Windows 7 connected to internet but unable to browse

[vales1]

Hello all, I would appreciate some help please. After windows finished downloading and installing updates on my Win7 laptop, all browsers are unable to connect to the internet both wired and wirelessly eventhough it shows in network and sharing center that it's connected to the internet. However, when I restore to a state before the updates, then i'm able to browse again and all browsers connect to the internet (both wired and wireless) w/out problems.

Because of this, I stopped Win7 from automatically updating and I just never updated. I would like to keep my laptop updated and was wondering if there is any other solution to my problem? Thank you all in advance

[Simond]

Are you using any third party firewalls, if so then disable all firewalls, including Windows Firewall. You could also try to uncheck automatically detect settings in tools/internet options/connections/LAN settings. Also check the proxy and connection settings on IE and check them out if there are any just tell it to connect directly.

[vales1]

Thanks for the reply Simond!

No. I don't have any firewalls, anitvirus, or even spyware turned on. Even if I did, then my question is why did all my browsers worked before then all of a sudden "unable to connect to the internet" ( while connected to the internet) after a restart from Windows Update? Exactly which Windows Update would cause this problem?

As for browsers, I'm currently using Chrome. When the problem happened, I also tried opening FireFox, and IE8 - all of them could not connect.

[Maq.H]

I hope you are sure that internet is working with other application and just not with browsers, did you checked that ? Alright, just open any of your browsers and check in the file menu at the bottom that WORK OFFLINE is not marked. If it is marked, unmark it and start working. If still you face any problem, than surely there is any malware attack and you need to scan your complete system with antimalware program.

[vales1]

Thank you for your reply.

No - it's not malware

Yes - the internet works with one other application. Namely the culprit, windows update

All browsers do not work. I have Chrome, Firefox, and IE and none of them work. However, when I restore from an earlier time before the windows update, everything's back to normal.

[Cadwallader]

As said by you that all the browsers are not working and also you are saying that if you are using any application the internet is doing fine so we can conclude here that there is no issue with the internet connection but the browsers are not coping up. So what I want you to do here is that remove all the the browsers and scan your system for viruses and then install a fresh and updated browser and then see how things goes.

[vales1]

Thank you for your reply.

I can assure you guys that there is no virus, spyware, malware on my laptop as I do a scan everyday.

I've also tried re-installing browsers before, same thing across the board - connected to the internet but browser shows "unable to connect..."

My temporary solution is to stop performing windows update and ever since the problem hasn't come back. The other day I performed an update bec. there's like 25 updates overdue. Sure enough, after windows was done and restarted, same problem. So my conclusion is: The problem only happens after an update.

after restoring before an update, problem disappears

[Zachary]

Can you please use http://72.14.205.100/ in any web browser address bar. Does that bring up the Google website? Will http://207.46.232.182/ bring up the Microsoft website in a browser? If yes, you have a DNS (Domain Name Server) issue with your internet connection. Check and see how your Vista internet connection was configured for DNS, or check with your ISP.

[vales1]

Thanks Zachary,

The first link came up with nothing. The second link did come up with Microsoft.. I don't understand how I could have a problem with my ISP as I can surf the net just fine before a Windows Update and "unable to connect" after a Windows Update.

I am using Windows 7, is this the same as Vista?

[Big Fish]

Did you tried and changed the DNS back to "Obtain DNS server address automatically" and see if you can get anywhere. The problem is definitely linked to the DNS, which is, at the moment, unable to convert the "name" address" into an IP number. If you can ping sites by name but cannot access the Internet, try flushing the dns. In Win 7, start up a command prompt and choose "run as an administrator".
Type: ipconfig /flushdns

[ashujyoti]

thanks for explaining

[peterhenley]

I just had the exact same problem after a win7 update yesterday, Nov 9th... I had to do a system restore to correct this "cannot browse" problem. My mail server works fine on this PC. all other PCs on my router work fine also, just the one...any ideas please?

[newtech]

I just had the exact same problem after a win7 update yesterday, Nov 9th... I had to do a system restore to correct this "cannot browse" problem. My mail server works fine on this PC. all other PCs on my router work fine also, just the one...any ideas please?

Have you tried resetting your winsock protocol. As per Microsoft, this protocol is used by Windows to communicate with other computers and to access resources on the Internet, such as e-mail and Web sites. You could also try flushing your DNS cache and see if that works.

[peterhenley]

No. why should I have to? and how do I do that please?

[newtech]

The thing is that winsock entries tells Windows 7 how to access your network services. Additionally, your TCP/IP protocol can be corrupted. The TCP/IP protocol is a stack of 4 layers that includes several transport layers, but when this stack is corrupt you will constantly have connectivity issues. Put the following in cmd:

netsh winsock reset catalog (reset winsock entries)
netsh int ip reset reset.log hit (reset TCP/IP stack)