No internet

[#1]

I have 3 computers here; 1 desk top and 2 lap tops. All are set for the same browser and email (FF and Thunderbird) one of the laptops has quite suddenly following an unscheduled accidental shut-down and recovery lost its internet service. The wireless connection is being seen by the router, but I am unable to open any web or email. The other two computers are working normally.
In the Network window, the normal home Network Sharing Centre is reported as being "unknown network" (with what appears to be a park bench icon where the other two show a "house" icon) in the same window my own network is named and showing connected but is it seems not the one my router is using to connect this computer to the internet with, nor can I change it to the correct one.
Any ideas?
Inevitably, its not a very clear description, I'll be happy to clarify anything if I can.

[#2]

Further information:
In the Network/Network and Sharing Centre/Set Network Properties there is an option:"Merge or Delete Network Locations" in this window are two network services shown; my own network and another that I don't recognise at all. The unrecognised one is noted as "managed" my is "unmanaged"
Checking the working computers I note that in the same window there are also two showing an old router I used to use until replaced by the current one marked "not in use" and the current network/router marked "in use"
Neither of the two networks in the non-working computer shows "in use"
Since I have the option to do so, should I delete from the non-working computer the network I don't recognise? Is this likely to solve my problem or open another can of worms...

[#3]

Try this for size...
Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services. Then look to see if you have something called "Bonjour Service" running. If so, right click on it, select Properties and look at "Startup Type". Set it to Disabled.
If there's no mention of Bonjour, is there a string at the top reading ##Id_String1.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762## ? If so, this is the same thing (just the registry label). Right click and set to Disabled.
A reboot might be sensible.
Takes a lot to explain the problem but it is a service created by Apple that is commonly used in several applications to get your network card to configure itself automatically to work with certain services. It does not play well with windows services as a rule, and stopping the auto start gives the windows services time to start. You don't normally need it.

[#4]

Thanks nozzer, sadly no!
I went ahead and deleted the unrecognised (unwanted) network as noted in my second post. But it has made no difference.
The curious thing is, the router is seeing the PC wi-fi but the network remains "not in use" and defies all attempts to change it to "in-use" Since the OP I find the wi-fi printer doesn't respond either from that PC, but works normally from the others.

[#5]

When you say no, do you mean that you found one of the Bonjour Service entry-types and set it to disabled and it didn't work, or neither of the Bonjour entries was there?
Either way, also try this..
Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Manage Network Connections > Right click on the Wireless adapter icon and select Properties > Left click on IPv4 to highlight
Select Properties, then Advanced, and at the bottom if Automatic Metric is checked, uncheck and insert 1 in the box. OK out of all of it.  This will force Windows to look at that adapter first before any other. It might have got confused over which connection you had running when it crashed.

[#6]

Thanks again nozzer, I meant no, I had no entries for anything like Bonjour Service at all.
Been out all afternoon, will try your further suggestion later on.

[#7]

is it worth uninstalling the Network Adaptor drivers, rebooting and letting windows re-install them?

[#8]

I think you may have accidentally connected to somebody else's unsecured network that is not granting you internet access.  Your computer may have decided it will connect to this one in preference to your own.
Network & sharing Center > Manage Wireless Networks (on left) .  Click any network that is not your normal one to highlight it then click remove.

[#9]

Thank you ReedRichards, please see my post number 3. That may well of been the case in the beginning, but doesn't account for why this PC won't connect to the internet now even if the wi-fi connection seems Ok.
The other 2 computers are working normally for internet.
But I will try your approach Mav.. As Oldjim commented when the thread was moved to this forum it looks like a Windows problem.
Will let you know later.
Anybody know if its worth a try with direct ethernet cable connection to the router, or is it unlikely to make any difference? It can't stay that way as my desk top PC isn't wi-fi but may be worth the experiment?

[#10]

Did you try my second suggestion of changing the Automatic Metric setting yet?

[#11]

Quote from: Petlew

Thank you ReedRichards, please see my post number 3. That may well of been the case in the beginning, but doesn't account for why this PC won't connect to the internet now even if the wi-fi connection seems Ok.

Try deleting the settings for your own wireless network. You'll then be obliged to re-enter the wireless key to reconnect but this would remove any corruption that has crept in.
You don't have McAfee security software do you?
It would be helpful to know if a wired connection works or not.

[#12]

Gents, I have been very tied up with other matters (in and out of A&E with the better half) and haven't had the time to get to your suggestions yet, but I will be quite soon, probably tomorrow now.

[#13]

Just before I get around to trying out the suggestions given above. I have one more thought:
On the principle I suspect my problem is a simple, look skywards, bang heel of palm against forehead exclaiming "Doh! how did I miss that"...
For a while now the other two computers have been a bit slow to open websites from start-up; PlusNet and AVG being a couple of them, my FF browser opens with the Community page, but they always do open after a short wait. I have the FF progress bar that runs across the bottom of the web location bar, it pauses at "waiting for Plusnet" followed shortly by "transferring data"
Is it possible my browser in the "faulty computer" (and email, this affects MS IE as well) is simply timing-out, if so where do I "adjust" the time-out value?

[#14]

The Windows timeout time is adjusted by a registry alteration. I don't think you should go there to be honest. First try clearing all the browser caches on all the machines to see if it makes a difference, then try changing the Automatic metric setting and/or trying a wired connection as ReedRichards suggests on the laptop. If you are not actually getting error messages on the other two machines but they are just slow, I reckon it's either something else running and slowing them down or a general clogging up of the works. Do you defragment regularly?
Either way, I don't really see that the problem you have with the laptop is connected. The laptop is not seeing the network correctly.
Another thing to try is this. Go Start > Run > type cmd in the box and ok. You should get a command line dialog box appear.
Type route print into this and enter, and somewhere in the scribble that appears you should see something like..
IPv4 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
         0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0    192.168.1.254    192.168.1.103     25
It will probably be at the top of the IPv4 table. Let me know what the metric value is that you have (where the 25 is on mine).

[#15]

Thanks nozzer again.
Time-out is not the problem (it was a bit of a wild guess) the "page error" window comes up almost immediately the browser is opened which would not indicate a time-out.
Back to square one for a moment:
In the correctly working PC's in "Network Sharing Centre" it reads in "basic network information": my PC name - my router name - internet. In the "view your active networks" line below it reads:  my router name with "home network below it -  followed by (top to bottom) Access type; "Internet",  Home group; "ready to create", Connections; the full connection icon, wireless network connection "my router name"
In the faulty PC the same "Network Sharing Centre" shows in basic: my PC name - Unidentified network - the internet icon is greyed out, with below "no internet connection"  everything following is as above.
I can find no way to alter the Unidentified network back to my network. All obvious methods make no change.