Feedback - LAN shows connected, but no access to internet

[HarleyMonster]

I have been fighting this problem for a week now.  I found your website and your Windows Repair (All in one) with Google searches.  By using Google I have always been able to fix problems on my wife's and my PC desktops.  I was thrilled to find your program and felt certain it would finally fix my problem.  I went through each and every step and still have the same problem. 

Next to my wife's computer is the Verizon Wireless Router.  Her computer is connect by the LAN cable as is my wi-fi in my garage.  My computer connects wirelessly as do our phones and iPads.  The only computer that does not access the internet is my wife's desktop.  The LAN shows connected, but we have no access to the Internet with it.

I have tried every fix I could find on the Internet, including the CMD's; netsh int ip reset C:\resetlog.txt and netsh winsock reset with .restarts after both resets.

When I disconnect the LAN cable, Network Connections shows disconnected and when I reconnect the cable it shows connected.  I have tried different ports on the modem with no joy and the LAN cable to my garage's wi-fi works so I don't think it is the modem.

The first time this happened I went to Network Connections Status>Repair and that fixed it, but that was the only time this has worked

Do you have any other tweaks I could try?  This is both challenging and frustrating.

[Shane]

Could be a couple of different things.

First make sure you try a different network cable for your wifes computer, the cables do go bad.

Also go to the properties of her network connection and go to the properties of the IPv4 (You never said what version of Windows)

And in there see if anything is set to manual, in fact take a screen shot of you can for me so I can see it as well

Shane

[HarleyMonster]

Thanks for the very prompt reply Shane!

I tried 2 extra ethernet cables and neither showed "Connected."  These were both OEM cables that came with other modems.  Something I had not noticed before is when the original cable is connected and shows connected there is a light in the Ethernet socket on the back of the computer, this light does not light with the two other cables.  I can't explain why neither of these cables work.  I will make up a new cable later and try it.

I am attaching a screen shot which should answer your other questions.

[Shane]

OK there is the problem. On the tcp/ip properties both settings should be to obtain automatically. But instead they are both set to specify and are empty, thus she wont get on line.

Both both of those options back to auto and see how that does

Shane

[HarleyMonster]

That is weird Shane, I checked this an hour or so before I did the first screen shot and they were both checked "Auto", I will go change it back and see if that works.

This IS weird, I went to TCP/IP properties and they were both checked automatic.  See attached screen shot. Still no Internet access.

I was shocked when you said the previous screen shot showed, "Use the following IP address", but as you know it did.  I can't explain that one.

[Shane]

Odd, ok now lets make sure the computer is getting a IP from the router.

Open a cmd window and put in

ipconfig /all

Right click in the window and click select all and then right click on it again, that will copy it. Post it and let me see what it shows

Shane

[HarleyMonster]

I sure appreciate your help Shane!

Here is the screen shot of the ipconfig/all.

[Shane]

OK I see the problem there. IP and gateway both start with 192.168.0 BUT the DNS starts with 192.168.1.

That is a totally different IP range. And means DNS wont work.

To confirm open a cmd.exe and ping a IP do this one

ping 8.8.8.8

Work? Ok now ping google.com

You will see it will fail because DNS is used to get the IP a domain name has.

So for some reason the computer thins the DNS server is something else. So instead go back to the tcp IP properties. Keep IP on auto but on dns put it to manaul and put these in

8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

And hit ok. Those are the free google dns servers.

Once done open a cmd.exe window and put in

ipconfig /flushdns

And then see how it works. I am heading off to a customers so I may not reply back for a while

Shane

[HarleyMonster]

Shane I went through your suggestions and took the screen shots attached.  I didn't know what you meant after the ipconfig/flushdns, you said see how it works.  I wasn't sure if I was suppose to ping google.com again or see if I could connect to the Internet so I tried both and neither worked.

Please take a look at my screenshots to see if I did everything correctly.  From what you say the settings are incorrect; I am hopeful you can come up with a tweak that will get my wife back on the Internet.

My wife's computer is ancient, but it does everything she needs to do.  I would like to get this connection problem fixed so we can take our time purchasing a new computer for her.  My wife thinks she should get an Apple, but I am not so sure.  We both have always had our own computers so I would like to keep them the same so we can help each other.

What would you recommend for a replacement PC, neither of us are gamers or watch movies, etc. on the Internet, just need emails, word processing, online banking and general research.  We are stuck with DSL because we live in a rural area where Verizon does not have fios.

Thanks for your time Shane.  Five kids?  You must be good at everything!

[jraju]

The problem would be there if you have used torrent. if you try to stop or close the application or try to delete the torrent exe, then it will be happening. i used the torrent for downloading older movies, thro torrent, which has peers and seers, and one fine day i deleted the application. Normally as would be, i restarted the computer, my modem light all goes and everything normal, but the ethernet blinking green lilght would not glow. So, you would not get the connection. The computer to computer connection totally deletes the dns and you will not get internet access.
           i do not know, whether it is because of this. This may be one of the reason, which i faced.

[HarleyMonster]

Thanks for the input Jraju.

This is my wife's computer and she would not know where to begin to use Torrent, unless some attachment had it embedded.  I doubt this is the problem, but how did you finally resolve your problem?  Did you have reinstall Torrent to get back online?  We may also not have the same problem since the Verizon modem has all lights lit as normal showing successful acquisition.

My desktop, our phones and iPad are receiving the Internet normally, so does this mean the DNS settings are working.  I don't know how this works, doesn't the modem have to have the proper DNS settings to access the Internet for the other devices to work?  Can you comment on this?  Do the DNS settings only affect the specific device?  Don't the other devices acquire these settings automatically?  Evidently something is preventing my wife's desktop from acquiring these settings automatically.

Anyone?

Thanks for your help.

[Shane]

I have had this type of problem on customers computers before and it ended up being a bad network card is all.

The best way to tell if it is just a bad network card is just to try another one. But if you dont have one a usb wireless adapter would work as well. It is usb so easy to swap if you dont need it and can use it on another computer

Happen to have a wireless usb adapter you can test with?

Shane

[jraju]

              When i tried system restore, the torrent exe gets life and the only solution , is to format the os and reinstall it. From then onwards, i do not use torrent at all. It is computer to computer connection. I have also raised this issue in this forum and got clear replies from Shane.
                       I asked whether it is possible for a torrent to affect the computer internet connection, a member said everything is possible. I will try to get you the link.
                          I suspect it as one of the many reason. Have you seen your error logs,like error id. Otherwise, it is a hardware problem

[HarleyMonster]

Well, after fighting this for a week, we shut the computer down, but after a couple days my wife needed a document and when she started the computer it CONNECTED to the Internet as though nothing had ever been wrong and has worked dependably ever since.

Knowing XP is pretty much done I ordered two new computers with Win 7.  Now I will see if I can install MS Office and transfer all our data and photos without any losses.

Thanks to all who did their best to help.  I have no idea what fixed it other than previous restarts and reboots I did not leave the computer off long enough.

[Shane]

Out of all that testing did you ever reboot the system or ever shut it down?

Also there is a trick on how to properly reset hardware. You pull the power cord from the system and with it unplugged try to turn it on a couple of times. All the electricity will drain out. Now plug it back in and turn it on. You would be amazed how many times that has fixed things.

When you had the system off the power reset after a while, which may have fixed it.

Shane

[HarleyMonster]

Yes Shane, i used restart numerous times and also used shut off, probably left it off for a good 10 seconds or so each time.  I will heed your advice and do it your way in the future.

Thanks for being there for guys and gals like me...just users, not knowledgable techs.

[Shane]

Happy to help

The power issue happens a lot. Think of all the times you might have heard someone say their computer wasnt working right. They unplugged it and took it to a computer shop and it worked fine!

That is because it was unplugged long enough for the power to drain out of it and all that it needed was a proper power reset

Most devices you would unplug for at least 30 sec or longer to give time for the electricity to drain. But with a computer you can make it go faster by hitting the power button, as soon as the motherboard tries to turn on every drains, so you dont have to wait as you would say with a tv, router, phone and such. Also why you have phone techs tell you to pull the battery and hold the power button for 30 sec. All electronic devices suffer from this. Heck I even had a old dvd player that would stop opening the dvd tray, had to pull the power cord and let it drain and then it would work again for a while lol 

Shane

[Rick]

Odd, ok now lets make sure the computer is getting a IP from the router.

Open a cmd window and put in

ipconfig /all

Right click in the window and click select all and then right click on it again, that will copy it. Post it and let me see what it shows

Shane

does NETSH have any problem solving here? has he tried NETSH reset ?
opened the taskbar; any tasks in the TCP/IP folder that should not be their?

[Shane]

Rick, this turned out to just be a hardware problem that needed a simple power reset by draining all the power from it. Once done it started working fine

Shane