This article was written originally to help those who could not access Photobucket after a DNS attack, but is retained here, to help anyone who needs to flush their DNS cache.
Because of the nature of dns, a dns problem (due to a technical glitch or hacking), can take up to 48 hours to resolve, and resolution relies on your Internet Service Provider (ISP) fixing things on their end, so your first course of action is to speak to them.
Then, you may wish to ensure that things are clear on your end, by flushing your DNS cache:
How do I flush my dns cache?
- Click on Start–> Programs –> Accessories –> Command Prompt.
- A little black command prompt opens. In it type: ipconfig /flushdns
- Hit return. You should see the lines: Windows IP Configuration. Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.
- Try accessing Photobucket again.
- You might try to restart your computer, just in case.
Mac users (except Leopard): Finder windows Applications –> Utilities –> Terminal and type in lookupd -flushcache, then hit return.
Leopard users: Open a terminal window and type in dscacheutil -flushcache, then hit return.
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For the background to the Photobucket story - go here.
THE ORIGINAL COMMENTS THAT WERE LEFT HERE AT THE TIME OF THE PHOTOBUCKET PROBLEM APPEAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE, WITH THANKS TO THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTED.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 spost8260 // Jun 19, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Photobucket is still out for me. It’s been since 10pm PST 6/17. It is now 4am PST 6/19. Everyone keeps telling me that they are having no trouble accessing the site. I’m still being redirected, even though I have followed every bit of advice from photobucket (who replied very vaguely from support) and from this site and every where else. I still cannot access photobucket and it honestly doesn’t look like I’m going to in the near future. I do know ne thing…you’re article is definitely right - photobucket could have been a little more helpful by explaining things. The more a person knows, the less they worry. If I’m ever able to retrieve my images from photobucket, I’m moving them somewhere else.
2 CesarPeru // Jun 19, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I’m one of the many seriously affected by Photobucket’s hacked here in Lima-Peru (South America), as of today thursday June 19th 2008, several of the pictures of my Photobucket account are not viewable in my listings on eBay and my Homepage…
I’m trying to move them to other hosts (Flikr, Imageshack) but it’s very hard since I simply can’t access to my own Photobucket account… I’m very dissapointed and I really liked Photobucket layout and interface…
Don’t let me down Photobucket!
Cesar
3 mommybrain // Jun 19, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I’m right there with you.. i still have yet to be able to get to photobucket or any photos hosted on photobucket… i’ve followed every bit of advice, and nothing…
4 bluetambourine // Jun 19, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I haven’t gotten the nutty Turkish page, but I get redirected to some webhosting page, and now this message is appearing:
IMPORTANT! Photobucket.com problem read here:
Last night Photobucket.com DNS at register.com was hacked by malicious people that are trying to compromise our business!
We are in no way affiliated with such bad deeds and cooperate with photobucket in capturing these individuals.
They have pointed the domain photobucket.com to an account hosted on our systems!
We have blocked that and photobucked techs have restored the domain pointing to its original location!
ALL account information and pictures on photobucket.com are OK, please have patience!
Unfortunately the complete DNS replication usually takes 24-48 hours and during this time caches DNS records might still point to us!
The normal operation of Photobucket is restored and as soon as the replication is complete there should be no further such issues!
We would like to emphasize that we are in now way responsible for what happens with photobucket and all users bumping across our systems!
We are a legitimate web hosting company operating since 2003 and in no way tolerate such hacking attempts!
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at abuse@zettahost.com!
Thanks for your patience and understanding!
It started saying that yesterday, and I’m still unable to access my photobucket. I tried flushing my cache as you suggested, and it didn’t work. I guess I’ll just wait a couple more days. This is absolutely crazy! I’m glad I’m not the only one having trouble, I thought maybe I had a virus or something.
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