Connected but no Internet: how to fix this problem

Sometimes we have found ourselves with the unpleasant surprise of not being able to connect to the Internet from our PC via WiFi at home or in the office. Everything seems to be in order, even our device appears as connected correctly. Connected, but without internet. What is happening? Obviously, this is a problem that must be solved.

This, of course, will not happen to us if we are connected to the internet by cable, although the truth is that most users use WiFi, for reasons of comfort. This "disconnection", which can be punctual or recurring, reveals that there is a problem when it comes to our computer recognizing the WiFi network to which we normally connect.

The first time this happens it can be a bit disconcerting: if everything is OK (WiFi icon appears on), how come you can't connect to the network? The harsh reality is that it is possible to have WiFi and yet not have access to the Internet. What is failing in these cases is not the link between the computer and the router. The problem has to be elsewhere.

The WiFi connection between a device (computer, tablet, mobile phone, etc.) and the router is articulated through a local network or LAN, for its acronym in English. If this connection works, we will see that the WiFi icon is activated, which can give us the wrong idea that everything is working. What happens is that when you open the browser and try to access any page, an error message similar to this one appears:

Why is this happening? The reasons can be numerous. Next we are going to analyze them all and what are the solutions that we must implement for each case:

Check connections

You don't have to start the house from the roof. Before getting into deeper checks, we must rule out the most common and simple causes:

• Check that the indicator lights appropriate on the router and the computer.
• Check the physical connections of the cables the router.
• make sure of that the router is not too far from the receiving device, so that the signal reaches it correctly.
• see if there other connected devices that work normally, which would indicate that the problem is in our device.

Even after checking all of the above, it's not a bad idea to try reboot the router and also Restart your computer. By doing this, the connection will be reconfigured again and maybe the problem of being connected but without internet will disappear.

Check Wi-Fi settings

Windows uses the Wi-Fi profile to save the settings needed to connect to a wireless network. The parameters Defined in this configuration are, among others, the type of network security, the name of the network or the password. If any of these parameters have changed, it will be impossible to connect.

To fix this you just have to delete the obsolete connection saved by Windows and create a new one. These are the steps to follow:

1. Let's Wi-Fi network icon, which is to the right of the taskbar. There we select "Network and Internet Configuration".
2. Then we select WiFi and go to "Manage Known Networks."
3. Then we choose the network that we want to delete and click on the option "Stop remembering."
4. We return to the WiFi icon on the taskbar again to connect to the new network.

Check network adapter

Sometimes the problem of being connected but without Internet occurs after you have made a update on Windows 10. If so, it is very likely that the network driver we use has some conflict or incompatibility with the new version. The easiest way to check is to temporarily uninstall this latest update. It is done like this:

1. First we go to the menu Configuration.
2. There we select the option "Update and security".
3. Then we will Windows Update.
4. Click on "View update history" and then "Uninstall updates".
5. Finally, you have to select the most recent update and press "Uninstall".

Once this is done, we check if the error has been fixed. If it persists, we will have to Check for and install an updated driver. The process to follow is as follows:

1. Let's go to System Device Manager.
2. Select the option "Network Adapters".
3. In the drop-down menu, we search and select the adapter.
4. Then we press "Update driver" and follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

Check the DNS

The problem of being connected, but without Internet, can also be directly related to some error in the DNS (Domain Name System). To rule out this possibility, a simple check can be carried out using the following steps:

1. 1. We use the Windows + X key combination to open Command Prompt. This opens the cmd console.
   2. In it, we write the following commands:
      • netsh winsock reset
      • reset ip int netsh
      • ipconfig /release
      • ipconfig/renew
      • ipconfig / flushdns

Then you have to restart the computer to see if the problem has been solved. If not, you have to go to modify DNS values, replacing those that come by default with others. This is the way to do it:

1. First we open the menu of Configuration of the computer.
2. Then we go to the section "Network and Internet".
3. There we select "Networking and Sharing Center".
4. In the side menu, click on "Change adapter settings".
5. Select the option "Wifi", on which we click with the right mouse button to open the “Properties” window.
6. There we look for the "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP / IPv4)" and double click.
7. select "Use the following DNS server addresses". You can, for example, test with the values ​​of the Google DNS server:
   • In the first box: 8.8.8.8
   • In the second box: 8.8.4.4
8. Finally, we confirm by clicking on "To accept".

network reset

When we have already tried everything that we have exposed and we see that our PC is still unable to connect to the Internet, we will have to resort to the option of using the network reset. This method can be useful whenever our computer runs Windows 10 version 1607 or later. This is how it's done:

1. Again we go to the page "Setting".
2. select "Network and Internet".
3. There we click on "Condition" and we choose the option "Network reset".
4. We choose "Reset now" and we confirm.

Disable firewall and antivirus

One last solution we can try disable antivirus that we have installed on our computer. Many times it is enough disable firewall and test if we can now browse the Internet. If that is the cause of the problem, it will have to be updated.