Totally stumped on why internet connection problem

[Rainman]

As the title says, I'm totally stumped on why internet access is not working on my laptop.

I am able to ping google.com with no problems along with other websites.

However, when I try to access the internet w/ IE, firefox or any app for that matter, it doesn't work.

I've rebuilt the TCP/IP stack and Winsock multiple times using utilites such as LSPfix or winsockxpfix, as well as per the instructions Microsoft's page on manually rebuilding Winsock, which consisted of deleting the winsock and winsock2 registry entries and adding tcp/ip to the ethernet connection. However, none of the applications are able to use the internet.

I have another PC on the same network and it has no problems. I have also tried using another internet connection at another site to no avail.

The proxy settings are set to automatically detect.

Anybody have any idea what might be the problem? I would reinstall Windows, except there is a piece of test taking software that will not relicense on another windows install even if it is the same computer.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[JackMDS]

You can try to Repair the installation with the original CD.

Boot from the XP original CD.

Skip the first screen that offer Console Repair, and continue as though you install a New WinXP.

After you press F-8 to, the new install screen will come On and would have an option to Repair the current installation.


Press R for Repair.

Use it would take about 45Min. and you would have a Refresh Installation of XP while keeping all your data and XP configuration.

You might need to reactivate, if it odes not do it on line call Microsoft, they are good about such incidents.

 

[vorgusa]

Do you have a firewall on your computer? if so what is it? I have had one in the past that sometimes when I turned my computer on it would just keep blocking me from the web but not IM or Email but not the web. Maybe you have a similar problem. All I had to do to fix the problem was just turn off the firewall and everything would be working.

 

[Poulsonator]

Double-check your DNS settings. Make sure you're pulling valid DNS addresses from your DHCP service. If you're not, or want to test, try adding your ISP's DNS servers manually.

 

[nweaver]

if you can ping www.google.com then it tells us a few things.

1. Your IP settings are correct, and routable (you can send a packet there, and get a reply)
2. Your DNS if valid, you can query for the www entry from the google.com domain.

so that leaves your browser/browser settings at issue. First of all, I would clear out all cookies and stuff, and don't "detect" proxy, turn it off. At this point, it's a browser issue, not a networking issue. To verify this, try a Linux LiveCD (like Ubuntu) and make sure that works.

 

[realEZE]

Originally posted by: Rainman
As the title says, I'm totally stumped on why internet access is not working on my laptop.

I am able to ping google.com with no problems along with other websites.

However, when I try to access the internet w/ IE, firefox or any app for that matter, it doesn't work.

I've rebuilt the TCP/IP stack and Winsock multiple times using utilites such as LSPfix or winsockxpfix, as well as per the instructions Microsoft's page on manually rebuilding Winsock, which consisted of deleting the winsock and winsock2 registry entries and adding tcp/ip to the ethernet connection. However, none of the applications are able to use the internet.

I have another PC on the same network and it has no problems. I have also tried using another internet connection at another site to no avail.

The proxy settings are set to automatically detect.

Anybody have any idea what might be the problem? I would reinstall Windows, except there is a piece of test taking software that will not relicense on another windows install even if it is the same computer.

Thanks,
Keith

Saw this problem on an old XP Pro installation awhile back.
Re-installed the browsers, TCP stack, network drivers, everything I could think of...

Problem only went away after re-installing XP.

If you do find a solution, please share... to this day, I have no idea what possessed that box...

 

[Rainman]

Unfortunately it's not just the browser, as none of my internet apps will work; email, IM, web browsing. I had cleared the browser data anyhow in a shotgun approach to finding what was broken.

I too reinstalled the browser, rebuilt the TCP stack many times, reinstalled network drivers to no avail. I disabled all start up items on only had the minimum of services running, making sure not to disable the ones that are required for networking. I even started uninstalling apps that I thought might conflict. No go. The most puzzling is the fact that pinging works but nothing else.

At this point I'm going to do a reinstall and find a way to get the exam software valid on the new install. At this point I'm searching for a needle in a haystack.

Thanks for the help guys. I just needed to know that I had not missed something that I should have tried.

 

[edtsui]

I had a similar problem recently and I ended up reformatting because I couldn't solve the issue. What I do remember was for some reason https (secure) sites would work? So for some reason only port 80 seemed to be affected. You could also try just plugging the resolved ip address directly and see if that makes a difference. But sorry to say, I never figured it out and a reformat was the last resort I had to fall back on.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: edtsui
I had a similar problem recently and I ended up reformatting because I couldn't solve the issue. What I do remember was for some reason https (secure) sites would work? So for some reason only port 80 seemed to be affected. You could also try just plugging the resolved ip address directly and see if that makes a difference. But sorry to say, I never figured it out and a reformat was the last resort I had to fall back on.

Every now and then you can run across a stack that is just beyond repair and a re-install is the only way. This is one of the very RARE problems where a reinstall is a good idea.

Also, never use the auto detect proxy. It relies on DHCP to provide you a proxy server. If I were a bad guy I'd tell you to use my machine as a proxy and capture all your stuffs.