Internet connected but browser's won't work

[TomCamavi]

(This is pretty much just a guide I made to help people solve this seemingly common problem that no one seems to know how to fix)

(I put this little bit of info so you can relate your problem to mine and determine if your problem is being caused by what mine was)
Okay so about two weeks ago my sister called me complaining about how her laptop would not browse the internet after she updated firefox to the lastest version. I took on the challenge of fixing it, thinking that it would be something stupid like firefox was set to be in offline mode. When I got the laptop this was not the case, no browser I installed on it would work but yet I was able to ping websites perfectly fine with 0% packet loss and other applications and games that use the internet would work fine.

This is what worked for me-
Download Norton Removal Tool and run it then reboot
It's kind of funny that this worked because my sister told me she had never installed norton and her machine came preinstalled with mcafee but yet it removed something that caused it to work.

Things that might work for other people-
1.) Flush DNS
go to CMD and type "ipconfig /flushdns" (without quotes) and reboot

2.) If you use IE open IE and go to Tools>Internet Options>Connections>Lan Settings and make sure all 3 boxes are unchecked but in some cases I've read that people have solved their problem by checking the "Automatically Detect Settings" box and leaving the other two unchecked. Restart IE after changing any settings.
2A.) If your using firefox then go to Tools>Options>Advanced>Network>Settings and make sure that "No Proxy" is checked or "Use System Proxy Settings" is checked.

3.) Download winsockfix and run it then reboot. (I did this right before I used the norton removal tool, I don't know if it helped or not really but I doubt it because I tried it before and it didn't work)

4.) Turn off your firewall or add the browser you are using to connect to the internet to the exceptions list.

Other things that could work-
1.) If you're having a problem with connecting to the internet all together then I really doubt it's your browsers fault so check for updates for the driver of the network device you use or if you have updated the driver and afterwards the problem occured, roll back the driver to the pervious version.

2.) Malware often change settings or damage files that are necessesary for programs such as internet browsers to work. So download MalwareBytes or SuperAntiSpyware and scan your PC for any malware. After the malware's removal if you still are unable to connect you will probably have to uninstall your browser(s) and reinstall them.

3.) Restore from a restore point that was created before the problem occured.

4.) Finally if nothing else worked for you then you might just want to go ahead and format your HD and reinstall windows or if you have a full system back up from before the problem occured then do that.

Please post your experiences and if anything I listed worked for you and if what worked for you was not on here please post how you fixed your problem or if you have a known fix or possible solution post it!:)

[AlphaBetaDelta]

Hi, and thanks for posting this. I just searched for a similar problem and your post came up, along with thread79952. I'm posting my experience, just in case it would be helpful to anyone else.

Background: We moved to university housing where the internet is provided through their network via 2 wall connections, one in the office, and one in the bedroom. IT Personnel configured our laptops and the wall connections; the office connection worked fine for the Toshiba (running Vista) but the Compaq (running XP SP2) wouldn't connect in the bedroom (I didn't try switching them). Because a neighbor had similar problems and the IT guys said it was the physical connection, we assumed as much for ours.

IT personnel came, checked the physical connection with their own system, and with and without their supplied cable. Their computer browsers worked, so their answer was that the Compaq hardware was the problem, and they suggested reformatting the hard drive to repair it.

Not wanting to take so drastic a measure right away (for one problem only), I began searching. I moved the Compaq to the Office and tried the following things:

1) Manually reset winsocks "netsh winsock reset catalog", & rebooted. No change.

2) Checked my firewall settings (Comodo free version); there were no browsers blocked, but just in case, I added rules allowing them. No change.

3) Checked ipconfig [and noted all the values they had added]; then tried to ping it. That was successful, but didn't solve the browser issue.

4) Flushed DNS & rebooted. No change.

5) I ran CCleaner [http://www.piriform.com/] - both the general cleaner & the registry cleaner [making a backup first] & rebooted. No change.

6) Ran WinSockFix. This cleared out the TCP/IP settings [set it to Obtain IP Automatically], and when I reset them to the IT supplied settings, the browsers worked.

At this point, I moved it to the bedroom. The browsers stopped working, though ping showed a live network connection (just like in the office). I ran WinSockFix at that location, reset the TCP/IP settings, and tried the browsers again without success, though moving the laptop back to the office, the browsers worked.

On a whim, I decided to test the cables. I took the office cable [the white used one] & Compaq laptop back to the bedroom, plugged in, and it worked. To make it more interesting, I took the bedroom cable [the green new one], plugged in the Toshiba laptop in the office, and it worked.

So after all that hassle, it may have been the cable all along. I can't say that for sure, because I believe the IT personnel tried their working cable with the Compaq. Another reminder to check the simple things first.

So, anyone have a suggestion as to why seemingly identical cables would work on one computer and not another?

[AlphaBetaDelta]

Update: OK - it wasn't the cable. Running WinSockFix and then resetting the TCP/IP settings fixes the connection only once. Then it seems to revert back to not connecting. It doesn't matter at which connection this is done. This computer worked fine using a wireless connection just a month ago. As far as I know though, it's never been connected physically though.

It's a compaq presario M2200 running Windows XP SP3. We are trying to connect to a university network, via cable. I can ping the ip, so it seems to be connecting to the network, but when I try and connect to the internet with a browser [IE or Firefox] it just runs and never makes a connection. I know the cable and wall connection are good - I can connect another computer to the internet.

Any ideas as to why we can't seem to connection, and/or things I could try to get this connection running?

[notex]

I also downloaded a recommended Firefox update and suddenly couldn't get on the internet from Firefox or any other browser, though internet was still connected, downloading antivirus updates, etc. I went to the last known good configuration in Windows 7 and that didn't resolve the problem--only made it so I couldn't even open Firefox at all. Then I found this site and tried uninstalling the copy of Norton's that was on the computer which I had never activated (as suggested above). No dice.
Finally followed some other advice I found elsewhere: went into Internet Explorer, internet options, connections, LAN settings, and clicked "automatically detect connection" and unclicked all other options. Immediately IE browser activity was restored. Then I uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox and it seems to be working fine now.

[trevor.a.rees]

i found this to work even though i didnt really find a cause. Anti virus might be at fault. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-repair-corrupt-or-damaged-windows-system-files-system-file-checker.htm

[SummerW]

Ok so I did everything that I read in this to no advil I still can't get a website to work.. funny everything else works like yahoo google and other mombojumbos but I cannot get facebook to run. It runs when it wants to internet connection is great everything is working no virus. I tried run/cmd all that mumbo jumbo but facebook just doesn't want to play nice. It's just that once website I have a lot of other things I do that connect to facebook to log in those sites work but i cannot log in to those without facebook.. This has been going on for 2 maybe 3 days now and only a few times have I gotten it to run. I at first thought that facebook got blocked and ran a bypass but that got annoying and old quick with all the ad's and my pc making out its cpu causeing a major lag so I got rid of that. I've done everything but crash this computer and reset it back to factory

[Teenzraul]

When we change places or change the settings of internet we used to always experience such internet problems. I think it is everywhere. When we were with internet support before, we used to receive such complaints often. It is a real headache.

[msyaifudin]

I use windows 7 Ultimate and experienced the same problem. But luckily I was able to solve the problem by renaming the computer and then removed the wireless network adapter from the device manager. After that, I restarted the computer and reinstalled the wireless network adapter driver.

Everything's back to normal since then.

[gabbi111969]

You probably already resolved your issue, but just in case you haven't or there are others with the same (Just like me :) )

I fixed mine!

Go to Network Connections
Right click on the wireless connection and select properties.
Click on the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
Then Click on Properties
Select Obtain IP Address Automatically
Select Obtain DNS server address automatically

Hit OK

I hope this helps.

Gabbi

[jomale]

I am so glad I found this. Resetting the TCP/IP did nothing, although I knew I was connecting because I could view other PCs on the network and could ping yahoo.com. Thank goodness for your post about the Norton removal tool. That is what fixed it~ I didn't have to waste too much time.Thank YOU!

[MsTeeCee]

WOW! THANK YOU .......THE REMOVAL TOOL WORKED IT HAS BEEN SIX MONTHS.....THANK YOU

[Scioppius]

Running the manual Winsock fix found at the link did the trick for me on Windows 7.
http://internet-texpert.blogspot.com/2011/01/winsock-fix-for-windows-7.html

[Sassy2510]

Hi can anyone help, my friend has full connection but when she clicks on her IE icon it brings up a white screen with a cannot connect fault, she thinks she may of opened something which she thought was from Amazon but may of been a virus, I have read the posts but she is unable to download the winsocksfix, unless this can be done without connection? Help needed please x

[Matthew gbr]

Hi. A few days ago I had a similar problem after my son dl some malware/virus on my xp system with the "search conduit" tool bar malware on the browser search. After unistalling the software I could not use any browsers even though my computer was connected to the internet. I used cc cleaner,malwarebytes,Adw cleaner, updated my network driver incase it was corrupted by the virus. Then finally winsocksfix which has got my browsers working again. I had to import extra software needed using a usb stick from another pc.Thats the only way I could get it on my broken pc. Hope this helps. Cheers Matthew gbr.:)

[Magat]

Can anyone help me here? Have Dell PC Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit OS. I have tried EVERYTHING. Flushed DNS. Used Winsockfix.bat. Everything that uses CMD, yes I have tried it all. LAN is set on automatic. Have done a system restore. I even tried to change the name of PC. Uninstalled AVG Free 2012 although AVG Free 2012 does not feature a firewall, right? Turned off Windows Firewall. Successfully pinged websites. But dudes, I'm telling you, I think internet just dislikes me so much. </3

[GodsFavDj]

Hello guys, Have you tried refreshing your PC? If your PC is running on Windows 7 or later versions, you can refresh it by going to your control panel then selecting on the recovery option. There you shall select the 'open System Restore' option then follow the instructions. You should select a restore point date on when your browsers worked fine then your PC shall do the rest. This worked for me, hope it works for you too. All the best.

[Dvine]

sorry guy i constantly have a problem to login on facebook on college computers is the anyone here who knowshow to beat the sysytem.

[Grulein]

I'm too stupid to understand this.