Oh no! WiFi connected but no Internet — What to do?

It’s often a confusing and frustrating time when you’re connected to wifi but not the internet. In recent years, we have all come across the “wifi connected but no internet” error, but unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to fix it. In many cases, it is due to changes in your operating system or router settings, but the cause may not always be so obvious. this means that you will have to try different arrays to identify the correct one. here are some proven options that will fix wifi connected but not internet error.

wifi connected but no internet: start with the router

To identify problems with the router, connect other devices such as your mobile phone to Wi-Fi and see if it works. If the internet works fine on other devices, the problem lies with your device and its Wi-Fi adapter. On the other hand, if the internet doesn’t work on other devices either, the problem is most likely with the router or the internet connection itself.

a good way to fix the router is to reboot it. As silly as it sounds, rebooting flushes caches and fixes many of the associated network and software problems.

if your router and modem are separated, please reboot both.

• turn both off
• wait 30 seconds
• turn on the modem and a minute later turn on the router.
• wait for a few minutes and check.

This simple solution will fix a lot of small problems with your router.

problem with internet connection

sometimes wifi connected but no internet error can be with the internet connection and not with any device. It could be due to broken cables, service outages, or anything else out of your control.

That said, it is important to know if the problem is with your internet provider. For this, check if the “internet” light on the modem is working. ideally the power and dsl lights are on. Also, make sure there’s nothing unusual, like constant flickering of lights.

if the lights are not on or you see flashing lights, contact your internet service provider immediately.

problem with your device

when other devices can access the internet through your wifi, the problem lies with your device and its wifi adapter.

As a first step, restart your device and see if that fixes the problem. Just like with your router, network and software problems often fix themselves with a simple reboot.

If that doesn’t fix your problem, here’s what you can do.

• right-click the network icon in your task tray in the lower right corner. click “troubleshoot”
• windows will try to automatically diagnose the problem and try to fix it for you.
• if windows can’t fix your problem, it will fix it somehow. the cases will tell you what the problem is.
• You can search for a solution to this problem online or you can ask the experts.

dns cache conflict

a dns cache stores all recent website visits, so it can quickly load web pages for you.

normally, when you enter a url in your browser, the operating system intercepts this url and looks in the dns cache. if your request matches the pages available in the cache, then the operating system takes these pages from the cache instead of downloading them from the internet.

Sometimes this dns cache gets corrupted due to technical glitches or when unauthorized domain names are inserted by third party software such as viruses. ads and banners on some sites also send malicious code to corrupt your dns cache.

This corrupted dns cache prevents you from connecting to the internet because there is an ip address mismatch. to fix it, you need to flush the dns cache.

to do that,

• press windows + r and type “cmd”. this will open the command prompt.
• type the following command and press enter:

ipconfig/flushdns

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this will flush your dns cache. now restart your computer and see if you can connect to the internet.

deprecated wireless modes

The wireless mode and standard used by your router influence internet speeds and coverage. commonly, you can see standards like 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11b, and 802.11ac. These standards are defined by an organization called the IEEE, and is done to ensure uniformity across router models.

Of these, 802.11b is the oldest and slowest, while 802.11ac is the newest and fastest. So now let’s say you have an old device that can only connect to 802.11b or 802.11g while your router is based on the latest 802.11ac. this creates a conflict as the device cannot connect to the new standard.

The first step in troubleshooting this issue is to identify the details of your router. open the command prompt and type “ipconfig”. this is the information you should see.

The default gateway is the ip address of your router.

you can also get these details through your gui.

• go to the network and sharing center
• choose your router and double-click it.
• click a button called “details”

the ipv4 address is the ip of your router.

then enter this ip address in your browser’s url box. this will ask for your credentials to log in to the router. in most cases, the username and password are admin by default.

Once you log in, look for the “wireless mode” option. You’ll find it under “wireless settings”, although the gui will be different for each router.

change the wireless mode to 802.11b and save the changes. now restart your wifi and see if it resolves the issue.

ip address conflict

ip address conflict occurs when two or more devices are assigned the same ip address. when this happens, both devices cannot connect to the network.

although rare, ip address conflict occurs in the following situations.

• when two devices are assigned the same static ip address, there is a conflict.
• a device is assigned a static ip address that is in the dhcp range and the same ip address is assigned by the dhcp server to another device on the network.
• when a laptop is in sleep mode, its ip address is assigned to another device on the network. so when you turn on the laptop, there is a conflict.
• A conflict is common when you have multiple wireless routers connected to the same network.

To resolve this conflict, go to your command prompt and type the following command and press enter:

ipconfig/release

the dhcp server will assign a new ip address for your computer.

if that doesn’t work:

• press windows + r and type “ncpa.cpl” in the dialog box. this opens all your network connections.
• choose your network, right click on it and select “properties”
• select internet protocol 4 (ipv4) and click ” properties” button below.

• in the next dialog select “obtain ip address automatically” and “obtain dns server address automatically”

This should resolve the wifi connected but not the internet error. if not, restart your router and see if it works.

If none of this works, it could mean your router has a faulty dhcp server. contact your router manufacturer and update the firmware.

outdated network driver

sometimes an old, outdated or corrupted network driver can be the cause of a wifi connection but not an internet error. Often times, a small yellow mark in your network device name or on your network adapter could indicate a problem. If none of the above solutions work, these steps are worth trying, even if you don’t see the yellow mark.

to fix:

• press windows +r and type y “devmgmt.msc”. this will open your device manager.
• navigate to “network adapters” and right click on your network
• select “update network driver”. you will get two options and here choose “search automatically for updated driver software”

windows will try to automatically fix the network driver for you.

wifi connected but no internet error is a common but frustrating problem that prevents you from connecting to the internet. It happens due to a number of different things, so it’s best to try solution after solution to identify the cause and fix it.

Please share any other solutions you’ve tried, so we can all benefit from them.