Help, my laptop suddenly quit connecting to the internet.

Hi Bob

It’s been my experience that issues like yours (that are not hardware related) are most likely caused by an environmental change to your PC. An environmental change can be caused by a Windows update or recently installed (or updated) program. Barring those causes your network (Wi-Fi) card may be at fault. Hopefully it’s not a hardware issue and the problem can be resolved by one of the options below.

Option I
Click the link below that will take you to a PDF version of your Dell Inspiron Duo Laptop user manual. Read pages 14 thru 17 to be sure that your wireless radios are enabled and antennas are not blocked. If you are confident that everything is correct then proceed to Option II.

http://www.lpmanual.com/manuals/dell/DELL_Inspiron_Duo_1090.pdf

Option II
Roll back your computer to a date when you believe everything was working as it should. Click the link below for directions on how to access a Windows 10 System Restore Point. A System Restore is less invasive than a System Reset as it only removes changes made (i.e. Windows updates or installed programs) after the date you select. Since you say the Dell is mainly used for email and web surfing the most probable change is just a Windows 10 update.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12415/windows-10-recovery-options

If neither of the options I suggested resolve your issue, then try some of the solutions recommended by others this thread.

The most labor intensive scenario to resolve your issue (if not hardware related) is a clean install. Hopefully, you have a good backup stored somewhere that you can use to restore your system if need be.

Finally, there is one other nasty possibility…you’ve been jacked! The perpetrator is waiting for you to try to connect to the internet at which time you’ll get a ransom note. I hope that isn’t the case. Good luck to resolve your issue.

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.

It seems a bit strange to me that the wi-fi works under windows 10 for a year and then suddenly stops. If it had no drivers for the wi-fi card then why did it work initially for a year and then stop - that doesn't seem logical to me, because it should be dead from day one, it seems more likely that some physical piece of hardware on the laptop has gone wrong or has the reception gone on the laptop for some reason.

First thing to try before doing anything is properly shut down and restart the laptop - Click the start icon, then click Power and very important click RESTART - Do NOT click Shutdown - I've found a few laptops that have done this and what it is, when you click shutdown in Windows 10 it usually only puts you into like a hibernate mode - so if a drivers crashed, or a service has crashed or anything, the minute you load it backup it will reload all that information (even though you've shutdown the machine you've not actually shutdown the machine), but by clicking RESTART it forces the computer to properly shutdown and re-load all drivers, etc that have possibly crashed.

The next thing to check is to see if it's the receiving end of the wi-fi card that's gone wrong. Go into the network settings of the PC and see if Windows is recognising the wi-fi card - if it is and it just can't find any networks around - then the problem is with the reception end of the card, if it is working and it's finding a few networks but not your own then there is something going on with your wireless router - check another device like a phone or something and see if the other device can "hear" the router, if that can't either then maybe look into why, if the phone can but the laptop can't but the laptop can hear other stations then there seems to be an issue between the laptop and the computer, rather than a problem with the wi-fi card

I have known a number of laptops where the mini-PCI-Express slot that holds the wi-fi card has just failed, it's might be something on the main board that has failed, or the card has failed and if it is hardware based no amount of "reverting to Windows 8 or 7" will fix that. Have you got a spare wi-fi card you could try it with (it might need to be identical to the one currently in, laptops have different types of wi-fi cards even though they all plug into a similar socket and might not work so try and find a matching wi-fi card to try it with). If it still doesn't work with another wi-fi card then it seems the min-pci-express slot has gone bad. In that case possibly the only solution is go and buy a cheap USB wi-fi card and see if that works. If that also doesn't work then there is some serious hardware issues with the laptop.

I think you'll find that at most the problem will come down to just restarting the computer properly, I run my own computer business and a few months ago I had a number of people come to me all with this same problem - I don't know whether it was an update or something that caused them to crash but initially just try clicking Start->Power->RESTART and see if that makes a difference.

If you do want to go back though to the original OS there is a few ways you can do this - firstly if you've had Windows 10 on for less than something like 30 days there is an option to revert using Windows 10, however you've probably gone way beyond this as you've said you've been using it for nearly a year now, but don't worry all is not lost - if your laptop still has it's recovery partition you can still use that to revert back do the following:

Starting Dell Factory ImageRestore

1.Turn on the computer.
2.When the DELL™logo appears, press <F8>several times to access the Advanced Boot Options window.
NOTE: If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft Windows desktop; then, shut down your computer and try again.

3.Select Repair Your Computer.The System Recovery Options window appears.
4.Select a keyboard layout and click Next
5.To access the recovery options, log on as a local user. .
6.Click Dell Factory Image Restore.
The Dell Factory Image Restore welcome screen appears.
NOTE: Depending upon your configuration, you may need to select Dell Factory Tools, then Dell Factory Image Restore.
7.Click Next.The Confirm Data Deletion screen appears.
NOTE: If you do not want to proceed with the Factory Image Restore, click Cancel.
8.Select the check box to confirm that you want to continue to reformat the hard drive and restore the system software to the factory condition, then click Next.
The restore process begins and may take five or more minutes to complete.A message appears when the operating system and factory-installed applications have been restored to factory condition.
9.Click Finish to restart the computer.

The above process will only work if Windows didn't remove the recovery partition when you upgraded, and remember that by going down that route it will wipe everything from your hard drive so make sure you've backed up anything you want to keep and also remove any removable drives when doing it - just in case you delete the wrong drive.

If you have not already tried this, do a system restore to a time when the wifi adapter worked. If it was working before on Windows 1`0, then it will work again, unless the adapter itself has failed.

Get the latest Wifi Driver from the website below for windows 10 using another computer, and copy it to your computer that has the wifi problem, then install it.
https://www.atheros-drivers.com/atheros-wireless-drivers.html
After that, try and see if you can connect to the internet.
You don't have to roll back.

You can create a bootable usb windows 10 installation media, and use that to reinstall windows 10 if needed.
The media creation tool can be downloaded from below
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Same problem...just random. I called support (this was a refurb) and actually had a tech help me without paying! He said that windows 10 now does an 'involuntary' update so most likely on the update the wifi was corrupted. Since i use this device just for travel, it was not a disappointment to have to do a factory reset and that fixed it....

I had a similar (but worse) problem back in February. All of my networked PCs said I had an internet connection, but I couldn't connect to anything. I had been using a cable phone/modem/router connected to my router (with the router port on the modem de-activated), so I disconnected that and had Shaw activate the router on the modem. This didn't work either, so I had to take it to a shop, and apparently I had a virus - they cleaned my PC and preserved all my photos and docs and all worked fine after that.

If you're wireless suddenly stopped working, and you've checked to make sure wireless settings are good, perhaps you've contracted a virus that's blocking your wireless access. I'd suggest downloading malwarebytes from malwarebytes.com onto a thumb drive from another computer and run a full scan. Have you also tried rebooting in safe mode with networking to see if your wireless works? If you run in safe mode and the wireless works, then malwarebytes should identify and remove the virus for you. Also check to make sure no physical wireless tab/button got accidentally disabled.

If you are not getting to the internet, how are you reading these answers, or even getting notifications through email ? I agree with most of the suggestions, but most need internet connection to accomplish. I would suggest to click Action Center on right side of Task-bar, you will see settings for WiFi, Airplane etc. If they all look correct, then right click the Start button on far left of Task-Bar, pick Device Manager and uninstall WiFi adapter, and reinstall it (let Win 10 reinstall it for you). Good Luck, and I say stay with Windows 10.

This happened at home to my computer. First, I reset my router by turning it off for 2 minutes. In one case that worked. In another case, I both reset my router and turned off my computer for 5 minutes. The computer reset when it was turned on.
Did you get any upgrade for your antivirus software? This was a particular problem away from home. I had to disable the antivirus software in order to connect to the Internet. The solution was to get different antivirus software. I have had no problem with Malwarebytes and Norton.
Always look for a simple solution if everything worked in the past.

It could be as simple as the WiFi on the laptop got accidentally turned off either thru the function keys or an actual switch on the laptop.

Hi. Please add this DNS Primary: 8.8.8.8, and this DNS Secondary 8.8.4.4 into your WiFi Settings (TCP/IPv4). Solved problem in Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.

hi i ran into this problem a while back, i did all the basic trouble shooting, i enabled and disabled the wifi in network sharing center, ran windows network tools and nothing worked. What did work was system restore using a restore point not a full restore. i chose a restore point date in which i knew everything was working properly and that fixed it.
Before i did a system restore to a specific restore point, i first hooked my computer directly to my route using a cat 5e cable to ensure that my router was still working, this ensured that the problem was isolated the the computer and not the router or modem.
As part of most dell systems it comes loaded with dell help and support software, should be in your apps section under Dell tab, from there you can run a hardware test to ensure there are no hardware faults, plus run specific tests like checking your Wifi.
if all the dell tests pass, then chances are you have a minor software issue and restoring to a specific restore point should solve the issue.
on a final note, the first time this happened to me, all i did was power cycle my router ( done by unplugging it for 15 secs then plugging it back in) disabling and enabling my wifi network in the networking sharing center under properties followed by simple system reboot.
hope this helps

Before going crazy trying to reinstall Win 10, roll back to Win 7, etc. ...

Have you tried connecting to some other network? Lots of places now have free wifi. If you can connect to any of those, you know your hardware, your drivers and all related software are okay -- you have a bad setting either on your PC or your router.

It very well could be a driver. My main PC dual boots to Win7 or Win 10 and has an AMD graphics card. Under Win 7, I can get 1920 x 1080 VGA resolution. That flat-out won't work under Win 10 although originally it did. The best it can do is 1680 x 1050. I've tried drivers from Win 8.1 through the latest and it still won't go higher.

Download Ubuntu to a thumb drive and boot in Linux Live CD mode. If you can access the router with that, you know your hardware is okay. If you can't, the problem is PC hardware.

Try giving your laptop a static IP address. You definitely need to set that on the router and probably also on the laptop.

If your network is still working for other devices, can you see them in your Networks window? Is this that your network stopped working, or that you cannot log onto the Internet? Big difference. Have you tried letting the Microsoft Troubleshooter do its magic? It can reconfigure your TCP/IP software to make Internet accessible. If your network is actually still working, but you get a "No Internet Access" message, then right-click on the Network Icon in your system tray and left-click on "Troubleshoot problems." If you don't have a network icon or it shows with an X then this will not work.

This happened to me last week - very similar scenario: running Win10 happily for about a year, strong WiFi signal, relatively new modem and router, router seen but no internet. My husband's laptop and our three mobile phones, as well as the TiVo and both game consoles, were connecting just fine, so I knew it was something to do with my laptop.
Extensive troubleshooting, though, failed to find any issues. I hadn't changed any settings or installed anything myself, so I suspected an update of some kind. This proved to be the case: as part of my troubleshooting cascade, I was restarting the computer frequently, and after about five restarts, all was well, and there was a newly installed Norton* Security Suite update.
I extrapolated that this update must have been one of those that requires several restarts to install fully, and which disables internet connectivity in the interim. Unfortunately, whether due to background-running or as a side effect of my assertive troubleshooting, I couldn't see the update in progress, which contributed to my head-scratching.
By now, Bob, I hope you have managed to restore your connection, whatever the cause may have been!
*I know a lot of folks really dislike Norton products, and I understand and respect that. I like them, have never had a moment of serious trouble, and as this isn't a discussion about security suite pros and cons, there's no reason to get into it further.

~nrbt

Shut down your laptop
Unplug the AC adapter
Remove the battery
Hold down the power button for one full minute
Replace the battery and power up
Try connecting again
Let us know the results

I had the same problem with a computer that was only a few weeks old when it suddenly stopped connecting using Wifi. Solution: Uninstall the wireless network card. Turn off the computer. Turn on after a minute. Let the OS (Windows 10) find the card, its drivers and install them. Works now. The strange thing was that all along, the device manager reported that the card was working properly, there was data going up and down, but no connection. This was a shot in the dark, but it fixed the problem. What a feature!

Did your Dell recently download and install an Win10 update. My laptop and desktop computers got a win10 update which killed the WiFi and ethernet. Went to the microsoft insider site and downloaded on another computer, a iso for OS build 10586.164 onto a flash drive and reinstalled. The only option is a clean install with no programs carried over. Both wifi and ethernet works after the install. Hope this helps.