laptop can't get online

carla40

hi, i wondered if anyone could help, when my son goes onto his laptop he cant get onto the internet, when i checked, it says it is connected to my wireless modem, he can get onto MSN but cannot do anything else, could anyone give me any tips as of what to do :beer:
thanks in advance
carla

espresso

Try entering http://209.85.129.99/ into the browser.

carla40

have just tried that and all that came up was internet explorer cannot display this page, ive gone onto diagnose the problem and it says there is no problem and the connection is working

espresso

Try using an alternative browser e.g. here as MSN shows that the connection is OK.

gaming_guy

i've just tried that link and nothing came up for me even though my internet connection is working fine.

and i'm using firefox on ubuntu

espresso

gaming_guy wrote: »

i've just tried that link and nothing came up for me even though my internet connection is working fine.

and i'm using firefox on ubuntu

Strange brings up Google for me. Try http://216.239.59.104/

carla40

thanks again, i'll get my son to try it when he gets home from college, i'll let you know how i get on

mykeblack

Some things to try:

1. You should first do a full virus scan, download a copy of AVG from free.avg.com onto your desktop, copy the installer onto a usb and try and install that on the laptop - sometimes nasty viruses redirect browsers to their own servers to install even more nasties onto your machine, and when these servers are shut down, the virus still tries to send you there

2. if thats all clear, try plugging the laptop directly into the wireless modem using an ethernet cable and try again. IT could be that other devices in the house are affecting the wireless signal. some wireless DEC phones can cause interference/

3. if no joy there, try plugging straight into the modem, this will eliminate the possiblity that the wireless router is at fault.

4. If, after plugging into the modem you're still not getting onto sites using browser, but you can still use msn, then it is possible your browser is firewalled, or blocked. You can try temporarily disabling your firewall(s) or you can try installing a new browser like Google Chrome (again, using the usb transfer method described above). Important: do not leave the firewall disabled for more than a couple of minutes, doing so could leave you open to virus attacks and hackers.

5. Another thing to check is your network usage. click on ctrl+alt+del to bring up task manager and then click on the 'networking' tab - if there is a lot of activity there (ie more than 5%) it could be some other program running on the machine that is sucking up most of the bandwidth.

6. Finally, it is possible that your DNS servers are set incorrectly on that machine, to find out if this is the case check this:

1.
Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.
2.
Right-click the network connection that you want to configure, and then click Properties.
3.
On the General tab (for a local area connection), or the Networking tab (for all other connections), click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.


You should have 'obtain DNS server automatically' option selected. If not, select that option, then reboot the machine.


fingers crossed!

gaming_guy

mykeblack wrote: »

1. You should first do a full virus scan, download a copy of AVG from free.avg.com onto your desktop, copy the installer onto a usb and try and install that on the laptop - sometimes nasty viruses redirect browsers to their own servers to install even more nasties onto your machine, and when these servers are shut down, the virus still tries to send you there

use avira antivir - it has much better detection rates and doesnt slow down the computer like the bloated & slow AVG

you can get avira from here. click the Softpedia Secure Download (US) link

expresso: the second link worked fine.

vesp_2

It seems strange that MSN can connect (I'm assuming this is MSN messenger) but not the browser.

If none of the above posted steps have helped, as a first check I'd go into IE, go to tools > Internet Options, then click on the 'Advanced' tab. Select "Reset" to reset internet explorer settings to default.

Also check in "Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services" that the service named TCP/IP is active (started) and is set to start automatically.
(This may seem strange but it's worth a check... it fixed a similar problem on a relative's laptop where for some reason this service was disabled)

colboy

If you have a third party firewall I would check its settings to make sure internet explorer isnt blocked.