I'm connected to the internet, but whenever I try to use any internet-based applications like Steam friends list, Discord, or even just browsing, I get a 'no internet connection' message. My friends can start games on Steam just fine, so it seems to be an issue on my end. What could be causing this?
4 Answers
First off, it might sound a bit silly, but double-check your date and time settings. If they're off, especially if they're set to an old date, it can mess with things like SSL certificates, making it look like you have no connection. I had a device that lost power and defaulted to a date in the past, and it wouldn't connect until I fixed that!
There are a few things you should check out. It might be worth getting advice from the pros on r/Network, but here’s a checklist:
1. Inspect your cables and connections to ensure they’re secure.
2. Run a ping test from your command prompt to see how your connection is performing. Look for your own IP and the gateway.
3. Try pinging 8.8.8.8 and google.com to see if they respond.
4. Finally, check your internet speed with a speed test. If everything seems okay, maybe consider that a duplicate IP address could be messing things up if you're using a static one.
If you can access a speed test site like okala or fast.com, give that a shot to see if your speed is decent. Alternatively, you can use the tracert command on powershell to see where your connection might be faltering. That helps to pinpoint the problem.
It could be a bandwidth issue too. Just because you can get notifications or see if friends are online doesn’t mean you have enough speed to load heavy stuff like a full friends list or videos. You might just have a weak connection.
I tried running the tracert command, but it shows 'request timed out' for that step, although everything else looks fine. What does that mean?