This is by no means a comprehensive guide and it may not fix your problem, but I'll try to go through most of the steps that can be easily done to correct the problem. If it doesn't work for you then please make a topic in the appropriate Tech Forum or PM me directly. I'll be adding more to this as I go along, so please continue to check back as I update it.
Foreword Before you start to read this, there are two simple rules that you should follow before beginning to further look into your problem.
1) Restart your computer 2) Restart your router and modem
A lot of times this can fix the problem you have whether it's due to a process or kernel extension in the operating system that has crashed or hung, or whether your router has crashed or lost the modem connection. This can save you a great deal of time and effort, so please try these before delving into something more complicating or arduous.
Questions (click the links)
1) Help, some (or all) websites won't load! 2) My computer connects to the wireless network, but can't connect to the Internet 3) My computer can't connect to my wireless network 4) My computer can't connect to the Internet (wired network)
Further information / links
Router manufacturer download pages (for software/drivers and manuals) - D-Link (North America and UK) - Netgear (Worldwide and UK) - Linksys (Worldwide) - Belkin (USA and UK)
Other useful stuff - D-Link HOW-TO guides for setting up networks and connections
Thanks Marshmellowman
Why does it happen? This is a lot simpler to troubleshoot than wireless networks. The most likely cause for this problem is either a bad cable somewhere or your router malfunctioning. A wire could have frayed inside the cable causing connection problems, the cable may be too long to sustain the connection (depends on the network but usually no greater than 100m), the router may have a bad socket or equally your computer, or the router could have crashed unable to resolve packets and addresses.
How can I fix it? It depends on your problem, but of course you probably don't know what's causing it, so try the steps below to find and solve the problem.
1) Try using the same cable with a laptop or another computer (or even games console) that is known to work, and hasn't thrown up any problems yet. If it does work then the problem is most likely with your computer (see below for solution). If it doesn't work, then the problem is with the cable. Replace the cable with another one, perhaps temporarily from a games console or a less used computer until you can buy or acquire another one.
2) Check your router to make sure the lights are flashing on the socket, if they're not, restart the router. If the problem persists move plug the cable that runs to your computer into another socket on the router. If the lights flash now, check your computer. The socket may have been bad and not working. If it works then you have a bad socket. This is usually irreplaceable, and instead would require a new router, but if you don't desperately need another socket, then you might as well leave it and not waste money.
3) Is the Internet actually working? Has it just gone out randomly? It could be an ISP issue, and then you'll have to wait for them to correct the problem. If you've restarted your computer and both the router and modem, to no avail, AND the Internet won't work on any computers in your house, then this is the most likely cause. Sadly you'll have to sit it out, or ring up your ISP and ask them to see if there is a problem and how long it will take to fix.
If you've tried the above steps, and it's just your computer that won't connect, and the cable works fine, then you probably need to set up the networking correctly on the computer.
Windows: Open up network connections from control panel or My Computer and find the connection that says something to the effect of "Local Area Connection". This should be the wired network. If Windows detects it and says its connected, then there may be an issue with your modem, if it displays an error like "Limited network connectivity" then you'll need to enter the settings. Right click the connection and select properties. Right click the icon in the list that says "TCP/IP" and make sure that the IP address, DNS and Gateway are all set to DHCP, this should be the default setting and should work for most people. If you're not sure check another computer in your house and copy the settings over, making sure to change the IP, because that cannot be the same for two computers on the same network. Press OK and save the settings. This should have fixed it, if not, check your browsers and make sure they're not trying to connect to a proxy or something else.
Mac OS X: Open up system preferences (/Applications/System Preferences.app) and click on the network icon. Click on Ethernet and make sure the configure option is set to "Using DHCP", or copy the settings from another computer in the house if that doesn't work. Click on Advanced and make sure there's nothing in there that could be causing trouble, by setting all the options to automatic if they're not already and removing a proxy if one is entered (unless you know you specifically need to use one). Apply the settings and check in Safari if it's working. Firefox uses independent proxy settings so it may not work there if something is wrong.
Linux: This is slightly more complicated, as it can vary with distributions and the Windowing system in use. PM me, or make a new topic in the forum for specific advice/help.
Why does it happen? This is usually a fairly simple problem. Usually you cannot connect because the wireless key needed hasn't been entered, however in other circumstances you might run into problems if your wireless card doesn't like the router (such as Xbox adapters are known to throw problems with Apple devices). The latter usually can only be fixed by buying devices that have the same manufacturers, as incomplete or non-finalised specifications (such as draft-N and pre-N), or lowering the speed of the router (essentially limiting it to 802.11g speeds).
How can I fix it? Firstly understand how your OS connects to your wireless network. In Windows you can click on Start -> Network Connections to find the available network cards, and double click on the "wireless connection". This should start you off and Windows will give you prompts in searching for networks and what else you need to do. In Mac OS X, as long as you have an Airport card, there should be an Airport Logo in the menu bar. Click on that and make sure it is turned on. OS X will search for a network and when you've found the one you wish to connect to select it from the list. If it is password protected a popup should appear prompting you for the network password. Enter it and press OK. For most purposes, this should be fine. If you need to setup static IPs or a proxy, this can be accomplished in the Network tab of System Preferences.
Make sure that when your OS asks for your password that you enter it correctly (the case of the text matters, a lot) and that you have the required number of characters. Not all encryption methods use passwords of the same length (eg, WEP and WPA differ) so check with the settings page on your router that you have typed it in exactly. Some older devices might not like typing in the text, and would prefer the full hexadecimal characters. To convert from the text ASCII to Hex, you can use this online tool. The person (such as your parents) that set the password may have changed it recently, so check with them too.
If your router employs MAC filtering, that is filtering of the computers that can connect based upon their hardware (MAC - not as in Macintosh) address, make sure that the address of the computer is added to your router's page, or alternatively it's not on a banned list if your router permits that. Check here on how to find your MAC address. After a save and restart it should be able to connect.
It still doesn't work! Still can't figure out why it's not working, let us know by creating a topic in the forum so we can try to help you out.
Why does it happen? If your computer is connected to the wireless network, then the problem probably lies with the modem / internet connection. Either a connection cannot be established to your ISP, which may be a hardware fault, or more commonly your ISP has problems and you'll have to wait for them to fix it (always try ringing them on the phone to rule out a hardware fault on your end). If it's the former, your settings might be incorrect on the modem (such as if you've bought a new modem or replaced an old one), or even on your computer.
How can I fix it? In any case, try checking out any other computer in your household and seeing if they work. If they can connect without a hitch, it means that the problem lies with your computer. This can save you time with fiddling with the router settings.
As long as your computer is fully connected to the wireless, ie) there are no 'limited connectivity' notices, then it's usually just a matter of making sure your router and modem are fully connected if they're separate entities, and making sure that the settings panel in your modem is correctly configured. Follow the guides that came with them and your ISP's settings letter to make sure they are correct. if you can't find these you can download them (using a friend's Internet connection or in school or a public library). In all cases check that they are correct (by accessing the settings page from the Internet configuration - more details can be found in your router's/modem's manual) as an accidental hardware reset may have occurred that would have wiped the settings.
If the settings are correct, or if you've never changed them since the Internet connection started to not function, then the problem may lie with your computer. Check your connection settings as in the bottom of this post. If that fails to fix the problem, try restarting your router, it may simply have crashed, and disconnecting from your wireless connection on your computer, and once the router is up, reconnect. If your computer is assigned a static IP, make sure that no-one else is already using it perhaps by accident (follow the instructions at the previous link).
It still doesn't work! If you've tried everything and you still can't connect to the Internet, then feel free to make a topic in the Tech forums detailing your problem (and that you've tried these tips).
Why does it happen? This is a very frequently seen problem, and the cause is usually one main thing: DNS errors. The Domain Name Server is a big computer server that your router or computer contacts to find out the actual IP address of the computer that the website is hosted on (so that, for example, as an analogy they know that www.golivewire.com is at 19 Piccadilly Circus, and not at some other address.)
When your computer contacts the DNS that has been set to a default address (usually your Internet Service Provider) it downloads the list to find the address of the website. Sometimes this can get corrupted, downloads incorrectly, or it cannot contact the DNS. This means that your computer cannot connect to the website because it doesn't know the address to contact it at. Some websites might still load because they are in the DNS cache of your computer when they were correctly download. Other addresses weren't accessed before so it wasn't saved. If nothing loads then the computer may not have had a chance to cache the DNS or the DNS didn't respond so it can't find anything.
How can I fix it? This is relatively easy to solve. The simplest solution (and the one I recommend the most) is to change your DNS servers to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. This can be done either in your OS (link) or in your router (link). This sets it to the OpenDNS which is very robust and nearly never has any problems like this. The main difference between the two ways of doing it is that changing the server on your computer only affects your computer, and changing your router affects all users on your network (like all family members that use the Internet.) How to do this varies with OS and router so please see the links above for a detailed guide.
The second way is to flush your DNS cache. This will work if the DNS list that was downloaded was corrupt, but won't be of use if your computer cannot connect to the DNS (in that case try the above method.) To do this, see the steps below.
Windows Click on Start, Run, enter "cmd" into the box and press enter. When Command Prompt comes up type "ipconfig /flushdns" onto one line and then press enter, so you should see something similar like below:
Windows IP Configuration
Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.
Linux You need to restart the nscd daemon as this manages the DNS cache. To do this open up your Terminal client and type "/etc/init.d/nscd restart", then press enter.
It still doesn't work! See the question(s) below which discuss the Internet connection problems related to hardware and router problems as this is not due to a DNS error.
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