Can't browse the web but DNS works ok

[mbhi]

A couple weeks ago, my Windows 7 machine became unable to browse the web. I have three browsers (IE8, Firefox, Chrome) and they all exhibit the same basic symptoms - when I put in a URL and press Enter, I get nothing back. In Firefox, there is just a blank page. In IE8 I get the "page cannot be displayed" error. In Chrome, I get "This webpage is not available", and the associated error message is "Error 105 (net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED): The server could not be found"

- The only internet connectivity I have is public WiFi. I am able to pull an IP address from DHCP. I am able to ping the default gateway, do Traceroute to common sites (CNN, Google, etc, etc) and NSLookup verifies that my DNS is working without any apparent issue.
- I have tried reinstalling my Wireless drivers
- I am not going through a Proxy. I verified that IE8 and Firefox are not configured to go through a Proxy.
- I have tried launching both IE8 and Firefox without add-ons
- I tried uninstalling all antivirus software (Norton) and disabling Windows Firewall, no change
- I have reinstalled Norton, as well as Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware, but they are not finding any apparent malware
- I was able to get to the web using a pre-installed utility called "Sony Vaio Update" which is an .exe that launches IE and points it at a specific website in the sony.com domain. Using this browser session, I'm able to surf to anywhere.
- I was able to restore what appears to be full functionality by using a Restore Point to a time before the issue started happening. However, the next time the computer is restarted the problem re-appears.
- I am also seeing occasional hangs or crashes in IE8 and Firefox
- I have run anti-rootkit tools from Sophos, Avast and SanityCheck, but nothing significant was found.
- I tried to run Combofix, but it's apparently incompatible with Windows 7.
- I had previously installed Lowerping, a tool to reduce latency with online gaming. It runs as a service, which is currently disabled.


Any suggestions for this problem are greatly appreciated!!

 

[antharr]

Can you ping websites by domain name?

 

[Bill2]

Well, this seems to be a system wide problem rather than browser specific. But try disabling DNS prefetching in Chrome.

1. Click on Tools menu, then go to Options.
2. Click on Under the Hood tab.
3. In “Privacy” section, clear the check box for Use DNS pre-fetching to improve page load performance.

 

[chev65]

It may help to reset Winsock for windows 7. This has fixed the same no browser access problem after upgrade from vista problem before.


1. Click start, type cmd in the Start Search box, right-click cmd.exe, click Run as administrator, and then press Continue.


2. Type netsh winsock reset at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

Note If the command is typed incorrectly, you will receive an error message. Type the command again. When the command is completed successfully, a confirmation appears, followed by a new command prompt. Then, go to step 3.


3. Type exit, and then press ENTER. You should be prompted to reboot, if not you should reboot and test.

 

[mbhi]

I tried the above suggestions in the order they were posted.
- I was able to ping by domain name
- The Chrome change didn't help
- The netsh winsock reset appears to have done the trick. After entering the command and rebooting, my Firefox (primary browser I use) seems to be working normally. I went out to Windows Update and installed some OS updates, rebooted again and it's still working. It seems to be fixed...I'll post here if there are any further developments. Thanks a lot for this tip!

 

[chev65]

I tried the above suggestions in the order they were posted.
- I was able to ping by domain name
- The Chrome change didn't help
- The netsh winsock reset appears to have done the trick. After entering the command and rebooting, my Firefox (primary browser I use) seems to be working normally. I went out to Windows Update and installed some OS updates, rebooted again and it's still working. It seems to be fixed...I'll post here if there are any further developments. Thanks a lot for this tip!

I'm glad to hear that my suggestion worked for you MBHI. This problem usually occurs after an upgrade from Vista and is fairly common. I will mark this as solved.
Don't forget to rep because crist knows it's all I'm gunna get for solving this.

 

[CommonTater]

I tried the above suggestions in the order they were posted.
- I was able to ping by domain name
- The Chrome change didn't help
- The netsh winsock reset appears to have done the trick. After entering the command and rebooting, my Firefox (primary browser I use) seems to be working normally. I went out to Windows Update and installed some OS updates, rebooted again and it's still working. It seems to be fixed...I'll post here if there are any further developments. Thanks a lot for this tip!

That's good to hear... I love to see a problem solved.

But... as an extra precaution you should check the add-ons in each browser. Get rid of anything you don't use, remove all 3rd party toolbars and then run a thorough virus scan. It is better to play safe now than be sorry later....

 

[chev65]

I tried the above suggestions in the order they were posted.
- I was able to ping by domain name
- The Chrome change didn't help
- The netsh winsock reset appears to have done the trick. After entering the command and rebooting, my Firefox (primary browser I use) seems to be working normally. I went out to Windows Update and installed some OS updates, rebooted again and it's still working. It seems to be fixed...I'll post here if there are any further developments. Thanks a lot for this tip!

That's good to hear... I love to see a problem solved.

But... as an extra precaution you should check the add-ons in each browser. Get rid of anything you don't use, remove all 3rd party toolbars and then run a thorough virus scan. It is better to play safe now than be sorry later....

If you like to see problems solved then feel free to give me some rep because I'm the one who solved it in case you didn't notice.

 

[CommonTater]

If you like to see problems solved then feel free to give me some rep because I'm the one who solved it in case you didn't notice.

Woah... where'd that come from?

Yes I noticed that you solved it.

I will give Rep points on my own discretion... not because you asked for them.

 

[Tarun1988]

Hi,
Ive tried all above solutions but still issues with browsing.
i have 3 systems and all have this browsing problem including cellphone. I need to refresh page 2-3 times to open a website. dont know whats wrong. i can ping websites by name but browsing is only issue. my ISP cant see anything wrong at his end.

help will be much appreciated.

thanks