Connection Issues

The most common connection issues that occur when connecting to an IRC server are described below.

Unable to resolve server

If you try to connect to a server and see this message, the problem could be:

Your internet provider's DNS isn't working

This happens occasionally and is a temporary problem with your Internet Provider. This problem would also result in your being unable to connect to other internet services such as web sites. You should try again later.

An invalid or non-working server address

You might be trying to connect to an IRC Server that is currently not working, or perhaps is an old address and doesn't exist anymore. You should try another IRC Server.

Unable to connect to server

If you try to connect to a server and see this message, the problem could be:

IRC server isn't working

You might be trying to connect to an IRC Server that is currently not working. This is the most likely problem. You should try another IRC Server.

Invalid port number

The IRC Server address might be correct but you've specified the wrong port. Most servers operate at least on port 6667, you should try that port to see if it solves the problem.

Unable to resolve local host

If you try to connect to a server and you get Unable to resolve local host then see the Local Info section.

Other messages

If you try to connect to a server and get Disconnected and see the message Closing Link followed by a comment such as No Authorization, or No More Connections, etc., it might be that you're too far away geographically from that server, or that the server is full and can't handle anymore users, or there may be other reasons. You should try a different, closer IRC Server until one works for you.