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XPS 15 Internet blocked for no reason
I had a problem this morning that took several annoying hours to resolve. I am an old advanced computer user and test eng. Thus will relate the below in case someone might shed some light on why.
My Dell XPS 15 9550 running Windows 10 could not connect to the Internet after returning from an out of state trip where I had connected the laptop up elsewhere. Normally at my residence, the laptop is connected to a Netgear Wi-Fi router that is on a CAT5 Ethernet line between my desktop PC and an at&t U-verse modem. I also at times connect an Android moto-g smartphone and an Android Chrome laptop into that same Wi-Fi router point. The U-verse DSL modem also connects to a phone land line besides its POTS line that connects externally from my residence to U-verse fiber. So all rather typical and simple.
During this trouble both my desktop pc and the moto g were connecting through to the Internet normally through the router and modem that is an automatic process after powering up either. During the problem the Dell could connect through the Netgear Wi-Fi router to the desktop pc and see all its shared files and vice versa. Thus the issue was the Dell automated process to route through the modem to the Internet had an issue. I do not understand how the Dell handles this but was aware that involved something with Microsoft because of the Dell Windows 10 implementation. Note prior to this problem, I had months ago fully installed and configured the Dell including the Internet through the above path and had gone through use and a few upgrades over a few months.
I thoroughly went through the various Control Panel network status and setting windows but nothing brought me to a window where I could access the modem for a password or set up a Microsoft Account. I tried to set up the network manually but it did not accept my password. It was ignoring whatever I did. The network troubleshooting buttons could not identify an issue. One status was that Microsoft Windows was not seeing any network even though I was obviously connected across the router to my pc through a network so that actually ambiguously meant no network with the Internet? Frustrated, I explored other strategy and opened up the One-Note application. One-Note noticed I was not connected to the Internet so it brought me through several configuration windows ending in a Microsoft Account, email address and password window. However my password would not work? Thus selected a password reset by sending a Microsoft email to that same email address where I received a security code. The fact it sent the password reset meant it had gone through the modem and into the Internet so that again verified the problem was at the Microsoft end. Apparently there was a way to get into this Microsoft Account stuff that I was not able to locate via Control Panel windows but which the One-Note ap was able to. So one thing I would like to know if this occurs again is how to get into that without One-Note that I have not to this point bothered to set up or use.
I entered that security code and then the Dell asked to reset my password. I entered my old lengthy password but it complained that password was the old password that was not allowed. So the Microsoft Account knew I had been entering my old password but apparently rejected it maybe because it was stale? If so thanks for not warning me. So changed the password slightly. I began an upgrade process that lasted about a half hour ending in the login window. After logging in was able to access the Internet normally.
d7v7d
10 Posts
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December 30th, 2016 01:00
Today is Dec 29, 2016 and this evening the same issue per above occurred again for no reason that wasted about 6 hours of my time. Was not able to access the Internet though was able to access other devices on my WiFi router. And those other devices had normal Internet access. This time however, accessing OneNote did not open any window for my Microsoft Account per the earlier episode. In fact I used my desktop PC to access the Dell support site through the WiFi route that eventually connected me to a Microsoft network troubleshooting page.
support.microsoft.com/.../windows-10-fix-network-connection-issues
First ran:
netsh wlan show wlanreport
That generated a massive network report though I don't have the network knowledge to make sense of it. Further down that page after running the below commands my Internet connection came back. Thus again some kind of software bug on my Dell 9550 with the Microsoft network configuration.
In the search box on the taskbar, type Command prompt, press and hold (or right-click)
Command prompt, and then select Run as administrator > Yes.
At the command prompt, run the following commands in the listed order, and then check to
see if that fixes your connection problem:
Type netsh winsock reset and press Enter.
Type netsh int ip reset and press Enter.
Type ipconfig /release and press Enter.
Type ipconfig /renew and press Enter.
Type ipconfig /flushdns and press Enter.
Suspect it may still have something to do with OneNote or OneDrive because I haven't actually used either or set them up.
d7v7d
10 Posts
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December 15th, 2017 13:00
Now December 15, 2017 and suspect the same issue has occurred this morning once again leaving my Dell XPS 9550 without an Internet connection. Yesterday the Microsoft Windows 10 automatic update ran that took a really long 110 minutes to complete as it booted multiple times. Of course that process connects to the web in doing so. Afterwards was able to connect to the Internet without issues. Overnight shut down my computer as I always do. Then this morning powered it up and it booted up that ends with having to log into the XPS Windows 10 in order to enter my local user account. That was normal. I then opened up Firefox and spent a couple hours perusing familiar web sites like Google News. But about 10am suddenly for no reason lost Internet. None of the XPS Network troubleshooting tools made a difference. At the same time my moto g smartphone and old HP Vista desktop computer was still connected to the Internet. In fact that is what I am using here logging into the Dell help site. My Netgear Genie app displayed those two and the firewall as normal while my XPS 9550 was indeed not connected.
I opened the status bar Dell 1.9.20.0 Update program popup that interesting showed a "connecting" status? I waited awhile but nothing changed so I restarted my XPS and while doing so was surprised to find it immediately went into yet another update process installing more things. Am uncertain whether doing so meant that the Dell Update program was actively going out on the Internet to do so or was working with files it had already loaded?. If it was going out to the Internet that further meant there was nothing wrong with my hardware or configuration but that at the Microsoft end was probably related to these updates that it had again was due to configuration issues for my account on their end. The fact that after having the second issue 13 months ago that no others on this help board commented is a bad sign that I am going to possibly be plagued by the situation in the future even if I resolve it today. That Dell or Microsoft has nothing to add is annoying as I would expect more after spending $3k on the product, software, and displays.
After whatever update completed was still not connected so did a shut down and it came up with the same issue that I expected since I suspect the issue is at the Microsoft end. Apparently there is some process in the background occurring when one powers and boots up an XPS with Windows 10 that goes out and accesses the Microsoft account. If it cannot access that account an XPS cannot otherwise connect to the Internet even if it is actually still in packet communication. An annoying aspect of that is Microsoft isn't even my service provider on the DSL line but rather that is AT&T however there is nothing in the settings or network help information explaining the nature of this or how one goes about fixing it as though someone thought it be kept secret.
d7v7d
10 Posts
0
December 15th, 2017 14:00
Ok am back up connecting to the Internet again and it appears this was not a Microsoft Account issue but rather the update somehow cleared the password that connects the XPS to my home network wifi AT&T Uverse router. Thus the first thing I tried to do was manually connect to that router and as I did so, it asked for the password as though it was no longer there. Normally I never need to do this and in fact the only times have been the 3 times when this issue occurred. As to why that password was cleared, suspect it may have to do with the fact I have yet bothered to implement much of the cloud based functionality of the 9550 like One-Note and that may be running into a bug if not so?