Unable to Use the Internet — How to Find the Actual Problem

ℹ️ "I can't access the internet" can mean five completely different things — and the fix for each is different. Before you report a problem, this article walks you through a few quick checks that tell you (and IT) what's actually wrong. Most of the time you'll find the answer yourself in under two minutes.

💡 If you're reading this article online, your internet is working — so either the problem is with one specific website, or you're reading this from a different device. Either way, the checks below will help.

The Big Idea

When someone says "the internet is down," it usually turns out to be one of these, in order of how often we see it:

1. One website is down — everything else works fine. (Most common.)
2. Just your computer has a problem — everyone else is online.
3. The internet connection (WAN) is out — but the internal network is working fine.
4. The internal network (LAN) is down — nothing local works either.
5. A DNS problem — the connection works, but website names won't resolve.

The checks below are designed to tell these apart. Do them in order. Each one rules something out and points you to the next step.

✅ Check 1: Is It One Website, or All Websites?

This is the single most common cause, so always check it first.

Open a few different well-known websites in your browser:

• https://www.google.com
• https://www.cbc.ca (or any news site)
• https://www.microsoft.com

What it means:

💡 A website being down is their problem, not yours. Even huge sites go offline sometimes. If Google, a news site, and Microsoft all load but the one site you need won't, the issue is with that site.

✅ Check 2: Is It Just Your Computer, or Everyone?

This tells you whether the problem is local to you or affecting the whole property.

Ask a coworker, or check a second workstation: can they get online?

What it means:

💡 If everyone is affected, it's not something you did, and restarting your computer won't help. Move to Check 3 to figure out whether it's the internet (WAN) or the internal network (LAN), then report it so IT can get the right people on it.

✅ Check 3: Is the Internet (WAN) Down, or the Internal Network (LAN)?

This is the most useful check you can learn — it tells IT exactly where the problem is and often who needs to fix it.

Two quick definitions:

• WAN = the connection from the property out to the internet (provided by the internet company / ISP). When the WAN is out, you lose websites, email, and cloud systems — but the building's own network keeps working.
• LAN = the internal network inside the property (the wiring, switches, local servers). When the LAN is down, you lose everything, including local resources.

Test the internal network. Can you still:

• Print to a network printer?
• Open files on the shared drive / file server?
• Reach other internal systems that don't need the internet?

What it means:

💡 Why this matters: If you can still print and reach the file server but can't load websites, tell IT "internal network works, internet is out." That tells us it's almost certainly the internet provider — a completely different fix than if the whole network were down. It saves a lot of time.

⚠️ Note on cloud systems: Email (Microsoft 365), OPERA Cloud, and other cloud-based tools need the internet too. If those are down but your local printer and file server still work, that's a clear sign the WAN/internet is the problem — not the internal network.

✅ Check 4: Local Computer Checks (If It's Just Your Computer)

If Check 2 showed that only your computer is affected, work through these.

1. Check the network icon

Look at the bottom-right corner of your screen, near the clock. The network icon tells you a lot:

2. Check the network cable (wired workstations)

• Find the Ethernet cable at the back of the computer — it looks like a thick telephone cable.
• Push it firmly into its port until it clicks.
• Look for a small flashing light at the port where it plugs in. No light = no connection — try reseating the cable, or try a different cable if you have one.

3. Check your Wi-Fi (laptops / tablets)

• Make sure you're connected to the work network, not the guest network. Guest Wi-Fi blocks business systems on purpose.
• If you're connected but it's not working, disconnect and reconnect to the work network.

4. Restart the computer

If the cable and icon look fine, restart the workstation. This clears a surprising number of network glitches — the computer requests a fresh network address and starts clean.

🔧 Check 5: Advanced Tests (Optional — If You're Comfortable)

These help pin down the problem precisely. They're optional, but the results are gold for your support technician.

Test A: Website by name vs by address

1. Try to open https://www.google.com — does it load?
2. Now try https://8.8.8.8 directly. (It may show a security warning — that's fine, you're just testing if it connects at all.)

What it means: If the number address (8.8.8.8) works but the name (google.com) doesn't, your internet connection is actually fine — the problem is DNS, the system that translates website names into addresses. Tell IT "looks like a DNS issue."

Test B: Ping test

1. Press the Windows key, type CMD, and open Command Prompt (the black box).
2. Type ping 8.8.8.8 and press Enter.

What it means:

Test C: Check your network address

1. In the same Command Prompt, type ipconfig and press Enter.
2. Look for the IPv4 Address line.

What it means: If your address starts with 169.254., your computer failed to get a proper network address — this points to a cable, switch, or local network problem. Mention this to IT.

📋 Putting It Together — What to Tell IT

By the time you've done these checks, you can tell IT something far more useful than "the internet is down." For example:

• "Only one website won't load, everything else is fine." → Probably nothing to fix.
• "All websites are down on my computer, but my coworker is fine." → Your computer.
• "Everyone is down. We can still print and reach the file server, but no websites or email." → WAN / internet provider outage.
• "Everyone is down and nothing works, not even printing." → Internal network outage.
• "8.8.8.8 works but google.com doesn't." → DNS issue.

Each of these sends IT straight to the right fix instead of starting from scratch.

🆘 When to Submit a Ticket

Submit a ticket (or report it, if the whole property is down) when:

• All websites fail on your computer and a restart didn't fix it.
• The whole property has lost internet or network access.
• You've narrowed it down to a DNS or connection problem using the tests above.

When submitting, please include:

• Which of the checks above you did, and the results. This is the most valuable thing you can give us.
• Is it just you, or everyone?
• Do internal resources (printers, file server) still work?
• Your workstation's asset tag (5-digit number on a blue or copper Argus IT label).
• Which property you're at.

💡 If the whole property is down, you may not be able to reach the help desk online. Phone it in or have someone use a mobile device (on cellular data, not the property Wi-Fi) to report it.

Related Articles

• The Basics to Try When You Have a Problem (KB# 10001)
• How to Fill Out a Ticket (KB# 10002)

ArgusIT KB# 160001 | Original: February 7, 2019 (Vincent Kruggel) | Rebuilt: May 25, 2026

Tags: internet, network, no access, web page will not load, wan, lan, dns, ping, outage