Solved SP3 killing the internet at home

[pi4er]

Been owner of SP3 for a month. No problem until today, used SP3 on many networks.
No software changes done by me (OK, support guy put company email), possibly automatic updates.

Today each effort to connect SP3 to internet completely blocks the internet in the house. Each other device on the network (both on 2.4GHZ and on 5GhZ) loses internet (connection to websites) in the moment Surface tries to connect. Tried switching from 2.4 to 5 with same results. Curiously, Viber and Skype continue working everywhere, on all devices (say 10 devices, computers, phones and tablets - Windows, Apple, Android). Even video-call works fine.
All devices can see the router and the potential internet, but say "DNS error" and "limited connectivity". The ISP help desk measures the internet speed as normal at all this time.

Getting the internet back is a tedious half-hour process involving turning OFF the router, the modem dozen times and even resetting the connection at ISP level calling their helpdesk on three occassions. Naturally the SP3 is kept away. Once the party is back on we try again SP3 to connect to internet - and start again.
Past midnight we gave up on the SP3.

There is definite software issue. Internet works fine with no Surface trying to connect.

Please check it out.
The ISP is known to use proxies.
I have not touched the factory settings and the SP3 was bought in the country where the ISP is.

 

[revmike]

Sounds like your support person who installed company email did something wrong, so blame him, not the sp3.

 

[sharpuser]

Two things immediately come to mind that can have this effect:

1) A computer name is duplicated on your network. Make sure all computer names are unique. One duplicate kills your LAN for all.

2) A computer IP address is duplicated on your network. Make sure all computers have unique IP addresses. Also, if a proxy is dedicated to one computer (such as your SP3 exclusively accessing or cloning a gateway address, which was previously being shared by the other computers, this duplicate IP address condition will ensue. One duplicate kills your LAN for all.

Some ports can still work - on only one computer at a time. That may be why Skype is still okay.

Let us know...

 

[pi4er]

Thanks a lot. Before I play around checking names:
There are plenty of devices on the network (more than 10) with different names, so even if SP3 has duplicate name (I have not checked it yet), it'll "kill" internet for one device I'd think? Today SP3 "had time off" (perfect internet) so I have not looked at it yet, but I doubt it. Usually the names are "device XYZ" and we have no other Surface.
Re: IP. What setting would cause such repetition? If I know, I'll check it. I thought it might be something like this but don't know what/where to check in the settings.
Skype continues working on all devices, incl. SP3, simultanuously. And we could call each other or keep several video-calls at a time with outside parties.
I do not understand proxies, but the country I live in has official system of monitoring the internet activity via them I guess; nothing specific to our network.
SP3 traveled extensively over the last two weeks (after email installation) , used tens of WiFi networks with no problems. Problem appeared on return home. Is it possible that outside WiFi network somehow imposed settings that cannot get "changed back" by the home home network and they clash?

 

[sharpuser]

You might try removing the Adapter driver and allowing it to be re-installed by Windows. That may repair a setting causing the problem.

 

[pi4er]

You might try removing the Adapter driver and allowing it to be re-installed by Windows. That may repair a setting causing the problem.

Thanks, but I could not figure out how. The software is definitely not as intuitive as the usual Windows.
"DNS server not responding".
In the meanwhile I "forgot" the network several times and reconnected with no other devices on it (so no name conflict). Disabled temporarily the security settings. Disabled the intra-net VPN, which was turned on automaticly when you answer "yes" to network printing. Flushed DNS through the command prompt. None of these worked, so removing/reinstalling the adapter is most likely best, if I know how.

And yes, the SP3 works fine on other networks; all other devices work fine on this network and when we have the problem, it does not affect Skype/ Viber.

 

[malberttoo]

Thanks, but I could not figure out how. The software is definitely not as intuitive as the usual Windows.
"DNS server not responding".
In the meanwhile I "forgot" the network several times and reconnected with no other devices on it (so no name conflict). Disabled temporarily the security settings. Disabled the intra-net VPN, which was turned on automaticly when you answer "yes" to network printing. Flushed DNS through the command prompt. None of these worked, so removing/reinstalling the adapter is most likely best, if I know how.

And yes, the SP3 works fine on other networks; all other devices work fine on this network and when we have the problem, it does not affect Skype/ Viber.

Just throwing this out there, since you said you don't think you're having the issue anywhere else- have you checked to see if there is a firmware update available for your router?

 

[pi4er]

Thanks. I've done firmware update of a (different) router only once before, in a similar set up. I thought it'd be the next step, but it's at the upper limit of my home-technician abilities, just like the SP3 driver re-installation.
So possible solutions: reinstall SP3 driver and update router firmware. I'll try both this week.

 

[adrians]

This pretty clearly looks to be a proxy configuration problem and, specifically, it's a browser proxy configuration problem. In order to reach your company email, I'm guessing your support guy changed the proxy settings on your SP3's browsers so you could access your company email. He might actually have installed some kind of proxy app that runs on your Surface which works of for that since it was configured to authenticate properly with this proxy. The problem is, I'm assuming, that other systems running browsers on that network pick up the fact that there is a proxy and attempt to use the Internet through that, but they don't properly authenticate and so outbound connections fail. You can take a look at one of these other browsers and under the respective options, set the connection type for these browsers to go directly out and ignore any proxy.

 

[pi4er]

Thanks. Problem solved!

After the support guy at work reinstalled SP3 driver and made sure all settings there were as per your advice, SP3 still killed the home internet.
So I did update the TP-Link router software (version September 2014) and all works fine now!

 

[GreyFox7]

WiFi is a Tango between your Device and the Router and your neighbors Routers. Many of the problems are not your device but nobody ever thinks of the Router or assumes it's not at fault.

 

[sharpuser]

Great news. Marking as solved.