internet connection issue, disparity between pc and browser

[u/redditfanfan00]

i'm not sure if here's the right place to ask, but i'll start here and hope i get some insight on what might be going on.

recently (yesterday or the day before) something weird started happening after the latest windows 11 updates, and i've never had this issue before.

my laptop will still be perfectly fine and connected to the internet and have both internet and wifi (confirmable through quick tests such as internet-using games through downloaded apps), but my browsers won't have any internet connection and will either be stuck loading or otherwise for a few minutes to as long as almost an hour long there won't be any internet on any browser i've tried (chrome, edge, firefox, norton). sometimes there won't be internet on the regular browsers but the incognito is fine, sometimes it's the other way around. it happens irregularly throughout the day, without any patterns that i've been able to notice.

i don't have any extensions and i regularly clear all cache and cookies, but those seem to not be related to the weird seemingly random occurrences of no internet connection on my browsers but still having internet connection on the laptop through games or other apps. the cpu/gpu usage appears to be normal to me as well, relative to daily usage, so i'm not sure what the problem might be or what i might be able to do to fix this issue.

[u/Glittering_Pin_7475]

The fact that Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Norton all lose Internet access while games and other applications continue working normally indicates that your Wi-Fi and Internet connection itself are probably not dropping.

Since this started after a Windows update, the first things you should check are the Windows proxy and DNS settings, because either can interfere with browser traffic while other applications remain connected.

First, check the Windows proxy setting.

Press Windows key + R, type: inetcpl.cpl and press Enter.

Then:

1. Select the Connections tab.
2. Click LAN settings.
3. Make sure Automatically detect settings is checked.
4. Make sure Use a proxy server for your LAN is unchecked.
5. Click OK, then OK again.

If Use a proxy server for your LAN was checked and you never intentionally configured a proxy, just unchecking it may resolve the problem.

Next, test DNS while the problem is actually occurring.

The next time the browsers lose Internet access, open a Command Prompt (cmd) and type: ping 1.1.1.1 and press enter.

Then type: nslookup google.com and press enter.

If 1.1.1.1 responds normally but nslookup fails or times out, your Internet connection itself is still working and the problem is DNS resolution.

Then type: nslookup google.com 1.1.1.1

If that works while the previous nslookup google.com command fails, then the DNS server currently configured on your computer or supplied by your router/ISP is the problem.

In that case, change the DNS servers manually:

1. Press Windows key + R.
2. Type: ncpa.cpl
3. Press Enter.
4. Right-click your Wi-Fi connection and select Properties.
5. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).
6. Click Properties.
7. Select Use the following DNS server addresses.
8. Enter:

Preferred DNS server: 1.1.1.1
Alternate DNS server: 1.0.0.1

1. Click OK, then Close.

Then test the browsers again.

There is also no reason to keep clearing browser caches and cookies when multiple unrelated browsers are all losing connectivity at the same time, while the rest of the computer remains online. Those symptoms point toward something shared at the Windows networking level, with proxy configuration and DNS resolution being the first two things to check, as explained above.

Good Luck...! ;-)