Diagnostics of the Internet to eliminate malfunctions

Diagnostics is carried out for all networks without exception. The Internet connection process is complicated, as it depends on the reliable operation of many internal PC devices, home network equipment and external elements of the network provider. Therefore, the cause of failures can be not one, but several sources.

User helpers in this case are utilities built into Win. For example, Ping helps identify problems with your home network and provider. The ping tool is used to constantly call the IP address and check connection problems.

Diagnostics of problem networks

Windows Network Diagnostics is needed to solve common network problems, such as troubleshooting DNS or proxies. And if the user does not find ways to solve the problem, you can use third-party tools. Tracert - useful in that it will scan the route and measure the transit delay of packets.

Procedure:

1. To start the diagnosis, click the "Start" button and enter the patch network in the search field. The user will find possible options.
2. Then they click the “Find” button and fix the network and connection problems.
3. After the troubleshooting window appears, click the "Advanced" button and run the program again as administrator.
4. The user can automatically perform repairs if he wants to solve the problem without interruption.
5. Select the type of connection that needs Internet diagnostics for subsequent troubleshooting, and click on.
6. Win will find and fix the network connection problem.

If the tool does not determine the cause of the failure, the user can contact the Microsoft online service or consult with the provider.

DNS server failure

People set up home networks to automatically obtain DNS server addresses from an Internet service provider. When the servers or the provider's network suffer from crashes or are heavily loaded with traffic, their DNS services may suddenly stop working. Customers are forced to wait until the provider fixes the problem.

There is an alternative to private DNS servers on the Internet — free public services such as Google and OpenDNS. This enables router administrators to switch the DNS settings of the home network from the private configuration to the public DNS by manually entering the public DNS IP addresses in the router configuration settings.

Administrators create such a connection temporarily only in emergency situations. At the same time, the DNS settings can also be applied on the Win device through the Network and Sharing Center. This also will not work on an ongoing basis, since devices receive and determine local settings using the parameters of the router via DHCP.

Network Connection Errors

There may not be an internet connection for several reasons. The most common failure is related to the domain name system (DNS) - the distributed name resolution service used by providers. PCs running on Win 7, 8.1, and 10 will report errors and detected problems in a window. For example, that the DNS server is not functioning, the PC is working correctly, but the resource server is not responding.

How to fix the problem, consider below.

On the Microsoft OS, they conduct network diagnostics. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the "Control Panel".
2. Select "Network and Sharing Center."
3. Click “Troubleshoot” in the “Change Network Settings” section.
4. Click on “Internet connection”. A new connection window will open.
5. Click "Next".
6. Click “Run Troubleshooter."
7. Click on “Troubleshooting Connection Issues”.
8. Wait for the troubleshooting tests to complete and view the Windows Network Diagnostics section “Problems Found in the Window” for error messages.

Wireless Security Setup

Most wireless broadband routers available today have wireless security features disabled. This makes it easy to set up a wireless network for novice users in homes or offices, but it also makes the network vulnerable to unauthorized guests.

Although the exact security procedures for different models of routers may vary, in general the process of accessing the appropriate parameters will be similar.

For example, if the IP address of the router is 192.168.1.1, then do the following:

1. You must open a web browser on a system connected to the network and enter 192.168.1.1 in the address field.
2. The user will be prompted to enter the necessary credentials to access the router configuration menu. If such data is unknown, contact your provider for help.
3. You must enable the necessary Wi-Fi protection to prevent unwanted guests from accessing the network. After entering the router, the user will see tabs or links on the control panel.
4. Go to the “Wireless” or “Wireless Security” tab.
5. An area appears in the screen in which the security mode is set, with the necessary parameters, such as WEP, WPA, WPA2 and others.
6. If there are relatively modern wireless devices that support the standard, we recommend that you enable WPA2 Personal in your home network, which offers more advanced encryption than other methods.
7. If devices do not support WPA2, try WPA or WEP. Then set the encryption type TKIP or AES, and then determine the wireless password or key and then perform diagnostics of the local network.
8. Create a password / key, enter letters, numbers and special characters.
9. Save the settings and reboot the router, at least the basic level of security.
10. Wi-Fi is now operational.

Open and advanced ports

Some applications require working network ports to be open and redirected to a PC to perform functions on the Internet, for example, for game servers. If the required ports do not open and requests for these ports are not redirected, incoming traffic through the firewall will not pass to them.

A quick guide to diagnosing network problems and port forwarding:

1. In this example, incoming UDP and TCP traffic on ports 8888 through 8889 will be redirected to the computer with IP address 192.168.1.115.
2. They connect the computer to the network, open a web browser and enter the IP address of the router 192.168.1.1 in the address field.
3. Log in with a name and password, then find the NAT (Network Address Translation), Firewall, or Port Forwarding menu.
4. Create a set of rules that tells the router which protocol to use UDP, TCP, or both, determine the port range for forwarding.
5. Specify which IP address the traffic on these ports will be sent to. For example, if the IP address 192.168.1.115 is found on the computer on which the application is running, put this line in the IP address field.
6. Save the settings to enable the rule, and then reboot the router to complete the task.

System Placement in DMZ

Sometimes port forwarding is not enough, you have to provide the system access to the Internet. In these cases, the machine is placed in a DMZ network or in a demilitarized zone. Entering into the DMZ means that all ports will be available, this situation is dangerous, therefore this operation is performed when absolutely necessary.

Putting the system in the DMZ provides access to all ports. Assume that the IP address of the router is 192.168.1.1 and that the user is connected to the network. In this case, the sequence of operations is as follows:

1. Open a web browser and enter 192.168.1.1 into the address field.
2. Enter the router and open the NAT (Network Address Translation), Firewall or DMZ menu, the parameters will be under the menu.
3. When the user is in the DMZ configuration menu, you need to enable the DMZ and specify the IP address that you want to place in the DMZ.
4. Enter the IP address, save the settings and reboot the router.

Network Driver Update

As a peripheral device on a Windows PC, the network controller requires drivers. These drivers tell the operating system how to use the device. Sometimes an update is needed to solve problems or add new features.

Network drivers are updated in one of three ways:

1. Through Windows Update Software.
2. By downloading and running the executable installer.
3. By manually selecting a driver through the device manager.

Whenever possible, use the first method of updating the driver through Windows Update, the method is simple and automatic. The manual method through the dispatcher is more complicated. If the user downloaded the driver for the network interface card from the manufacturer’s website and the file contains only some .inf or other unused files, then it is better to manually install using the Win device manager.

To do this, click the "Start" button and enter "Device Manager" in the search. Next, “Enter” to open the “Device Manifest”, find “Network Adapters” in the list of devices, click on the network controller and update the software driver in the menu.

In the new window that opens, click on "Browse PC" for the driver software button, then click on "Browse" and move to the folder with the new driver. Click "Next" - and the driver will install automatically.

Exceptions to the Windows Firewall

The built-in Win 7 firewall constantly asks for permission or deny the application access to the network. If the computer network diagnostics has determined that the application is blocked by mistake and needs to be unlocked, the user will have to manually change some settings on the Windows Firewall control panel. To obtain permission to access the program through the firewall in the "Permitted Applications" panel, do the following:

1. Click the "Start" button.
2. Enter “Allowed applications” in the search field and press “Enter”. In the window that appears, installed applications that are marked with a firewall will be indicated.
3. If the application that communicates through the firewall needs to be blocked, click the "Change Settings" button at the top of the screen. Then you need to scroll through the list of programs until the desired application appears, and disconnect it from access to the Internet through the "Social Networks" section.
4. If you need to unlock the program, find it in the list and select the appropriate field next to this entry.

Scan connected devices

When many connected devices appear in the house, you need to scan the network to find out which devices received IP addresses and the amount of resource consumption. The router has the ability to check the status of connected clients, you can also use a third-party application that will scan a range of IP addresses to search and obtain information about connected devices. For example, Angry IP Scanner scans the network and identifies the IP addresses used in a given range.

Free utilities are available on the Internet that will scan the network, but most often users use the Angry IP Scanner, download it to the PC and run the executable file. The program does not even require installation. Enter the IP range that you want to scan, click the "Start" button - and after a few minutes the user will have a list of active IP addresses, as well as information about what ping time is in the device, host name and open ports.

When you right-click on the active device, more detailed information will be displayed in the list. The program will also allow you to determine the IP address and connect via a web browser or FTP client.

Blocking antivirus programs

The anti-virus programs that people install on Windows PCs are designed to deter intruders, but they also make it possible to block Internet access if they detect a bad device.

Most antivirus programs run using special database files (dat), which software vendors regularly update automatically. PC users often do not understand when these updates are installed, because they run in the background and are designed to not interrupt the work.

Unfortunately, errors sometimes occur with these data updates, which cause the antivirus program to believe that the computer is infected by transmitting a false signal. These false positives cause Win to start blocking a DNS server that does not respond to errors.

To check if this is the reason for the failure of the device’s Internet connection, temporarily disable the antivirus program and run the Windows network diagnostic program. Then contact your antivirus provider for a new update or technical support.

Recommendations of specialists

A broadband router or modem initiates DNS error messages on home network devices. Restarting the router and modem will help fix the router’s problems, at least temporarily.

Routers and modems should be replaced if failures continue. Poorly configured routers and modems generate errors related to the underlying network connection.

If the user connects to the router through a wired Ethernet port, you can try moving the Ethernet cable to use a different port. In order to correctly fix a malfunction in the Internet connection, you must first isolate the problem from its root cause.

Common causes of these failures:

1. Invalid Internet Service Provider.
2. TCP / IP or DHCP service failure.
3. Too aggressive antivirus software.
4. Bad router or modem.

If the user is not sure that the problems with connecting to the Internet are really related to DNS, first try to use common troubleshooting methods:

1. Diagnostics of IP networks and DHCP. It is possible that the TCP / IP software inside the operating system of the client device is malfunctioning and set the DNS server addresses incorrectly.
2. Rebooting a Win computer often clears these temporary crashes. The right decision would be to run the TCP / IP utilities, which perform the standard procedure for issuing and updating Win IP settings and network diagnostics dns probe finished.
3. Similarly, most TCP / IP networks use the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service to assign IP addresses to clients. DHCP assigns not only the private IP address of the device, but also the address of the primary and secondary DNS server. If DHCP does not work properly, a reboot is required to restore the computer.
4. First you need to make sure that the devices and the network router have DHCP. If DHCP is not used at the end of the connection, Internet connection errors occur.

If you carefully perform network diagnostics in Windows and configure your PC, then when connected to a network, a yellow icon will never appear on the monitor screen.