I’ve been working on this for a couple hours and I’m right back where I started.

Windows 10.

My HP laptop will connect to the house’s network, but cannot access the Internet. I have tried it through wireless and ethernet. The network/internet works, verified by various devices throughout the house. The computer shows connected to the network but no Internet available.

It also will connect to my phone as a hotspot, but again will not connect to the Internet.

I have reset everything involved, rebooted, etc. I have done the network reset on the computer and have ran a bunch of command prompts in an article I found about this problem. The Internet troubleshoot is useless.

Any advice is welcome.

*******************

Appreciate the help, but I tried it all and gave up. Local computer shop fixed it with some difficulty and reasonable expense.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chongosuerte,

I’m giving it a break for now, but I will check back later on.

Uninstall the most recent windows update. Restart.

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
Uninstall the most recent windows update. Restart.

^^^ NO don't do that ^^^

Start with some diagnostics.

Are you getting an IP address?
What is it?
Can you ping other devices, the gateway or beyond?



Do other devices work?
Did you check your wifi configuration?
Is WIFI turned on at the laptop itself?

The IP address can tell you a lot.

In the menu go to Windows System
Find Command Prompt, right click it, under more select run as administrator.
At the prompt type ipconfig
It should have a default gateway like 192.168.x.x
type ping 192.168.x.x (the address given above)
should get replies
then try ping 8.8.8.8
should get replies
then try ping yahoo.com
should convert ti an IP address and get replies

If you get a weird address at first, see if you are set to use DHCP to get an address from your router.
Does the router have an address available to give out.
Gate way doesn't ping, is it the correct address? should be just like the IPv4 address for the laptop, but usually ends in .1 or .254

8.8.8.8 doesn't ping, try 4.4.4.4, still not, not routing to the internet.

Yahoo.com does not ping, no IP address given or cant find it, try ipconfig /all, should show a DNS server, the IP address for the DNS server should be pingable.

This is just a start.

I wouldn't necessarily skip any steps in this troubleshooting link, but STEP4 Windows Network Troubleshooter looks promising ... https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/...-access-fix-windows/

So, all that pinging works. Except for trying to ping a website. “Ping request could not find host yahoo.com”. Or sigfirum.com.

For the “Media state” for all the devices it says “Media disconnected”.

Unfortunately I really have no idea what I’m looking at. Every other ping did give me a positive response though.

The only solution that the troubleshooter has given me is to reset the network. On the computer. I’ve done that twice at least. No change.

When you say "all that pinging works" do you mean including attempts to ping 8.8.8.8 ?

If so, that tells us that from a pure "network" perspective you're good to go.
Which would mean that the problem lies within your DNS.

DNS is what allows your computer to map out a name to an address.
For example, sigforum.com has an IP of 199.255.145.143
That number is a pain in the butt to remember. So us humans simply type in "sigforum.com" and let the computer do the rest.
What happens under the covers is that your computer accepts that input from you,
then goes and checks with its configured DNS server "Hey there Mr. DNS Server! Where can I find 'sigforum.com'?"
And the DNS server will then reply with that string of numbers which your computer will then use to go and fetch the web pages.


So - if it's truly your DNS that is broken, there's some easy steps that can be done to (at least) bandaid this.


Assuming you can get to your network settings page...
It should look something like this:



Click on "Change connection properties"

Scroll all the way to the bottom and you should see something that looks like this:



IMPORTANT: Screenshot or write down the info listed here for "ipv4 address"

Click "edit"
Then flip the menu from "automatic" to "manual"

Which should then give you a screen like this:




Click the little button next to ipv4 and you should be presented with this:




Fill in the "ip address" field with the address you wrote down earlier. (do not use the address from my screenshot - that is mine not yours lol)
For "subnet prefix length" use: 24 (I'm making an assumption here that yours will be this. most are)
For "gateway" use the same address that you put in "ip address" with 1 exception. Make the last section .1
Meaning that if your ip address was (for example) 192.168.100.47 - you want to use 192.168.100.1 for your gateway.
(Again I'm making an assumption here based on most common configurations)

Next - and here's where the magic happens - where it says "preferred dns", enter in: 8.8.8.8
That's the address for googles DNS server.
Once that is done, click "save" - and try to do internet things!

Addendum:
If you go through all that stuff and it's still busted, just click that "edit" button again and flip it back to "Automatic" and hit save.
Then you're back to where you started.

Do other devices connected to your router get internet access?

If yes, it's the pc.

If no, plug your pc directly into your cable modem. Can you access the internet? If yes, Reset the router to factory settings.

If no, call your cable co.

If it's the pc, your best bet would be to reinstall the drivers for your wireless card. That's in your network settings.

First, thank you for taking the time to put that together.

Unfortunately it still didn’t work.

I re-pinged the 8.8.8.8. I’ll try to include what I got.

https://imgur.com/a/DoRiSnb


Ughhhh. I give up for tonight. It’s been a long night...will try again when I get up. I do appreciate the help though.

Interesting.

You stated earlier on that multiple other devices in your home connect fine through the same internet.
You also stated you tried via Wired and Wireless with the same result.
You are able to ping non-local (internet) addresses (such as 8.8.8.8).

So with all that, we KNOW that your internet connection to/from your house is solid.
This is still narrowed down to DNS.

I wonder if you got some virus or malware that monkeyed with your hosts file...
Have you tried a virus scan?
How does your hosts file look?
To check it:

Open command prompt (like you did for the pings) and type in exactly this:

type C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts


Note: the word "type" is part of the command. You want to enter that entire line.

If you can grab a photo of that output it might help.

With regard to "What the hell is a hosts file?!"
It's basically a file that sits on your computer which overrides any DNS settings.


Oh - one other thing you can try as well:

ipconfig /flushdns

Worth a shot

Definitely a DNS (Domain Name Server) issue or an ISP issue when everything is hunky-dory with your internal network but you can't connect to the 'Net.

Either way, your ISP should be automatically giving your setup both a good Internet signal and good DNS connection info. So it's your ISP's deal to fix - call their tech support.

If you can recall what you had done following the earlier attempt, in case that may have compounded the issue, you may want to have that article handy if they have any questions.

If this recurs:
There are alternatives (at least for Windows 7) to having your system just automatically using the DNS info provided by the ISP, but it then means it's up to you to keep on top of that yourself. If this is a new, one-off, problem, that path might not be worth doing, as it's a bit of going under the hood.

In my case, though, DNS issues have been ongoing for years. My ISP both 1) has lousy DNS servers and 2) when informed of this over the years, has done nothing about that. And, of course, it's the only ISP that serves this remote neighborhood. So I have had to figure this out and own the fix.

So every couple of months I fire up "DNS Bench", a free and very useful utility program, and have it test for the fastest most reliable free DNS alternatives for my particular location. I then hand-enter that info to the bowels of Windows 7.

You may not need to get that involved.

TL: DR - Calling your ISP's tech support, and having them fix their own problem(s), is the right next step for you, IMO.

Zeroing in on DNS at this point is smart.

Query a host from the command line with NSLOOKUP then report the results.

> NSLOOKUP {can be any host} www.google.com or www.sigforum.com etc

What do you get?
> IPV4 address
> IPV6 address
> Can't find host

Also manually enter different DNS Server to try against and compare results.

What is the actual result of the cmd prompt > IPCONFIG /ALL
(there is no security risk by publishing)

One more thing:

If I was troubleshooting for a client I would first start with reconfiguring the WI ROUTER (or AP) for OPEN ~ No Security (No password or encryption)

Then connect and report the results.
If that works then add in the encryption (security/passphrase) etc and retry.

If NOT I would plug in a USB wifi adaptor (may be hard if you don't have one but as a tech I do and I would try that).

The whole point is to have a plan to isolate the issue and not just random thoughts.

Good Luck

Network troubleshooting procedure

Does it have an IP address for the LAN/WLAN?

Can it ping the inside IP address of the Internet router? [Note 1]

Can it ping a well-known IP address on the Internet known to answer pings? (E.g.: 8.8.8.8)

If all those are true, than all that's left is name resolution. This is what translates human-friendly names to IP addresses.

Again referring to the network setup, what DNS server(s) are configured?

Can you ping their IP addresses?

Open a command window and try looking up the IP address for a well-known Internet thing, such as Google:

nslookup google.com

I'm assuming MS-Win10 still has the nslookup utility.

Note 1: Some manufacturers have taken to disabling ping replies by default in the mistaken belief this improves network security. So, if you can, test pinging targets from things you know work before assuming a failed ping test is the fault of the thing under test not working.

Chongo-
I'm going through the same issue with my M-I-L on her Win10 laptop. In her case, I plugged a CAT5 cable from her wifi access point (supplied by the cable company) to her laptop, and got her working again, with the hard wired connection. No amount of resetting the onboard wifi adapter would get a response out of it. I'm convinced that the adapter has either roached, or the antenna connection is loose/bad. The Windows wireless network utility will see her home network, but only one bars worth, even right on top of the access point.

I considered the USB wifi adapter route, but she is happy enough with the CAT5 tether, and her laptop is a craptastic Hitachi i3 with no RAM, no memory and a flaky display. I think we'll just get here a new one for Xmas instead.

Anyhow, do you get on the internet when hard wired? If you can, thats another clue to a wireless adapter hardware issue.

Does your home network show up in the list of available networks with the same indicated strength that it always has?

Did you guys actually read the thread here?

He already stated he tried plugging in with a wire and the issue remained.
Therefor wifi is not the problem.

He already stated that multiple other devices in the household work fine.
His ISP is not the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by creslin:
Did you guys actually read the thread here?

He already stated he tried plugging in with a wire and the issue remained.
Therefor wifi is not the problem.

That is not what I gathered in the first OP.
I read that Ethernet was fine but not for WIFI?
If so then this should be stated more clearly and it changes everything.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Zeroing in on DNS at this point is smart.

Query a host from the command line with NSLOOKUP then report the results.

> NSLOOKUP {can be any host} www.google.com or www.sigforum.com etc

What do you get?
> IPV4 address
> IPV6 address
> Can't find host

Also manually enter different DNS Server to try against and compare results.

What is the actual result of the cmd prompt > IPCONFIG /ALL
(there is no security risk by publishing)

Let me know if you can see it on this link. Evidently my ability to upload pictures is about as keen as my ability to figure this problem out...

https://imgur.com/a/CFeHtWY

I just hooked up the problem computer directly to the main router and no Internet. Again, connect to the network, but no Internet showing. Just pulled up my old Toshiba and no problems connecting to the Internet via ethernet or wireless.

So to me that means it is definitely the computer, which is what I thought the whole time.

I’ve been working for most of the last month. I’m not sure exactly when this thing was connecting properly last. I saw that it did an update in the middle of September. I deleted that update but no change. It could’ve been that long ago though.

Everyone else in the house has their own computer, so this is not the end of the world. And it is backed up. But it seems like it should be a relatively minor fix. And all my significant accounts have the password saved on this computer.