Computer connected to internet wirelessly but webpages won't load

Hi all,

This problem is happening on a Windows Vista laptop that was recently upgraded to Windows 7. Installation went without a hitch. However, every so often, browsers won't load pages. Windows 7 says that the computer has an internet connection but for some reason web pages will not load. The problem goes away after a restart.

We've tried flush dns, the winsock fix, and the problem persists. We haven't connected by ethernet but the laptop is connected to the internet primarily through wireless. Any suggestions would help. This happens at random, with no particular trigger. One minute, we can load web pages just fine, then the next second it won't. Extremely confused.

Here is the laptop:

Product Specifications HP Pavilion dv6985se Entertainment Notebook PC | HP® Support

Are you able to ping websites when the issue occurs?

Cancerous said:

Are you able to ping websites when the issue occurs?

Ah, hadn't thought of that. Another thing that I noticed was that when I right click on the network and click "status", Activity doesn't move. No bytes are sent, and no bytes are received. Does that mean anything?

try changing your DNS server
https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/

Yeah, sounds like a DNS issue.
Next time it happens, open a command console and run these commands.

Code:

tracert www.google.com

Post the outcome here.

Then try.

Code:

ipconfig /all

Look at the adapter that's connected to your modem (Wireless adapter if using wireless), and check the DNS lease time.

Then run

Code:

ipconfig -release
ipconfig -renew

And see if that resolves the issue.

Cancerous said:

Yeah, sounds like a DNS issue.
Next time it happens, open a command console and run these commands.

Code:

tracert www.google.com

Post the outcome here.

Then try.

Code:

ipconfig /all

Look at the adapter that's connected to your modem (Wireless adapter if using wireless), and check the DNS lease time.

Then run

Code:

ipconfig -release
ipconfig -renew

And see if that resolves the issue.

Thanks for these! I'll try them the next time it happens. It's so intermittent and I can't predict when it will happen so I'll update as soon as possible.

Cancerous said:

Yeah, sounds like a DNS issue.
Next time it happens, open a command console and run these commands.

Code:

tracert www.google.com

Post the outcome here.

Then try.

Code:

ipconfig /all

Look at the adapter that's connected to your modem (Wireless adapter if using wireless), and check the DNS lease time.

Then run

Code:

ipconfig -release
ipconfig -renew

And see if that resolves the issue.

Okay, when I run tracert Google, nothing happens. When I look for the DNS Lease time, it's exactly 24 hours. When I run ipconfig -release, all I get is "Windows IP configuration". The same happens when I run ipconfig -renew. However, diagnosing the connection in Windows 7 results in "The default gateway is not available". It fixes it and then I have access to internet again. However, I don't want to have to go through that all the time.

Lol, sorry. It's meant to be

Code:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Keep getting my Unix/Windows syntax messed up >.<


The lease time being exactly 24 hours sounds like there's an issue when the lease is renewed, which explains why restarting solved it (would expect the same result from ipconfig release/renew).

Here's a suggestion from someone else

Go to control panel, System and Security, click on System, the Device Manager on the left. Click on network adapters, and then right click on your PCI controller, then click properties, power management, and uncheck the box that allows Windows to disable the adapter to save power.

Source: Why does my computer lose its internet connection after some time?


Also make sure your network driver is up to date.
If the above doesn't solve it, you could try setting a static IP for your computer. Also check the lease time in your routers DHCP configuration, you could increase the lease time to a lot longer for the issue to not happen so frequently.

Cancerous said:

Lol, sorry. It's meant to be

Code:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Keep getting my Unix/Windows syntax messed up >.<


The lease time being exactly 24 hours sounds like there's an issue when the lease is renewed, which explains why restarting solved it (would expect the same result from ipconfig release/renew).

Here's a suggestion from someone else

Go to control panel, System and Security, click on System, the Device Manager on the left. Click on network adapters, and then right click on your PCI controller, then click properties, power management, and uncheck the box that allows Windows to disable the adapter to save power.

Source: Why does my computer lose its internet connection after some time?


Also make sure your network driver is up to date.
If the above doesn't solve it, you could try setting a static IP for your computer. Also check the lease time in your routers DHCP configuration, you could increase the lease time to a lot longer for the issue to not happen so frequently.

Thanks for your consistent help! I tried the ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew and it did not work. I've changed the power setting and that might help but who knows. I checked my other computers and they all have 24 hour leases too so I don't think that's the problem? Is there any other way to check what is going on?

Any other ideas? Anybody?