How to Fix a PC That Won’t Connect to the Internet

“It was working fine yesterday… but for some reason, I can’t connect to the internet today.”
If you work in IT support, you’ve likely heard this line more times than you can count.
Sudden, unexplained network issues are a common headache.
This article shares a real-life case in which a laptop suddenly couldn’t connect via Wi-Fi or wired LAN—along with the specific recovery steps that worked in the end.

The Symptom: No Network Connection at All

One day, a laptop used in our office began exhibiting the following symptoms:

• Unable to connect via Wi-Fi or wired LAN
• No improvement after swapping LAN cables, docking stations, or USB-LAN adapters
• Other PCs on the same network worked fine

In short, this particular PC was completely unable to connect to any network.

Initial Troubleshooting Attempts

We started with standard network troubleshooting:

1. Uninstalled network adapters (Wi-Fi and Ethernet) from Device Manager → Rebooted
2. Reset network settings via:
   Settings → Network & Internet → Network Reset
3. Tried renewing IP configuration via command prompt:

C:\> ipconfig /release 

C:\> ipconfig /renew 

None of the above worked. Running the built-in Windows network troubleshooter only resulted in the message:
“Ethernet doesn’t have a valid IP configuration.”

What Solved It: Full Network Stack Reset

What finally fixed the issue was resetting the entire Windows network stack using the following commands.

Run as Administrator in Command Prompt:

C:\> netsh winsock reset

C:\> netsh int ip reset 

After restarting the PC, both Wi-Fi and wired LAN connections were fully restored—
as if nothing had ever gone wrong.

Why These Commands Worked

These two commands are often seen as a last-resort fix for stubborn Windows networking issues.

Additional Notes: The Affected Environment

The issue occurred on the following device:
Device: Surface Laptop 6
Operating System: Windows 10

With Surface devices running Windows 10, the following issues are commonly reported:

• Network settings become corrupted after Windows Updates
• LAN ports on USB-C docks become temporarily disabled
• Winsock settings are altered or broken by VPN clients or security software
  This makes resetting the network configuration especially effective on Surface environments.

Prevention Tips and Quick Fixes

Create a Batch File for Quick Recovery

@echo off
netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
pause

Save this as a .bat file to keep a quick-fix tool on hand in case the issue returns.

Other Cases Where This Helps

• When multiple adapters (including USB-LAN) show similar symptoms
• When the IP address shows as 169.254.x.x (APIPA/auto-configured)
• When DHCP fails to assign an IP and “no valid IP configuration” errors appear

Conclusion

Even when a network problem seems like a dead end,
returning to the basics and resetting the entire network configuration can often bring a system back to life.

If you’re facing similar symptoms, we recommend trying the steps described here.