Network Settings says No Internet Connection, But...

3mptylord · 14 Oct 2015

But I'm currently browsing the internet and typing to you.

In fact - I can do virtually everything (League; Steam; Skype; etc) except use any OS feature that requires logging in - e.g. Mail, User Accounts, Shop, etc. Then it says something along the lines of "Cannot use this service without an internet connection - please connect and try again." When I run Network Diagnostics as the prompt recommends - it says I am connected and cannot find a problem.

Network Settings says No Internet Connection, But...-weirdconnectivity.png

It doesn't always happen - but it seems to be determined on start-up. If I restart it now it might be working next launch - but 75% of the time it will encounter the same issue. It's been happening for months now but I've sort of gotten used to using my phone to check my emails - but I've now encountered an issue with one of my hard drives being unable to be searched (tried indexing, etc) and the only step I've found that I haven't tried says it could be a corrupted user account - but I cannot update my user account without "connecting to the internet". -_-

The system is up to date. No driver updates available.

Kanata · 14 Oct 2015

It could be that something is blocked on the firewall, either in Windows or on the router (modem) settings. Was anything configured here before? Also how many network connections are active (wireless; wired; etc).

3mptylord · 14 Oct 2015

Windows Firewall is turned off - I'm not aware of any restrictions on the router. My connection is wired - at most there is one other wired device and 5/6 wireless devices, although the number of people home doesn't affect it. There were no issues when I was on Windows 8 and there's no issues on any other device.

Kanata · 14 Oct 2015

What browser are you using - IE? Firefox?

3mptylord · 14 Oct 2015

Chrome.

Kanata · 14 Oct 2015

If you have Internet Explorer installed, the mail may be using settings that are set up there. Open IE and go to the Tools menu then Internet Options then under the Connections tab select 'LAN settings'. In there, unselect 'Automatically detect settings'. It's also possible that Chrome cannot pick up the IE settings properly. There may also be an equivalent setting in Chrome (I don't have Chrome to hand to check).

3mptylord · 14 Oct 2015

I've tried unselecting the option but I didn't fix the issue - nor could I see why it would.

The following things connect to the internet fine:

Microsoft Edge (new IE)
Chrome
Skype
Steam's browser and Steam multiplayer games
League of Legends launcher, patcher, PVP.net and game client
Battle.net
Pretty much everything

What doesn't work:

Network Center (says I'm not connected)
Windows Live Mail (logging in)
Outlook (logging in)
Notepad 8 (logging in)
User Accounts (logging in)

The issue seems to affect any Microsoft product that tries to connect to Live.

Kanata · 14 Oct 2015

What are you using as a firewall if not the Windows one? Also try applying the Windows firewall as a test (as crazy as that might sound) and see if mail works. What antivirus program are you using? Make sure you have no viruses on your system and use AntiMalWare Bytes to check for Malware. Also check for proxy settings in the same area you looked in IE. Some malware could have redirected your applications to other sites.

3mptylord · 14 Oct 2015

The only firewall I'm using is the router's firewall. I don't use a firewall on my PC. The antivirus I'm using is Defender, or whatever Windows 10 calls it (MSI?).

No malware - although I really don't see what it would be achieving if I did. No proxies being used.

Kanata · 14 Oct 2015

The reason to check for malware is in case your system has been infiltrated and is redirecting some network requests to where they should not be going. It may not be the strongest possibility, but you need to try things to narrow down the issue. You need to install AntiMalWare Bytes to check for malware. Windows Defender will not do it. It deals with viruses.
As I mentioned, enable the Windows firewall and test mail again. This has solved similar issues in the past.