Windows 8.1 Browser issues

[Synergy]

1. I just got a new laptop a week ago. Right away, only some websites worked (like google.com) while others hung loading for excessive periods of time before saying it could not load the page. After about 10-15 minutes this problem randomly disappeared. I assumed drivers hadn't finished installing or something of that sort since it was the first time booting up.

2. Yesterday, I randomly had issues connecting to League of Legends, which worked just fine the day before. Following the instructions on their help page, I disabled a few kinds of certificates and it allowed me to connect to League of Legends again. (https://support.leagueoflegends.com/entries/234161-connection-failure-error-when-logging-in -- "Turn off certificates in Internet Explorer")

3. Today, the internet has randomly decided to not load certain pages again. Or certain aspects of certain pages never load (like twitch.tv without the videos), while websites like youtube.com don't work at all. Google.com, once again, works though. Thankfully, this forum loads as well.

Attempts to correct the issue: I fully executed all 5 steps of tweaking.com's Windows Repair v2.7.5 for Windows 8.1 64bit to no avail. No issues were found (nor in the Malwarebytes scan). I ran the repair, which also did not correct the issue.

Any ideas?

[Synergy]

It seems it is working again with no changes after switching to wifi from ethernet. Could it be an ethernet issue? The first time I encountered this problem, however, I was using wifi not ethernet.

So, it can't completely be an ethernet issue because I encountered this before on wifi. This particular instance seems directly related, however, because the issue began and ceased in direct relation to the ethernet connection.


Edit: The browser was firefox. I did not try internet explorer, but I remember it was impacted as well the first time I encountered this problem. I can't remember if the pages it would load and wouldn't load differed on that occasion, but may have. It's just weird that it happens so randomly and comes and goes on its own. The internet is just fine now back on ethernet. Strange.

Edit 2: I spoke too soon. That didn't take long.... Now pages like youtube load just fine, but the videos do not load. I use youtube and twitch.tv all the time, so it's not like I am missing flash or anything. Windows is just being a jerk.

[Shane]

It is possible it isnt windows but your internet connection or your router that is causing the trouble.

The best test to see if it is your system or your router/internet is to take your system and hook up to a different connection, Say at a friends house.

If your system works just fine and has no trouble while using someone else's connection then you know it is your router or your internet provider. If you still have problems when using a different connection then you know it is your system.

That would be a good test to do before anything else, that way if it isnt your system with the problem you wont waste time on it.

Shane

[Synergy]

It was a work router, so that could be the case. However, when I have used my other laptop in the past, which runs on linux (OpenSuse 12.3 before and now the newest Ubuntu) I have never encountered this problem whatsoever -- only on windows. There is also a work desktop there that is also hooked up to the same router via ethernet that IS able to load all the same pages just fine (aside from being agonizingly slow). The work desktop runs on a much earlier version of Windows. Formerly XP, but maybe 7 now.

P.S. You may wonder why I am visiting such websites as youtube and twitch.tv on the job anyway. It's just the nature of my job as a security guard at a retirement home during down time. Otherwise I have to stare at the wall or the ceiling (trapped in a tiny little gatehouse for hours at a time), and that's no good for keeping awake and alert! 

Moreover, I am concerned that such a situation will arise while I am at home or at school trying to access something like mystatlab or similar websites often required. Or trying to access my university email, etc. I want to get an idea of potential workarounds before it occurs again when I really need the internet functioning properly.

[Shane]

What firewall/antivirus software do you have installed? That could be causing problems as well.

I would still like it if you could still do the test though, just so we can narrow things down

Shane

[Synergy]

I have McAfee (which came bundled with something else without my knowledge) and Malwarebytes. I haven't set anything on McAfee as I am planning to uninstall it. That's it.

I have run malwarebyte scans every day that I have owned this laptop, only the first of which found anything (over 100 objects just hours after booting the laptop up for the first time -- all PUP's -- but has found nothing since).

I will do that ethernet test once I get the patience to go through all my junk to find my spare ethernet cable at home and post the results here.

If it is not the result of the router, could it be a driver issue? After all, I was at home when I first encountered this issue during the first boot-up of this new laptop.

P.S. Thanks for your help and all your work with this site to help others with their problems. You're amazing.

[Shane]

It could be a ton of different things. Could be drivers, software, infection, windows corruption, bad network card, and the list goes on and on.

So what I do is I go down a check list and start marking things off to narrow the search. Otherwise we would be wasting time trying to fix something that isn't broken. Once I have the list narrowed then I try to find the common factor. At that point I normally have an idea of where the problem is and what to do to fix it

So on that list is taking the current network you are on out of the loop (Work network). This way this test will point me in the right direction and we can avoid wasting time on the system if it is the network, or wasting time if it isnt

Then as you guessed the next thing is trying a network cable instead of wireless (After trying the wireless at different locations), this test tells me if it might be the wireless card or drivers and so on. So as we start going down the list you will see where the problem is one step at a time :-D

Personally I have seen things like this happen and each one has been a different reason. Lots of time it has been the antivirus software with a built in firewall that was the cause. Software firewalls are pointless, a router is a hardware based firewall, so unless you are wide open to the net you dont need a software firewall normally, and what happens is the user will click to block the wrong thing and now Windows doesn't handle the network correctly. Also seen it to where updated drivers might fix it as they have bug fixes and better support. Seen it be the router, and see tons of other things.

So bare with me as I talk your ear off to try and find the problem lol

Shane