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Resolved Question

Internet issues I just can't figure out how to fix

by Jul 10, 2018 12:51AM PDT

OKAY. (first off, sorry if this is not the right place to ask such a question. I don't know where to turn. and this was the first forum that came up so.)
I've been trying to figure out what to do on my own, but I don't even know what to google for help with this. I am not super tech savvy, so sorry if I don't use the correct terms.

When I'm using my browser (usually Chrome, but I've tried Edge too and it's the same there), I'll be able to use it for an amount of time (usually about ten minutes but can be drastically longer or shorter) before the internet just... drops and I can't load the page.

I have to unplug and replug the ethernet cable and then it works again.
Currently, I'm plugged into the jack in my wall, thought I had this same problem when I was using a router, only I had to unplug/replug the ethernet cable into the router to get it to start working again. I live on campus at a university, and I've had the IT people come in and look at the jack, and they say nothing's wrong.

We (the IT guy and me) did a... ping test thing? via command prompt, and it went perfectly, even when using my computer. Then he told me to open a browser and load some pages. Sure enough, after a little bit of time, the pages stopped loading. BUT! the ping test was still going fine.

Today, I was on Discord, and I could send and recieve messages, but when I tried to google something or reload a different page or anything, I couldn't. But I was still sending and recieving messages on discord. Similarly, later today, I was watching a twitch stream, and the video kept playing and I could send and recieve messages fine, but again, all my other tabs couldn't load anything. I didn't want to have to unplug/replug my ethernet cable to fix it because then I'd miss stuff in the stream and I didn't want to do that.

When I run Windows network diagnostics, it gives me the error: windows could not automatically detect this network's proxy settings
I don't know what to do about that, and googling it has given me no real help.
No one else in my building is complaining of any similar issues.
Everything is fine when I connect to other Wifi elsewhere, it just seems to be in this room that I get the issue.

I've checked to see if Windows is up to date (it wasn't but now it is), and if Chrome was also up to date, and it is.

I'm using an HP Pavillion, running Windows 10. My Ethernet cable is brand-new because I thought maybe it was that.

I have no idea what the the problem could possibly be.
Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to help me. I'm kind of at a loss here.

(when I tried to submit this, it wouldn't load haha good thing I can actually temporarily fix it for sure every time it happens. It's just supremely annoying.)

Post was last edited on July 10, 2018 1:00 AM PDT

Discussion is locked

fortw has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
7 Posts
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Best Answer

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I just like to tie up loose ends...
by Jul 26, 2018 1:19AM PDT

I just want everyone to know what the problem was, so there's no mystery!

It turns out that one of the residents on my floor had a reeeallly old router connected to the network, and it was like, connected incorrectly too, and the technicians said that it was sending a ton of different IP Addresses into the network, which was disrupting my (and probably other residents', although no one said anything to me) connection! They couldn't locate which apartment it was coming from, but they turned off the jack, and the problem has stopped, thank goodness.
The technicians said it was a problem they'd never seen before, so that's fun.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions though! I couldn't have expected anyone to have known the actual problem Happy

Post was last edited on July 26, 2018 1:21 AM PDT

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Answer
Laptop?
by Jul 10, 2018 7:29AM PDT
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I don't think so...
by fortw Jul 17, 2018 4:41PM PDT

Okay, the reason I waited so long to respond again was because I was waiting for my new router to come back to see if that would maybe, just maybe fix the problem.
Nope!

So I tried going to another place with the ethernet cable, and my computer worked just fine. I've done many of the steps listed on Microsoft (but not all of them. There's a lot and there's some that I feel like would do more harm than good) and nothing really fixed it.

The reason I am so hesitant to try this stuff is because I don't think it's an issue with my laptop, because these same exact things are happening with my phone as well. The IT guy said he doesn't think that matters and he doesn't care what my phone does because it's "different", but I think it does matter. Why would BOTH my phone and laptop work perfectly fine on every other network but stop working on my home network?

But the jack is fine, the ISP says everything on their end is fine. I know I'm repeating myself. But I don't think it's a problem with my laptop if my phone is acting the same way?

And again, it's so weird that I can continue to send/receive messages on things like discord, twitch and IRC things, but I can't load new pages. That says to me that the internet is fine.

I'm sorry. I'm still repeating myself. I'm just so frustrated with this. I don't even know who to call.

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With your latest reply.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 17, 2018 4:56PM PDT

It sounds like the DNS issue I had with TWC. My setup worked poorly, yours much worse but I wrote router code in the 90's so I do pretty well at this stuff. Talking to TWC support is too painful so I opted to try another DNS (the google one) and my woes vanished.

On top of that the new TWC cable modem and router locked out changing the DNS. As that isn't going to stop me, I changed it on the PC and I'm back.

Google (research) like this -> How do I change my PC's DNS to 8.8.8.8?

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Did you happen to turn on RANDOM MAC?
by Forum moderator Jul 17, 2018 5:08PM PDT
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Well if you could get
by Jul 18, 2018 5:49AM PDT

anther computer and connect to the same cable you could isolate the problem to either the PC or the network.

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Possible fix?
by Jul 18, 2018 9:02AM PDT

Perhaps change your DNS server to googles 8.8.8.8

You can do this by right clicking your network icon down bottom right of your screen on the task bar, opening network and sharing center, select the internet you're having trouble with (Should be 'Ethernet 1-9', click properties, click Internet protocol version 4 then properties down below, tick 'Use the following DNS Server address' and then do 8.8.8.8 in both boxes, restart laptop and try it Happy

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