PC suddenly won't connect to internet

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Danny

Legendary Member
Location
York
Yesterday our Dell Dimension PC, which runs Windows XP, suddenly stopped connecting to the internet. It was working fine in the morning, but when it was switched on again in the afternoon it could no longer connect.

It is connected to the modem via an Ethernet cable. I have tried plugging the cable into my laptop and that connects to the internet just fine which implies that the problem does not lie with the cable or modem.

I am getting no obvious error messages on my PC, and I have tried running some Windows XP troubleshooters without any problems being turned up (though may not have run the right troubleshooters).

Any suggestions on what I should do next?
 

mcshroom

Bionic Subsonic
You could try rolling your computer back to it's last restore point. A friend of mine found an automatic update had knocked her computer offline recently.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
I got a call from my bro-in-law the other day. He had a similar problem, only he was getting an error message (error 404). It's probably not what you are suffering from, but here's the answer just-in-case. (It might help somebody else, even if it doesn't sort you out ...)

Goto Start, Control Panel, Network Connections, Right click the Local Area Connection icon, Click Properties, Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Click the Properties button below which should now be clickable. Select Obtain an IP address automatically, and Obtain DNS server address automatically (this one had somehow become unselected on my bro-in-law's machine - selecting it got the internet connection working again).

I hope that helps you or somebody else!
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
Turn all the kit off. Computer, modems, routers etc. All of it.

Then try turning them all on again. It might just work, and it's a good first stab.
 

Manonabike

Über Member
I guess you already tried the repair connection - if not then right click on the network icon and one of the options is to repair a connection.
 
When you say cannot connect to the internet do you mean that literally or is there a little red cross through the network connection icon on the task bar indicating you're not connecting to the network to start with?
What security package are you using and does it include it's own firewall. If it's not using the XP firewall then try turning it off as firewall updates have been known to kill internet connections.
 
OP
OP
Danny

Danny

Legendary Member
Location
York
I guess you already tried the repair connection - if not then right click on the network icon and one of the options is to repair a connection.

Yup - tried that too.
 
OP
OP
Danny

Danny

Legendary Member
Location
York
When you say cannot connect to the internet do you mean that literally or is there a little red cross through the network connection icon on the task bar indicating you're not connecting to the network to start with?
What security package are you using and does it include it's own firewall. If it's not using the XP firewall then try turning it off as firewall updates have been known to kill internet connections.

I mean it literally. The little network connection computer icon in the task bar shows that I have established an internal connection to the router, but I can't access the internet.

I have also tried to ping websites like google but get no response.

Have already tried turning the Windows firewall off, and don't have any other firewall software.
 
OP
OP
Danny

Danny

Legendary Member
Location
York
You could try rolling your computer back to it's last restore point. A friend of mine found an automatic update had knocked her computer offline recently.

Was wondering whether that was a possibility. Will try that this evening when I have a bit more time.
 
On your hidden (maybe some of them) icons at the bottom right of the screen, next to the time, click on the TV icon emitting green waves.

At the top, there should be two boxes, 'General' and 'Support'.

Click on 'Support' then click on 'Repair' in the middle.

Hopefully that will work!
 
OP
OP
Danny

Danny

Legendary Member
Location
York
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Turned out that the problem was related to the fact that I changed ISP several weeks ago.

My old ISP (Ukonline) had given me a start up disk which I ran years ago when I first joined. This must have entered a manual setting for a default DNS Server in Network connections instead of the normal Windows setting which is to automatically detect a DNS Server. As UKonline has just been merged with Sky Broadband I presume the old DNS server address is no longer valid (or I have been blocked from accessing it).

Once I changed the setting back to automatically detect a DNS Server I could get onto the internet again.
 
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