Can't connect to ANY websites, Can ping just fine, strangest problem I've ever seen!

[Sky-Knight]

Killer has a built in firewall, that's why the Alienware fix is to kill that streaming feature, because it turns it off.

There's a software firewall / AV product on the platform that's causing this.

 

[drnick5]

Killer has a built in firewall, that's why the Alienware fix is to kill that streaming feature, because it turns it off.

There's a software firewall / AV product on the platform that's causing this.

I appreciate the suggestion, but there isn't any software. This is a Lenovo All in one computer, it doesn't have a killer network adapter. It has no firewall software installed. I even turned off the windows firewall.

I've loaded a fresh install of win 10, on a brand new SSD. So there isn't any extra software loaded. I even tried using a version of win 10 LTSC I have, just for testing (which is the Win 10 version for enterprise thats free of all bloatware) and THAT has the same problem.

So its something with this computer, and Windows, but I have no idea what. And this worked on Win 10 before at some point.

I just installed Windows 8.1, Same problem!
So I've now tried windows 8.1, windows 10 build 1909, 1903 and Windows 10 LTSC 1809. All of which can't connect to webpages.... except Msn.com inside of internet explorer.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@drnick5, I mentioned Killer specifically here, because the firewall is actually built into the NIC driver itself, and it's VERY EASY to miss that it's there.

I don't think that's the case here, because a USB NIC would have bypassed it.

My next suggestions would be to example the TCP/IP stack common SSL faults... system clock set correctly? Have you run a memory diagnostic? Have you pulled the drive and used something like DBAN on it? That may be required to remove some forms of malware that can actually persist beyond a nuke and pave.

But I'll admit, I'm grasping at straws on this too.

*Edit* I just looked up that unit and it's equipped with an RTL8111G LAN adapter, that's a SOFTWARE adapter... so if you have a flaky memory stick... it will react very poorly. All USB interfaces fall into this category as well. So I'd be checking that RAM! If the unit has an SSD in it, it can ALSO cause this behavior for the same reasons.

 

[drnick5]

@drnick5, I mentioned Killer specifically here, because the firewall is actually built into the NIC driver itself, and it's VERY EASY to miss that it's there.

I don't think that's the case here, because a USB NIC would have bypassed it.

My next suggestions would be to example the TCP/IP stack common SSL faults... system clock set correctly? Have you run a memory diagnostic? Have you pulled the drive and used something like DBAN on it? That may be required to remove some forms of malware that can actually persist beyond a nuke and pave.

But I'll admit, I'm grasping at straws on this too.

*Edit* I just looked up that unit and it's equipped with an RTL8111G LAN adapter, that's a SOFTWARE adapter... so if you have a flaky memory stick... it will react very poorly. All USB interfaces fall into this category as well. So I'd be checking that RAM! If the unit has an SSD in it, it can ALSO cause this behavior for the same reasons.

No worries man, I appreciate the suggestion. I'm obliviously grasping at straws here as well! I've never seen ANYTHING like this in all my years.
It has a brand new SSD installed (it originally came in with a HDD, but I replaced it and put in a new SSD, with new windows 10 install, no clone or data transfer or anything)

I'll check the ram just for the hell of it, but you'd think bad ram might have other issues like blue screens or what not. Although I've seen plenty of strange issues caused by bad ram, so its worth a shot!

 

[drnick5]

Just finished a RAM test, its run 2 passes so far, and no errors. I'm letting it run a few more just to be sure.... but it doesn't seem to be RAM related.

 

[timeshifter]

Random thought: turn off TCP/IP 6 on all network adapters.

 

[drnick5]

Random thought: turn off TCP/IP 6 on all network adapters.

I didn't mention this, but turning off IPv6 was one of the first things I tried

 

[Tech Savvy]

Does your edge device do any ssl inspections/virus scanning, application control... etc

I’m on board with using wireshark to see what’s happening to the packets.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[drnick5]

Does your edge device do any ssl inspections/virus scanning, application control... etc

I’m on board with using wireshark to see what’s happening to the packets.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I connected to a neighbors open network as a test, to take my network entirely out of the loop, no luck.
Also tried using my Mobile hotspot, to take my ISP out of the loop, same problem.

What I've been able to narrow it down to, is its definitely a problem with SSL. since most every site is https these days, it effects nearly all sites.

I've tested with www.neverssl.com which is a site I know doesn't use SSL, and that connects fine.

But I still can't figure out why SSL won't work on this computer with various versions of windows, but appears to work in Linux just fine.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Just here to remind you that brand new SSD doesn't mean known good... indeed if the SSD is bad, now is the time for it to reveal itself.

Got another disk to slap in there for another fresh install to test?

But yeah... bad SSD or bad RAM usually means random weird... not consistent weird.

 

[drnick5]

Just here to remind you that brand new SSD doesn't mean known good... indeed if the SSD is bad, now is the time for it to reveal itself.

Got another disk to slap in there for another fresh install to test?

But yeah... bad SSD or bad RAM usually means random weird... not consistent weird.

I mean, you're not wrong, but it came in with this problem on a normal HDD. I removed it and put in a new SSD. which has the same issue, it doesn't seem like a hard drive problem, as I'd likely notice other stuff drive related. It boots and shutdown fast, and has no problems opening up programs, or doing anything else I tell it.

 

[Computer Bloke]

Guessing and hundreds of person-years of experience can only get you so far, and it looks as if the only thing left to do is to analyze the network traffic and see what's really happening.

If you're not already familiar with Wireshark then this is your chance to learn something life-changing. It'll hurt, but it's fun.

 

[Markverhyden]

If it works on Linux doesn't absolutely mean it's 100% software. Over the years I've had a handful of machines that simply would not run any Windoze. Period. Linux ran all day long with no error. Including, what was in the day a really nice Wintel laptop, Sony Vaio FX280. Have you tried a USB NIC?

 

[Sky-Knight]

I despise realtek NICs... my money is on the driver being mismatched because that Lenovo needs the IBM tweaked one instead of the generic one that Windows stuffs in.

With RAM checking out... and two drives in the mix... it's either some oddly specific malware buried in the firmware somewhere... or a defective TCP/IP stack due to a bad driver in that category. And said bad driver, has to be coming from Microsoft via Windows Update.

 

[drnick5]

More updates.
Was able to get webpages to work in edge by turning off tls 1.2 and 1.1
I was then able to hit google, install chrome, etc. But after chrome is installed, it won't access pages (obviously)
turning tls 1.2 and 1.1 back on, chrome still can't connect to anything.

I'm using driver booster (which i normally hate these programs) to install all latest drivers. Driver booster wouldn't connect to download drivers previously, but with tls 1.2 turned off, (and 1.1 and 1.0 enabled) it now connects to download drivers.

 

[drnick5]

If it works on Linux doesn't absolutely mean it's 100% software. Over the years I've had a handful of machines that simply would not run any Windoze. Period. Linux ran all day long with no error. Including, what was in the day a really nice Wintel laptop, Sony Vaio FX280. Have you tried a USB NIC?

I've tried 4 different networks cards. internal wired (intel) and wireless (Qualcom) as well as USB NIC and a USB wireless nic (both TPlink)

 

[drnick5]

I despise realtek NICs... my money is on the driver being mismatched because that Lenovo needs the IBM tweaked one instead of the generic one that Windows stuffs in.

With RAM checking out... and two drives in the mix... it's either some oddly specific malware buried in the firmware somewhere... or a defective TCP/IP stack due to a bad driver in that category. And said bad driver, has to be coming from Microsoft via Windows Update.

I hear ya on realtek, but in this case...I've bypassed that with an external USB nic, as well as a usb wireless. same problem exists.

 

[Computer Bloke]

Well, at least you're not alone. This looks identical to your problem:

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...ng-after-upgrade-to-windows-10.2383877/page-2

In this case installing an Intel NIC "fixed" the initial poster's problem, but there are other solutions bounced around in the same thread that might help.

 

[Porthos]

I'm using driver booster (which i normally hate these programs) to install all latest drivers

If I was to use driver update software, It would only be snappy driver origin. Do not need internet to use it if you keep it updated on a flash drive.

 

[drnick5]

To update more, the error chrome is giving is "Status_Breakpoint" when I try to load a page.

At this point it definitely seems to be a ssl/tls issue, but no idea what could be causing it. all drivers are now updated as late as I can get them.