r/pihole • u/Wise_Course • 15h ago

Reoccuring pihole issue update.

Thanks for everyone 2 weeks ago lending help to my repeating pihole issue. Today it happened again. I happened to capture the errors this time. Anyone have any insight?

026-10-17 16:06:03 CONNECTION_ERROR Connection error (8.8.4.4#53): TCP connection failed while receiving payload length from upstream (Resource temporarily unavailable)

2026-10-17 16:06:18 CONNECTION_ERROR Connection error (8.8.8.8#53): TCP connection failed while receiving payload length from upstream (Resource temporarily unavailable)

2026-10-17 16:35:21 DNSMASQ_WARN dnsmasq warning:

Maximum number of concurrent DNS queries reached (max: 150)

Check out our documentation for further information.

2026-10-17 17:45:02 NTP Warning in NTP client:

No valid NTP replies received, check server and network connectivity

2026-10-17 18:44:27 NTP Error in NTP client:

Cannot resolve NTP server address: Try again

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3

u/Responsible_Feed4512 14h ago

I get these frequently also. Most of the time when I get these it is because my router rebooted, as it is scheduled once a week.

But sometimes I don't know why it happened, so I'd like to know as well

2

u/Spare-Subject-796 10h ago

The error "CONNECTION_ERROR Connection error (8.8.4.4#53):" is just pihole not successfully communicate with upstream DNS Server which in your case is google DNS.

"Maximum number of concurrent DNS queries reached (max: 150)": This warning is given when a device is spamming DNS queries, which i think is caused by upstream DNS server no reachable.

Solution:

1) First Try another DNS in upstream, like 1.1.1.1

2) If that didn't helped you will have to use this command in pihole terminal:

ping -c 4 1.1.1.1

dig @8.8.8.8 google.com +time=3 + tries=1

and share the results here

2

u/hspindel 7h ago

The dnsmasq warnings are transients. I see them periodically. Nothing to be concerned about.

The connection errors are likely transients too. When they occur, try pinging 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Internet connections are not perfect. They do glitch sometimes.

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u/Responsible_Feed4512 3h ago

When I get these errors, they are really momentary. Sometimes, no apparent issue with internet performance. And they only seem to happen once every couple days at the most

1

u/MuuarK 10h ago

Not sure if this is an error I have had before also or not.
Are you running it through docker ? I notice the upstream error you get, do you only have localhost in your compose.yaml under dns, this could possible be why.

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u/justaguytrying2getby 2h ago

That's internet connectivity. If its happening a lot A LOT, get your ISP to send out a tech. Check your cable (or whatever) connection signals. Could be a loose line in the ground, or some other signal issue coming into your home or modem.