Browser can't connect to internet -

Nephew

My friend can't connect to the internet on his laptop running windows vista regardless of which browser he uses but he can download windows updates without any problems. I know this is very vague but he's not very computer literate and it's the only info I have. The only security software he has on the laptop is MS security essentials. Can anyone hazard a guess as to what might be causing this?

Big Lar

It could be a DNS issue, try typing 89.234.66.108 into the address bar that should bring up the Boards website.

or

Is the Work Offline button ticked in the drop down File menu ?

or

YOu may have to go into the options menu and check your network connections on the browser.

Big Lar

It could be a DNS issue, try typing 89.234.66.108 into the address bar that should bring up the Boards website.

or

Is the Work Offline button ticked in the drop down File menu ?

or

You may have to go into the options menu and check your network connections on the browser.

bhickey

If all browsers are effected then it sounds like it could be virus-related. When did it start and was anything installed before it started?

uch

Possibly firewall blocking browsers, add browsers to exceptions

Nephew

Thanks guys. He has no firewall installed and the anti virus scans found no viruses.

Big lar, I'll let you know once he gets back to me.

Kalina

Hi guys, I am actually having the same problem, sorry to hijack this thread! I tried typing in the boards.ie IP address and hey presto I got access to the page. Big Lar, can you tell me how to resolve the DNS issue as I cannot get any access to any page unless I use the IP address as you suggested above.
Thanks!

Nothingbetter2d

its a dns address issue

goto network connection properties

then under internet protocol (tcp/ip)

look for the dns address settings (usually set to auto)
click manual then enter 8.8.8.8 in the primary dns field and 8.8.4.4 in the secondary dns address field

click apply/ok and then do a "repair connection" to refresh your connection and allow the new dns addresses to kick in.

then try browsing the net

Kalina

Thanks for the advice. I'll try that as soon as I get home this evening!

Kalina

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

its a dns address issue

goto network connection properties

then under internet protocol (tcp/ip)

look for the dns address settings (usually set to auto)
click manual then enter 8.8.8.8 in the primary dns field and 8.8.4.4 in the secondary dns address field

click apply/ok and then do a "repair connection" to refresh your connection and allow the new dns addresses to kick in.

then try browsing the net

I tried your fix, thanks again for the suggestion. Now when I try to connect the error message says "Address not valid" for lots of different pages such as boards.ie, google.ie and gmail.com. Any further ideas? Thanks again!

Kalina

Can anyone else offer any tips?

demanufactured

Can you check your hosts file..
It's in Windows/system32/drivers/EN.
Open it with notepad and copy what's in it here......

Nothingbetter2d

check to see if your browser is set to go via a proxy server?

try set it to "bypass proxy settings"

noshankus

Wow! Let's get back to basics!

1) Start -> Run -> then type in cmd and hit enter
2) type ipconfig to see IP address of machine on it's lan (let us know the IP address it has been assigned - Note: this is an internal IP address and not your external IP address, so we're not trying to hack you or anything!). This is usually like: 192.168.0.2
3) If you have an IP address, go back to your cmd window and type:
ping www.google.com (let us know the results)
then try:
ping 74.125.224.16 (an IP address of google - and let us know results)
4) If either ping works, go back to your cmd window and type:
telnet www.google.com 80
or if the ping only worked for IP address
telnet 74.125.224.16 80

Again, let us know the results. We'll narrow it down step by step

Kalina

Thanks for all the suggestions, will try them all this evening and get back to you. I appreciate the help!

RoyalMarine

check this thread.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056170572

someone has a similiar problem, and the fix was to remove microsoft security essentials.

seems like it acts as a local proxy / firewall and blocks your browsers connecting to websites.

remove it, and try the internet. let us know what happens.

i put any money on it works fine!

Kalina

noshankus wrote: »

Wow! Let's get back to basics!

1) Start -> Run -> then type in cmd and hit enter
2) type ipconfig to see IP address of machine on it's lan (let us know the IP address it has been assigned - Note: this is an internal IP address and not your external IP address, so we're not trying to hack you or anything!). This is usually like: 192.168.0.2
3) If you have an IP address, go back to your cmd window and type:
ping www.google.com (let us know the results)
then try:
ping 74.125.224.16 (an IP address of google - and let us know results)
4) If either ping works, go back to your cmd window and type:
telnet www.google.com 80
or if the ping only worked for IP address
telnet 74.125.224.16 80

Again, let us know the results. We'll narrow it down step by step

Hi there,

Point 2- we have an IP address returned.

Point 3- when we typed ping www.google.com the response was "Ping request could not find host www.google.com, please check the name and try again".
When we typed ping 74.125.224.16 there was a reply. 4 replys came up then a number of ping stats.

Point 4- when we typed telnet www.google.com 80, the response was Could not open connection to the host, on port 80: Connect failed.

When we typed telnet 74.125.224.16 80, the cmd screen turned black, telnet opened and the cursor was flashing in the top left hand corner.

Thanks!

Kalina

RoyalMarine wrote: »

check this thread.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056170572

someone has a similiar problem, and the fix was to remove microsoft security essentials.

seems like it acts as a local proxy / firewall and blocks your browsers connecting to websites.

remove it, and try the internet. let us know what happens.

i put any money on it works fine!

Hi RoyalMarine, thanks for your post. How would I go about removing microsoft security essentials? Sorry for the need to be spoon fed on this!:o

Kalina

demanufactured wrote: »

Can you check your hosts file..
It's in Windows/system32/drivers/EN.
Open it with notepad and copy what's in it here......

I can't seem to find the EN folder in that location in the drivers folder.

bonzodog2

Try Windows/system32/drivers/etc
that's where it is in XP, it's just called 'hosts', no extension. If you edit it, make sure to save it with no extension, i.e. not hosts.txt

noshankus

Kalina wrote: »

Hi there,

Point 2- we have an IP address returned.

Point 3- when we typed ping www.google.com the response was "Ping request could not find host www.google.com, please check the name and try again".
When we typed ping 74.125.224.16 there was a reply. 4 replys came up then a number of ping stats.

Point 4- when we typed telnet www.google.com 80, the response was Could not open connection to the host, on port 80: Connect failed.

When we typed telnet 74.125.224.16 80, the cmd screen turned black, telnet opened and the cursor was flashing in the top left hand corner.

Thanks!

Hooray! You have connectivity to the internet, but no DNS! This means that you CAN and ARE connected to the internet, but your machine cannot translate the web addresses (like www.google.com) to IP addresses.
To prove this, just put in your browser:

http://74.125.224.16

you should see the Google page.

Before trying the below, can you open the cmd window once more and type
nslookup
It should return your default server for DNS resolution. Either way, let us know and try the below anyway.

Try this to use public Google DNS:
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html

Let us know the results

Usually your router will have settings for DNS which it supplies with your DHCP IP address. If you're using static IP address, you just may not have an actual DNS entry set, or it could be incorrect. Can you verify if you are using DHCP?

RoyalMarine

Kalina wrote: »

Hi RoyalMarine, thanks for your post. How would I go about removing microsoft security essentials? Sorry for the need to be spoon fed on this!:o

go to the control panel.
go to add remove programs.
find microsoft security essentials in the list.
select it and click remove.

follow the on screen instructions until it says its complete.

restart your computer.

your internet will then work.

but dont forget you still need an anti virus and a firewall.
windows has a firewall built in, so make sure thats turned on in the control panel.

and then google an anti virus and download it and install it.

noshankus

RoyalMarine wrote: »

check this thread.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056170572

someone has a similiar problem, and the fix was to remove microsoft security essentials.

seems like it acts as a local proxy / firewall and blocks your browsers connecting to websites.

remove it, and try the internet. let us know what happens.

i put any money on it works fine!

I'll take that bet!

In that post you linked to, his DNS was working when he did a ping to www.boards.ie - however, this OP doesn't have a working DNS. My money is on either an empty or incorrect DNS entry on his connection.
Easily proven if I'm right by pointing his browser to:

http://74.125.224.16

If that doesn't display Google straight away, I might have lost the bet!

Kalina

noshankus wrote: »

Hooray! You have connectivity to the internet, but no DNS! This means that you CAN and ARE connected to the internet, but your machine cannot translate the web addresses (like www.google.com) to IP addresses.
To prove this, just put in your browser:

http://74.125.224.16

you should see the Google page.

Before trying the below, can you open the cmd window once more and type
nslookup
It should return your default server for DNS resolution. Either way, let us know and try the below anyway.

Try this to use public Google DNS:
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html

Let us know the results

Usually your router will have settings for DNS which it supplies with your DHCP IP address. If you're using static IP address, you just may not have an actual DNS entry set, or it could be incorrect. Can you verify if you are using DHCP?

DHCP is enabled according to Advanced TCP/IP settings in the Local Area Connection Properties.

The default server for DNS resolution came back as 8.8.8.8 when I ran the nslookup command.

The DNS server address in the TCP/IP properties is 8.8.8.8 and the alternate address is 8.8.4.4.

Thanks!

Kalina

RoyalMarine wrote: »

go to the control panel.
go to add remove programs.
find microsoft security essentials in the list.
select it and click remove.

follow the on screen instructions until it says its complete.

restart your computer.

your internet will then work.

but dont forget you still need an anti virus and a firewall.
windows has a firewall built in, so make sure thats turned on in the control panel.

and then google an anti virus and download it and install it.

heya, tried all that and it's not there in the list of programs!

RoyalMarine

try this.

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9748340

noshankus

Kalina wrote: »

DHCP is enabled according to Advanced TCP/IP settings in the Local Area Connection Properties.

The default server for DNS resolution came back as 8.8.8.8 when I ran the nslookup command.

The DNS server address in the TCP/IP properties is 8.8.8.8 and the alternate address is 8.8.4.4.

Thanks!

Hmmm, interesting. So you are using Google DNS.

Do you actually see the google web page when going to:
http://74.125.224.16
?

I don't know if you performed the Google DNS change or if it was already set to 8.8.8.8.
Can you once more try to ping:
8.8.8.8
and then
www.boards.ie

If you get a ping response from 8.8.8.8, run the following command:

telnet 8.8.8.8 53

If this does not connect, you cannot access the DNS query port, probably due to restriction on the router, and you will not be able to use this DNS.

Who is your provider? I.e. UPC? We should be able to find the DNS IPs by searching the web for your provider so that you can reset it. We're getting very close!

Kalina

RoyalMarine wrote: »

try this.

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9748340

I tried this link, same problem with "internet explorer cannot display the webpage" message!

Kalina

noshankus wrote: »

Hmmm, interesting. So you are using Google DNS.

Do you actually see the google web page when going to:
http://74.125.224.16
?

I don't know if you performed the Google DNS change or if it was already set to 8.8.8.8.
Can you once more try to ping:
8.8.8.8
and then
www.boards.ie

If you get a ping response from 8.8.8.8, run the following command:

telnet 8.8.8.8 53

If this does not connect, you cannot access the DNS query port, probably due to restriction on the router, and you will not be able to use this DNS.

Who is your provider? I.e. UPC? We should be able to find the DNS IPs by searching the web for your provider so that you can reset it. We're getting very close!

Phew, thanks for sticking with me on this one!
I got a reply when I pinged 8.8.8.8 but not when I pinged www.boards.ie

When I ran the telnet 8.8.8.8 53 command it opened the telnet window.

We had Eircom broadband until last week, changed to O2 and got a new modem! :P

bonzodog2

Try opendns servers:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Kalina

bonzodog2 wrote: »

Try opendns servers:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

How do I do this?

jay93

I was given two laptops to fix a few months ago both had vista on them they had this connection issue also altough it said it had internet access it still would not connect for windows updates browsers etc..
Seems like alot of people on vista have this issue only fix i could do was install windows 7 on the laptops. you may have to install your OS again if all else fails