New
#1
Desktop suddenly wont connect to the internet in any way or form.
Hi, this is my first time making a thread on this site, so apologies if I forget to state and/or don't know how to provide some information :)
Please bear with me.
Friday morning I used my computer for about 15 minutes before heading to school, it was working just fine as always. When I get back from school about 7-8 hours later, it froze on the desktop, I left it on in case any of you are wondering, so I proceed to shut it off, and turn it back on. My computer had trouble starting up as sometimes when I'd turn it on it would turn on, and then slowly just turn off again while loading. Eventually it decided to actually load and everything appeared to be working fine... Until I attempted to open up Firefox and Skype. I got an error saying "Server not found" on Firefox and Skype couldn't connect to the internet. Naturally I restarted the computer, once it booted back up, I checked to see if it did the trick, but it didn't. I then unplugged my ethernet cable and plugged it back in. No luck. I tried restarting it again for good measure, still nothing. My computer wouldn't connect to the internet at all. I borrowed my sister's laptop (which I'm using right now to make this post) to look up if anybody was experiencing similar problems. A lot of threads I found on here were similar, but either the OP of the thread stopped replying, or they ended up fixing it in ways that my computer wouldn't be fixed by. I tried anything and everything I could do to look up a way and attempt fixing it for about 2 days. On the third day, I concluded that it must be a hardware issue with my Ethernet Port. I tried looking for an Ethernet to USB 2.0 Adapter at about 6 of my local stores, none of them had it, so I settled for a $36 Wireless Adapter from Belkin to see if there were a way I could work around it instead of treating the problem directly. I installed the program with the disc and the stick exactly as directed through the manual and the setup program, however, in the end, the computer still refused to connect through the internet, and it's not a problem with the USB Port I used for the Adapter, as the port works perfectly fine with every other kind of device. The 3 symbols I would get on the Internet Connection Section of my taskbar through ethernet AND the wireless adapter were the following: Red X saying "Not connected to the internet" (or something along those lines), a Yellow Triangle with an exclamation mark inside of it (I believe it said the same thing as the previous, I only got it once or twice and I don't remember it that well), and the eternal blue spinning loading ring that said "Identifying Connection" with the Router name next to it (Also, I'm 99.9% sure that it said the "Identifying Connection" thing on most of the others as well). At times, a box would appear when trying to connect using the Wireless Adapter saying "It's taking longer than usual to connect to the internet" or something along those lines. I waited about 45 minutes and it still wouldn't connect. Keep in mind that those popped up with not only the Wireless Adapter, but also with the Ethernet Cable plugged in before purchasing the Adapter. Before this point, I had assumed that it was a hardware issue. Now I am pretty sure that this is a software issue. I have absolutely no idea how to fix it, and no matter how deep into the internet I go searching through pages, I get nothing that can help me in the slightest. I tried replacing drivers of the Ethernet, I tried cleaning out multiple apps that were glitching and causing problems (such as Origin and uTorrent ((I removed about 35 gigs of useless programs and files I don't use anymore as well, and no I didn't accidentally remove anything important or vital to the computer.))) At this point, I'm going to return the Wireless Adapter to the store I got it for, and wait for responses. Any temporary or permanent solutions are very appreciated. If I can't fix this, I'll most likely back up any important files/programs to a flash drive, import it to this computer temporarily, and reset my computer to factory settings. If any of you need information or specifics to my computer, either check my profile and it should be there (or in the post, I don't know, this is my 5th time on this site). If not, I can post it here. Thanks!