Member Avatar for mukmewx

I can go online but I cannot connect to any webpages or instant messengers or anything. I use Winxp and i even reformatted my computer to slove the issuse but that did not work. I found a topic on a site that relates to my problem, but it only has info on how to fix it for Win95/98 users!

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Thread summary and focused troubleshooting (XP): reformatted but still could not open web pages or messengers; the Win9x fix linked in the thread is not appropriate for XP. was correct to suspect DNS, but similar symptoms can also come from a corrupted TCP/IP/Winsock stack, a proxy or firewall blocking connections, bad NIC drivers, or a router/ISP issue. The following steps isolate which layer is failing and give safe recovery commands.

Quick triage (diagnose which layer fails):

  • Confirm IP and gateway: ipconfig /all
  • Test raw IP connectivity (bypasses DNS): ping 8.8.8.8
  • Test name resolution: ping www.google.com and nslookup www.google.com

Example commands to run from an elevated command prompt:

ipconfig /all
ping 8.8.8.8
ping www.google.com
nslookup www.google.com

Common fixes (try in order; reboot after the sequence):

  • Flush and renew: ipconfig /flushdns then ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew
  • Reset Winsock/TCP-IP (run if available): 
    netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
  • Check/remove proxies: Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN settings (disable proxy unless required).
  • Inspect hosts file: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (remove suspicious overrides).
  • Temporarily disable third‑party firewall/antivirus and test.
  • Update or roll back the network adapter driver in Device Manager.
  • If numeric IP pings succeed but names fail, change DNS to a known server (temporary test) or check the router’s DNS settings.

If a full reinstall did not help, hardware (NIC, cable, router/modem) or upstream ISP/DNS is likely. Useful outputs for deeper analysis: ipconfig /all, route print, and nslookup results. Resetting Winsock/TCP-IP can affect VPN or network filter drivers; these may need reinstallation afterward.

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Member Avatar for nanosani

Cool dude :)

You solved it yourself .. and we learned from you ...

marking the thread as solved.

Member Avatar for rasputinj

Nice fix, I was just going to suggest DNS.

Member Avatar for derek1000

you are saying solved, but how I still have this problem on Winxp sp2
please advise Derek

Member Avatar for nanosani

I confused myself on another thread I think ... so marking this thread as unsolved again ...

Member Avatar for derek1000

Still looking for help please

Derek

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