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Help Wifi connected but no internet access

A

AL1630

Lurker
Hello! So I have a Galaxy S3 as a daily driver, but it won't work with the wifi at school. At home and everywhere else, it connects and accesses websites perfectly, but at school, it connects fine, but then every app/browser claims there's no connection. It was working perfectly until a couple weeks ago, when one day it worked, and the next morning it didn't. Nobody else seems to be having these issues, and the school doesn't make you sign in to use the wifi.

Stuff I've tried:
Reboot
Various 'Wifi Fixer' apps
Static IP & DHCP
Changing DNS to 8.8.8.8
Factory restore from settings menu

None of these seem to have worked. I'm running android 4.4.2, no custom roms, not rooted. It's strange that it stopped working over the course of less than 24 hours and only one one network.
 
Well you've certainly tried most of the things I would have suggested. One thing you might want to try is to wipe the system cache partition. (... and if you're wondering a Factory Reset only wipes the data partition clean, it has no effect on the operating system. The system cache partition resides on its own dedicated partition.) To do this, you need to boot your S3 up into its Recovery Mode. Note that while in Recovery it's a text-only interface so you need to use the indicated buttons to navigate through the various options. So select the 'wipe cache partition' option and then just reboot your phone normally.
http://www.hardreset.info/devices/samsung/samsung-l710-galaxy-s-iii/recovery-mode/
To be honest I don't think that's going to solve your particular problem. It's more of a long shot suggestion but it's a non-destructive task that 'might' help (none of your data or settings are affected, it's just a dumping-ground cache).

One thing you might want to elaborate on is your reference to 'Static IP & DHCP' -- setting a device up with a static IP address is a function that needs to done on a router/gateway. Doing so from a mobile device can only apply when it has already been implemented on the router/gateway. Are you in a position where you have direct access to the school's gateway/networking?
 
svim said:
One thing you might want to elaborate on is your reference to 'Static IP & DHCP' -- setting a device up with a static IP address is a function that needs to done on a router/gateway. Doing so from a mobile device can only apply when it has already been implemented on the router/gateway. Are you in a position where you have direct access to the school's gateway/networking?
Click to expand...

I went into the Wifi settings on the phone and changed the 'Advanced' settings from DHCP to Static IP, just to see what would happen. I don't have access to the networking equipment. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try wiping the cache.
 
AL1630 said:
I went into the Wifi settings on the phone and changed the 'Advanced' settings from DHCP to Static IP, just to see what would happen. I don't have access to the networking equipment. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try wiping the cache.
Click to expand...
OK, that isn't really setting your phone up with a fixed IP address as all it's doing is kinda, sorta telling your phone to use that IP address when you're trying to connect to that WiFi network. The issue being the school's router/gateway, the source that does assign, manage, and maintain all the IP addresses of all the workstations and devices that are connected to it, will eventually assign that IP address to a different device. This creates a conflict in the network. Way back this could temporarily mess up a LAN but these days the routers are much more robust and will just work around the two, with lots of error messages. Anyway, not a good idea to do this on a network you don't manage yourself. Your phone won't determine which IP address it uses, it just works with whatever is given to it by the network's router.
Anyway, if clearing your phone's system cache doesn't make any difference try this. Using your S3's browser, try going to:
216.58.211.142
That's just one of Google's IP addresses so it should take you to https://www.google.com
If that does work, that indicates some kind of oddness with the DNS on your phone. I know you already mentioned trying to use 8.8.8.8, one of Google's public DNS addresses, but from what you initially described, being able to connect but no browser or app is actually receiving online access, that does point to some kind of DNS issue.
 
All right, so I cleared the cache, and that didn't do anything, so I tried that IP address, which didn't load. What makes this strange is that in the middle of the day, the internet was working fine for about 5-10 minutes. After using for a few minutes, nothing would load again.
 
Hmmm, so what I should have asked is to try that IP address while you're at home where you know your WiFi is working, and then at school just to confirm a sort of A/B test. But that aside, just to clarify, with the different things you've already tried, do return any changes you've mode back to their defaults before moving on? Taking into consideration how convoluted this problem is, there's no telling if any change being made isn't being negated by a previous setting change unless things are set to their defaults -- i.e. if you were changing the DNS address presumably through the Advanced setting in KitKat you'd be required to so this in the 'static' option, again that itself being a problem unless you're managing the router/gateway directly.
 
I checked the IP and home and it works, as well as everything else. I also returned the settings to the default after they didn't do anything. This is super confusing, especially because it just abruptly stopped working.
 
So this is another long-shot but when you're back at school try enabling Airplane mode, which disables all networking (WiFi, cellular, Bluetooth, etc.). Delete (a.k.a. Forget) the school WiFi network entry, and then re-enable just Wi-Fi, re-enter the user name/password, and see if this makes any difference.

Also, do you have any kind of anti-virus/anti-malware app installed? If so, try digging into its settings/preferences menu and disable all its features, especially anything doing some kind of background monitoring. Or an equivalent is to boot up your S3 into its Safe Mode:
https://www.androidpit.com/forum/590970/samsung-galaxy-s3-how-to-get-into-safe-mode-on-the-galaxy-s3
While running in Safe Mode your phone is running just the Android operating system, without any third-party apps/services being auto-loaded into the background at start up. If WiFi connectivity is working OK while in Safe Mode that's an indicator some app you've installed is probably the source to your problem and then it's a matter of determining just which one. (..... also note that some apps take longer to launch and/or authenticate themselves as they're being started up from scratch while in Safe Mode)
 
I'll try airplane mode and safe mode on Monday. I don't have any anti malware apps installed. Thanks for the suggestions!
 
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