fault with a new Dell PC and they are refusing to fix it - help

SimonSays

davids355 wrote: »

Actually I spent 2-3 hours goggling this and trying various solutions with no luck (Just to mention I am a network engineer and have been so for the past 10 years).

However, I don't think I should really have to be doing this with a brand new computer!

Luckily I got an apologetic call from Dell customer services just now and they advised me that I won't have to pay for this after all and that rather than having the PC returned they are going to send an engineer out to site to resolve the issue.

The woman I spoke to suggested that it could possibly be a hardware fault (network card or similar) but most likely they will need to reload the operating system on site.

Thanks for your help guys and I will post back here again when its resolved.

As a "network engineer" you'd have already tried this right or was google your friend

Fosterdog

Have you done the most basic thing of going into internet options and making sure the box is unticked for using a proxy? It's under the connections tab I have to do this on at least 10 computers with network issues every week.

Or try a network adapter reset, run cmd as an administrator and just type netsh winsock reset, once this is done restart the PC and see if it worked.

If both wired and wireless networks have been tested then I highly doubt it is anything hardware related, the chance of two completely separate components being faulty out of the box and to have strange symptoms of allowing access outside browsers but not within them would be impossible.

Check if windows updates will download, that is a common thing with a proxy setting error if updates connect and download but browsers won't. There may then be an update that will fix the problem for you.

Finally check if there is any Norton/Symantec software on there at all, I have seen no end of network problems linked to their products installed on windows 8/8.1 systems. It seems to cause all sorts of glitches.

[Deleted User]

I had the same problem a few weeks ago.. connection was there no browesers was working. In the end i had to do clean install.. work.. install karpersky and problem came back.. it seems that the anti virus was deleting certen files i think not sure.. so had to do a clean insstall left karpersky off and been ok since... also check the fire walls letting them through as all mine was blocked for strange reasons

davids355

pendragon_arther wrote: »

You've gone through the Networking and Sharing Centre troubleshooting route presumably. I had a problem once with my Vista lappy which wouldn't connect to the net after closing the lid, it automatically went to power saving mode for connecting to the router and it took a while to sort it out.

Have a nice day, yahear.

Hi, Yes I have done the troubleshooting routine as well. I have also seen a similar issue to this in the past where the connection is not properly assigned to a profile (home,work,public etc) but that did not resolve the issue either.

SimonSays wrote: »

As a "network engineer" you'd have already tried this right or was google your friend

Even though I have been in IT for 15 years and specifically in business IT for 10 years I still use Google every single day for solving issues! So they are most definitely my friend :-)

Fosterdog wrote: »

Have you done the most basic thing of going into internet options and making sure the box is unticked for using a proxy? It's under the connections tab I have to do this on at least 10 computers with network issues every week.

Or try a network adapter reset, run cmd as an administrator and just type netsh winsock reset, once this is done restart the PC and see if it worked.

If both wired and wireless networks have been tested then I highly doubt it is anything hardware related, the chance of two completely separate components being faulty out of the box and to have strange symptoms of allowing access outside browsers but not within them would be impossible.

Check if windows updates will download, that is a common thing with a proxy setting error if updates connect and download but browsers won't. There may then be an update that will fix the problem for you.

Finally check if there is any Norton/Symantec software on there at all, I have seen no end of network problems linked to their products installed on windows 8/8.1 systems. It seems to cause all sorts of glitches.

I have checked for proxy settings and there were none, I have also fully reset Internet explorer.
I have tried winsock reset as well as several similar commands that I found whilst googling the problem.

Good point about checking if windows update will work - I havnt tried that but I suspect that it would work - on the basis that both outlook and teamviewer work without issue as well as dropbox if I remember correctly.

To be honest I have not tried wireless connection but to me it seems very definitely to be a software problem.

Anyway, as Dell are now involved I have decided not to try any more resolutions and will leave it for their engineers when they come out to site.

I will most definitely update you guys when I get the answer and thanks for all your help so far.

davids355

neilmcl wrote: »

What OS?

Have you tried switching everything on the local network off, rebooting the router, and restarting the PC?

Sorry, missed you out on the last reply. I have tried that as well - restarting PC, rebooting router and as for other connected devices, there are none - its a home office with a single PC connected.

davids355

Iain79 wrote: »

I had the same problem a few weeks ago.. connection was there no browesers was working. In the end i had to do clean install.. work.. install karpersky and problem came back.. it seems that the anti virus was deleting certen files i think not sure.. so had to do a clean insstall left karpersky off and been ok since... also check the fire walls letting them through as all mine was blocked for strange reasons

Yes I have seen this exact issue several times in the past with various AV programs - it seems that sometimes the firewall component of the AV breaks and locks out several programs.

I think also modern AV interacts directly with network drivers and can break things as a result of this.
I have also seen before that these things remain broken even after the AV is removed.

The PC came shipped with mcafee which I have removed but I suspect that could be part of the issue.

Fosterdog

How did you remove mcafee? Going through add and remove progs doesn't always work and leave files on the system, if you download the proper removal tool it will clean it off completely

SimonSays

He is a "network engineer" he doesn't need the help of us mere mortals.

davids355

Dell engineer visited yesterday. He tried a new wireless card just to confirm that it wasn't hardware fault, that didn't work.
He then reloaded the PC with an external image and still the problem persists!

He thinks it is an incompatibility between the router (homehub 4) and Windows 8 and I think he may be right. We are ordering a new router from BT and will see if that resolves.