Snip3xD

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2014
Messages
39
After restarting my laptop a few weeks ago upon completing a Windows 8.1 Update, I could not access the internet despite being connected to the internet. The connection was not limited and the troubleshooter pointed out that the connection between my access point, router or cable modem and the Internet is broken.

In Google Chrome, they would fail to look up the DNS and state this error :
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

So, I searched the internet with my phone and went to other forums but to no avail. I tried solutions for issues that sounded similar to mine like changing the dns address of my IPv4 to Google's and disabling my IPv6 but they didn't work. Finally, I found a temporary solution : opening command prompt (admin) and typing these :

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
netsh winsock reset catalog

It worked for the first time. But then the issue came back and it took a few tries to fix the second one. Then it kept coming and going for the past few weeks. The more it came, the more tries it took to fix it.

I need a permanent solution to this issue and I'm hoping to find one soon if not now. If there has been a solution this whole while, please share it with me.
 
Solution
I have a suspicion that one of the Windows Updates have caused this issue. Possibly an update which was meant to aid in the internet connection or improve it.Since the last update, this issue could not be solved with ipconfig commands anymore. So its possibly KB3000850. Of course its all just suggestions and there's no real proof even if several evidences lead to here.

Because the same update was installed on 25/11/14, which was the day I first received this issue, I can only think of this update as the culprit. But I'm no computer expert...

Update : Yep! FINALLY! Solved it. Windows 8.1 Update KB3000850 is the problem. I got it uninstalled and I could access the internet again. Thank you for helping me through this issue...
Have you got/had Norton on your pc - and whilst scraping barrels/looking for the obvious (please don't hit me!) is there a wireless switch on the laptop?
 
Well I do have Norton Studios which came with the laptop itself but am currently using Bitdefender if you're talking about anti-virus softwares. Also, there is a wireless button binded to function f12 and it's turned on. It has never caused me any issues since the purchase of this laptop almost one year ago.
 
I searched google but cannot find a way to search for ip address allocations (too confusing for me). I am using a D-Link router and am currently staring at the router page, not knowing what to do...
 
If you have "setup" on the top menu and "network settings" on the left those two should show ip addresses allocated at the bottom of the page.
 
Nothing questionable there. Running short of ideas - try removing the wireless adapter from device manager and rebooting to see if Windows picks up on it and re-installs - assuming windows 8 finds it this will overwrite the drive which we installed earlier which presumably wasn't working but see what happens!
 
Well Windows definitely reinstalled it, but the problem still persists. Also, I noticed that Hamachi is in my hidden icons most of the time when I restart my laptop even though I specifically disabled it in the startup section of the task manager. I don't think it has anything to do with the issue, but it starts out disconnected.
 
Using your wired connection can you get a reply using either of the following two commands at a command prompt:

ping yahoo.com

ping 98.139.183.24
 
Looks like dns lookups are failing. Try setting the dns server address for your wired ethernet connection to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 the try the two pings again:

ping yahoo.com

ping 98.139.183.24
 
Exactly the same results as before.

Update : When I pinged for my own ip address, 198.186.0.1, 4 were sent, none received and all requests were timed out.
 
So can we confirm the outcome is:

We have a lenovo pc with a wired ethernet which can access the internet using IP addresses but cannot handle DNS lookups either using the router address of 192.168.0.1 or the google dns service using either 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 as DNS server. The lenovo recognises the wireless adapter hardware and installs the driver for it but it cannot connect to the router at all. In summary wired ethernet connects to the router but DNS lookups fail, wireless connection to the router fails completely.

Three other devices (all phones?) are connecting wirelessly to the router and can all fully access the internet implying that the router is capable of wireless connection and resolving DNS lookups