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In all my years of owning a computer and browsing the internet, this has been the most persistent, confusing, and unbelievably frustrating problem I have ever encountered. I have never experienced anything like this, and I have never had such profound difficulty diagnosing a computer problem before.
Roughly four months ago, I reinstalled Windows 10 on my trusty home built desktop computer Iβve used as my primary for the last six years. The reasons why I reinstalled are not related, but Iβm mentioning this because itβs precisely the moment my problem began. From the get go, I immediately noticed web pages on Google Chrome taking an agonizingly long time to load. Sites and search results get hung up attempting to load, suspended on a white screen indefinitely or until they eventually display a βERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUTβ message. On occasion the page does load, but without graphics, pictures, or formatting, just plain text.
The strange thing is, this only happens sporadically. Sometimes web pages load problem free as usual and I can browse the internet without issue. This never lasts long, though, as things always slow back down without warning, grinding everything I was doing to complete halt for anywhere from minutes to hours until everything return back to normal. I say without exaggeration that this has happened every day I have used my computer for the last four plus months. I canβt effectively explain how frustrating it is to sit staring at a white, endlessly loading web browser for hours when you have seemingly ruled out every potential problem.
In the beginning, I immediately assumed it was a driver issue. I reinstalled and updated my wireless internet adapter and motherboard LAN driver. Then I tried another web browser, instead of Chrome. Firefox had the exact same issue, Explorer was even slower (no surprise there). Since the problem arose I have also moved to a new apartment with friends, which means a new ISP (Spectrum to AT&T), and modem/router. I can say with confidence, nothing improved.
Since moving, I purchased a brand new, well-rated CAT6 cable from Amazon to try plugging directly into the router, as my desktopβs internal wireless internet adapter seemed to be one of the only factors left βuntestedβ. This changed nothing. After additional research, I also checked and ruled out any firewall settings or security software as the culprit, pinged my internet adapters, modem, etc, and even reactivated a VPN service I used in the past to try tunneling through different networks. This was a shot in the dark that has not resolved the issue, but I have noticed that turning the VPN on and switching between βtunnelsβ will usually, for only a moment or so, cause a stuck web page to suddenly load. Then the problem returns. Additionally, switching between WiFi and Ethernet connections on my PC will occasionally have the same effectβmomentarily unfreezing loading pages until everything bogs down again. Nonetheless, this is by no means a solution.
Every time I attempt to search for similar problems or potential solutions, I come up empty handed or with solutions Iβve already ruled out. I have zero explanation for where this problem came from or why it would arise immediately after a clean Windows installation. I used the same Windows copy over the last five years, periodically reinstalling from scratch mainly to clean up files, and Iβve never had a problem even remotely similar to this one. There has to be an explanation and solution I have no found or overlooked, so if thereβs anyone who could help me regain functional use of my computer, please consider offering your wisdom and I would be forever grateful.
Roughly four months ago, I reinstalled Windows 10 on my trusty home built desktop computer Iβve used as my primary for the last six years. The reasons why I reinstalled are not related, but Iβm mentioning this because itβs precisely the moment my problem began. From the get go, I immediately noticed web pages on Google Chrome taking an agonizingly long time to load. Sites and search results get hung up attempting to load, suspended on a white screen indefinitely or until they eventually display a βERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUTβ message. On occasion the page does load, but without graphics, pictures, or formatting, just plain text.
The strange thing is, this only happens sporadically. Sometimes web pages load problem free as usual and I can browse the internet without issue. This never lasts long, though, as things always slow back down without warning, grinding everything I was doing to complete halt for anywhere from minutes to hours until everything return back to normal. I say without exaggeration that this has happened every day I have used my computer for the last four plus months. I canβt effectively explain how frustrating it is to sit staring at a white, endlessly loading web browser for hours when you have seemingly ruled out every potential problem.
In the beginning, I immediately assumed it was a driver issue. I reinstalled and updated my wireless internet adapter and motherboard LAN driver. Then I tried another web browser, instead of Chrome. Firefox had the exact same issue, Explorer was even slower (no surprise there). Since the problem arose I have also moved to a new apartment with friends, which means a new ISP (Spectrum to AT&T), and modem/router. I can say with confidence, nothing improved.
Since moving, I purchased a brand new, well-rated CAT6 cable from Amazon to try plugging directly into the router, as my desktopβs internal wireless internet adapter seemed to be one of the only factors left βuntestedβ. This changed nothing. After additional research, I also checked and ruled out any firewall settings or security software as the culprit, pinged my internet adapters, modem, etc, and even reactivated a VPN service I used in the past to try tunneling through different networks. This was a shot in the dark that has not resolved the issue, but I have noticed that turning the VPN on and switching between βtunnelsβ will usually, for only a moment or so, cause a stuck web page to suddenly load. Then the problem returns. Additionally, switching between WiFi and Ethernet connections on my PC will occasionally have the same effectβmomentarily unfreezing loading pages until everything bogs down again. Nonetheless, this is by no means a solution.
Every time I attempt to search for similar problems or potential solutions, I come up empty handed or with solutions Iβve already ruled out. I have zero explanation for where this problem came from or why it would arise immediately after a clean Windows installation. I used the same Windows copy over the last five years, periodically reinstalling from scratch mainly to clean up files, and Iβve never had a problem even remotely similar to this one. There has to be an explanation and solution I have no found or overlooked, so if thereβs anyone who could help me regain functional use of my computer, please consider offering your wisdom and I would be forever grateful.
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