Windows 10: Windows Update appears to have completely broken my wifi connection - Constant DNS Errors

About a week ago the internet (wifi) on my main PC (Win 10 64bit) stopped working. I could still connect to the router and it would show on the task bar as me having a stable internet connection, but nothing that required a connection would actually load. Thinking the issue could be related to my physical AC adapter I tried switching to a usb adapter instead, but I had exactly the same issue meaning that it must be software related. No other device in the building was having a similar issue so that ruled out a problem with the router.


After doing some research into possible causes I ran the network troubleshooter which suggested that a windows update file was corrupted. This was confirmed when I ran sfc /scannow in an elevated command prompt and it came back saying that it had found corrupted files that it was unable to fix. After some more Googling I ran the DISM tool and this appeared to fix the issue - the next time I ran sfc /scannow it came back saying there was no problem. I assumed that this would be the end of it, but I found I was having exactly the same internet problems as before - no program that required an internet connection would load anything. Occasionally a page would half load, as if the data was getting through for a second or so and was then being cut off again. Network diagnostics started to report DNS errors so I did some research and tried basically every DNS related fix I could find and actually work out how to implement - I flushed the DNS cache, I updated the drivers on my AC adapter and my motherboard and I tried resetting my IP (I think I did that last one, to be honest at this point I've lost track of how many fixes I've attempted.) Nothing was making any difference - some of the fixes appeared to work immediately after performing them, but within an hour the problem would have returned.


Eventually in sheer frustration I reinstalled windows only to find that even this didn't actually fix the problem. Uninstalling my virus protection software temporarily appeared to have fixed the issue, but within a few hours the internet started acting up again, albeit with slightly different symptoms. I then also tried a network reset, not that I can see how that would accomplish anything that reinstalling the OS wouldn't, and indeed it didn't appear to do much. I'm now in a situation where the internet does now work most of the time but at a fraction of its former speed, and it still regularly just completely refuses to load anything at seemingly random intervals. I can only think that this whole incident was caused by a Windows update as the internet had been working perfectly on that machine for the previous eight months without any issues.


At this point I'm really not sure what else I can try. This is a work machine so it's a massive problem to not have functioning internet. Most of the time network diagnostics doesn't report any problems, even though the internet is clearly not working. When it does report it's generally some variety of DNS error, although I've even had one that said 'A network cable is not properly plugged in or may be broken', although how that can be true of wifi when the router is working I don't know. Does anyone have any idea what else I could do to try to fix this issue? Scouring the forums I've found other people reporting similar symptoms but nobody seems to have found a solution. It seems like Microsoft have updated Windows in such a way that it simply isn't compatible with my system anymore. I really need to find a solution to this.

:)

 

Windows Updated(16299.309).KB4088776 Restart is required to complete.


Hi dalchina. Good news, I followed your suggestion and reinstalled the update and now it appears as "installed correctly" *Biggrin Maybe it was not necessary to run the Windows Update Troubleshooter or maybe if necessary. But using it I do not think it could have worsened something. The installation was very fast, unlike the first time it showed step 1 and step 2 completed.

Thanks for the suggestions and for the time to respond Best regards.


And thanks for the tip of that program, I'll have it on my list.

 

When will the wifi connectivity problems be solved?


OK, so the Windows 10 engineers bollixed up the wifi connectivity part of the operating system. Everybody knows that by now. It seems they are making some progress in resolving it. Now, instead of seeing "Secured, No Internet" on your list of wifi connections, you see "Connected, Secured" EXCEPT no webpages will load. So you really aren't connected. It does seem to be a step in the right direction. Does anybody know when they plan on a full and complete repair of this screw up of epic proportions?

 

dns probe finished no internet


Hi Oxide,

After some trial-and-error testing of all suggested fixes, which I found over the internet, here’re what worked for me to solve "DNS Probe Finished No Internet" issue and might work for you as well.

Method 1: Change Default DNS Address to Open DNS

Here all you have to do is change your default automatically obtained DNS server addresses to open DNS or Google DNS. To do this, follow below mentioned steps:

Step 1: Right click on Network icon located in Windows Task Bar Menu.

Step 2: Click on ‘Open Network and Sharing Center.’





Step 3: Click on Local Area Connection with whom who are presently connected and click onProperties.

Step 4: Select ‘Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)’ and click on Properties.

Step 5: Now in newly opened windows, select the radio button that reads ‘Use the following DNS server address:’

Step 6: Now in the ‘Preferred DNS Server’ box type in 208.67.222.222 and in ‘Alternate DNS Server’ type in 208.67.220.220.

Step 7: Now check the box that says ‘Validate settings upon exit’ and then click on OK. That’s it.