The problem is caused by Ubuntu requesting everything by IPv6 first even if there are no IPv6 Interfaces configured and timing out each time when it doesn’t get a response.

The workaround in firefox is to go to “about:config”, just type it into the address bar and hit enter. Then change the value network.dns.disableIPv6 to TRUE.

The bug can be tracked here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+bug/417757

:, , ,

13 Comments for this entry

  • Shawn

    Thank You so much for posting this quick fix. I was able to find volumes of info about this bug but you are the only place I found that actually posted this easy workaround.

  • rodrigo

    worked! thanks! any danger in doing this?

  • kr

    Maybe a dumb question, but same issue in Kubuntu? I tried this solution, but no luck- Look-ups still incredibly slow.

  • Craig Mayhew

    @rodrigo There is no danger, as your router simply doesn’t support ipv6 and this is the reason Ubuntu hangs when trying to access the internet.

    In an ideal world, Ubuntu should release a fix so it doesn’t wait for 20 seconds before trying ipv4 and ideally your router should be upgraded to support ipv6.

  • Andrew

    Very helpful thanks. That link says a fix has been released … I sure didn’t get it.

  • Craig Mayhew

    @Andrew At the present time there is no fix for Ubuntu, but there may be one further upstream. Hopefuly they will role it out quick because this is crippling and reflects very badly on ubuntu.

  • H.P.L. de Esch

    Thanks a lot for your helpful comment! It fixed my problem straight away!

  • Shane

    Hey!

    Thanks for this. Solved it for me.

  • Erik

    Thanks!

    Is this a problem in Firefox only or does this mean that other apps are affected too, f.i. apt-get and updates?

    Google chrome seems to work as expected.

  • Adam Monsen

    Excellent. Firefox seems much faster for me in Karmic. Thanks!

  • Dan

    Do you know if this bug has been fixed yet? I’m assuming it hasn’t as it’s still present in the beta of lucid lynx. I find it quite odd that jaunty worked fine with ipv6 yet karmic doesn’t it seems to more than just a problem with the dns routers themself but the way karmic request for ip addresses.
    My situation is a bit different the ip returns 1.0.0.0 but it’s still a ipv6 prob as the firefox fix works i’ve encountered this before with other distros like debian, mandriva etc.

  • Al

    Thanks for this, spent ages seeking this for a eth0 connection issue on a fresh Revo 3610 / Ubuntu 10.04 install. Symptom – firefox site resolution timing out. Check DNS is ok by inserting a known good address 74.125.65.99 (Google). Followed the above instructions, defeated the dragons and we’re away.

  • NoiseEee

    What luck to come across this blog. Firefox was taking a good 5-6 seconds before it started to connect and load sites. Even in December 2010 on Ubuntu 10.04, this fix is GREAT!!

    Thanks so much

1 Trackback or Pingback for this entry

Leave a Reply


In a bid to lower the spam levels on this blog, please type the following captcha code

Visit our friends!

A few highly recommended friends...