Hi
Attempts to auto upgrade or check for updates fail with the following error message:
ERROR: could not resolve dns name

I seem not to be able to specify the DNS server on the RouterOS 6.42.1

If you want your LAN hosts to use RB as DNS resolver, change allow-remote-requests to yes and adjust firewall rules to close access to DNS service from internet.
Adjust IP address of upstream DNS server to whatever your LAN hosts use now. If you want to configure more than one server, separate IP addresses with comma.

oh thanks!
didn't help get the error ERROR: no internet connection prob cannot find the gateway.

never mind, got it. Under IP I had to manually add the route to the gateway

Lol, sorry. If your router has no gateway, how will it be able to use external DNS servers? Perhaps you can tell us a bit more of what you are doing, how things are connected and what you are trying to accomplish?

Not having default route defined is perfectly fine for devices that don't need access to internet, such as switches and intra-LAN routers.