My Lenovo laptop crashed while I was using Riverside, so I performed a forced restart with Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Since then, it connects to my Wi-Fi router successfully, but Windows reports "Connected, no Internet" and I can't browse. The network works normally on every other device in the house. I already completed a Windows Network Reset and restored the laptop to a restore point from three days earlier, but neither helped. I also tried ipconfig /release, ipconfig /renew, ipconfig /flushdns, netsh int ip reset, and netsh winsock reset, then restarted. The renew command appeared to briefly report that it couldn't complete. What should I check next—such as the adapter driver, DHCP settings, proxy configuration, or other network commands?
3 Answers
Try checking whether the laptop is receiving a valid IP address and gateway. Run ipconfig /all and look at the Wi-Fi adapter. If the address starts with 169.254, DHCP failed, so try forgetting and reconnecting to the Wi-Fi network, confirming that IPv4 is set to obtain an address automatically, and restarting the router only if other devices also begin having trouble. If there’s a normal local address but no gateway or DNS server, that points to a Windows adapter or configuration problem.
Since the reset commands didn’t help, check for a proxy or VPN that may have been left enabled after the crash. In Windows Settings, make sure manual proxy configuration is disabled, disconnect any VPN, and verify that the Wi-Fi adapter is enabled. You can also test by temporarily setting DNS to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8, although that won’t fix a missing IP address or gateway.
The wireless driver may have become corrupted or rolled back incorrectly. In Device Manager, expand Network adapters, uninstall the Lenovo Wi-Fi adapter, and restart so Windows can reinstall it. If that doesn’t work, download the correct WLAN driver from Lenovo using another device and install it manually. Also check the adapter’s Properties for any warning icon or error code.
I’ll check the full ipconfig output, especially for a 169.254 address and whether a default gateway is listed. The other devices are still online, so the issue seems limited to this laptop.