irc.starchat.net not resolving [working again]

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dpaterso

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Hopefully this blip is temporary and will be fixed soon.

The irc.starchat.net hostname isn't resolving to its numerical IP address, and this is stopping folks from signing into AW chat.

Chatters who had already signed in before this problem surfaced today are unaffected -- unless they ping or otherwise get disconnected, in which case they can't automatically rejoin. Software will try to connect to irc.starchat.net but the name server (?) can't find this.

I noticed in my IceChat Console info window that when I signed in this morning, irc.starchat.net resolved to 104.194.206.108 (the first line at the top of this window said [05:49] -irc.starchat.net- *** Attempting to connect to irc.starchat.net (104.194.206.108) on port 6667)

I was already signed in using IceChat, but I also have Chatzilla installed as a backup, with a backup nick and password ready.

So I fired up Chatzilla and saw an error right away (Unknown host “irc.starchat.net” connecting to irc://irc.starchat.net/ (irc://irc.starchat.net/). [Help] Reconnecting in 15 seconds. [Cancel]).

I hit Cancel to stop this, and manually entered /server 104.194.206.108

And this connected me to the Starchat chat server.

I have Chatzilla configured to remember my nickname and password so I was signed in automatically without having to manually enter /nick mynick mypassword

I manually entered /join #absolutewrite and there I was in AW chat.

-Derek
 

dpaterso

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Update: this morning, same problem.

When I ran IceChat which automatically goes to irc.starchat.net I got error messages,

[08:20] -104.194.206.108- *** Attempting to connect to 104.194.206.108 (104.194.206.108) on port 6667
[08:20] -104.194.206.108- Sending User Registration Information
[08:20] --Coyote.WA.US.StarChat.Net-- *** Looking up your hostname...
[08:20] --Coyote.WA.US.StarChat.Net-- *** Found your hostname
[08:20] --Coyote.WA.US.StarChat.Net-- *** If you need assistance with connecting tothis server, Coyote.WA.US.StarChat.Net, please refer to: http://www.starchat.net/connect .html

This repeated several times as IceChat kept trying to reconnect.

I entered: /server 104.194.206.108

And this went in okay.

IceChat's signing in process had taken my usual nickname but not my password, so I was prompted to enter this manually within 15 seconds, I entered /ns id mypassword

And after this I entered /join #absolutewrite

Which took me into AW chat.

Under my Favorite Servers, irc.starchat.net is still listed but now I have a new server listed, 104.194.206.108 showing the #AbsoluteWrite channel beneath.

IceChat kept trying to auto-connect to irc.starchat.net, poor thing, but couldn't get a response. In my Console window I clicked on the tiny little x (you can hardly see it) in the upper right of the irc.starchat.net tab to kill this.

As said above, this is just a workaround, hopefully this blip will be fixed soon.

Update: editing the irc.starchat.net server entry under Favorite Servers (right-click on irc.starchat.net and select Edit Server) and changing irc.starchat.net to 104.194.206.108 in the Server field in the Main Settings tab and saving this, then restarting IceChat, seems a wiser option. Smooth sailing.

-Derek
 
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dpaterso

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Thanks to Bunneh for reporting that the /server workaround doesn't work in Hexchat.

Bunneh added the 104.194.206.108 IP number as a server in Hexchat and ran it again, this worked.

-Derek
 

dpaterso

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Oh, and Mibbit also works okay if you paste 104.194.206.108 into the Server field instead of irc.starchat.net

Enjoy.

-Derek
 

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I noticed Mibbit had issues loading in v58.0.1 (FireFox). I had to update to 58.0.2 to get Mibbit to load. Maybe it was just my instance of FireFox.

The amistad.ma.* server worked great today. StarChat staff looks like they fixed their issues.
 

dpaterso

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Bumping this thread because irc.starchat.net doesn't seem to be resolving this morning.

Several chatters have reported encountering delays when signing in over the past few days. I got it today, I saw repeated Socket Exception Errors in IceChat9, and when I tried Chatzilla it said, Unknown host “irc.starchat.net”

As a workaround I entered:

/server 104.194.206.108

to override the default irc.starchat.net server name, and got in okay.

Then I entered:

/join #absolutewrite

to join AW chat channel.

-Derek
 

Enlightened

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Amistad, Coyote, Nexus, Lairds, Delphini, Lonestar won't connect with Mibbit.

Only 104.194.206.108is working, but this should be fixed when Opers become active again.
 

dpaterso

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irc.starchat.net suddenly started working again yesterday after almost a week of being unavailable. So we're back to normal!

-Derek
 

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Just wanted to say that for some reason, it is not fixed in mine. I still have to do the /server 104.194.206.108 command for it to connect.

I don't mind it much (specially since its a relatively easy thing to do), just saying that it might not yet be fixed 100%
 

dpaterso

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I still get a flurry of errors every time I try to connect, e.g. (from this morning):

[07:00] ERROR: Socket Exception Error: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 209.59.222.88:6667
[07:00] -irc.starchat.net- Waiting 20 seconds to re-connect to irc.starchat.net on port 6667

This can repeat for a couple of minutes (re-trying every 20 seconds) and then usually IceChat9 finally gets past this and signs me in.

The IRC software might have updated so it runs happily into the future, but irc.starchat.net is an unknown quantity, no idea how it works.

If /server 104.194.206.108 works for you, maybe you should just add that as a new server and make it your default connection.

-Derek
 

storywriter24

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with this star chat do i have to make up a acount ? and if i click on the web site will it give my p/c a virus?
 

dpaterso

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with this star chat do i have to make up a acount ? and if i click on the web site will it give my p/c a virus?
This is an old, out of date thread.

Check out these stickied threads:

We have moved to Espernet server, Starchat RIP

FAQ about AW IRC Chat Channel (How to get there, who the operators are, Mibbit, Discord, etc.)

You don't necessarily have to create a nick when you get there, but it does help and save time if you re-visit.

No one has ever reported encountering a virus via any chat site, that I know of.

If you aren't running antivirus software, check out antivirus threads in Tech Help forum, e.g. this thread and this thread or just Google "antivirus software"

-Derek
 
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