How do I fix the "we can't reach this page" error or "err_connection_timed_out" on my browsers ?

Question

I am currently experiencing an error everytime I use my Microsoft Edge. Whenever I try to go to a site, I always end up with this error. The weird thing is, this issue only happens on certain websites (such as Facebook and Yahoo currently) and sometimes with Google. It likes to disconnect me often and I really dont want to have to deal with this issue anymore.

My internet works fine as my laptop (which Im currently on) and phone can connect to it without issue. I dont know why it doesnt work on my desktop especially since its internet is Ethernet.

I tested this on other browsers to see if it was only on Edge but it turns out that chrome and firefox experience the same issue with different sites as well. For all three, I havent been able to go on Facebook and Yahoo, and sometimes Google.

I know the problem is from my end because clearly, the sites are up. Is there any way to solve this or has anyone else found a solution to this?

Im running Windows 10.

Ive tried the following:

• ipconfig / flush
• ipconfig / reset
• ipconfig / release
• ipconfig / renew
• clearing caches and browsing history
• a full scan for malware using malwarebytes and windows defender, already removed/quarantined all threats, did this multiple times to ensure there were none left
• reinstallation of chrome and firefox and a reset of edge
• ipv4 - changing preferred and alternate dns address to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4 respectively
• checked to see if a proxy was up, no proxy

If I were to do a factory reset, would this solve the issue?

Answer 1

To narrow it down a bit, can you confirm that you only get this when navigating to the sites listed and they are using SSL / HTTPS? Some will auto re-direct to HTTPS if you go to their non-SSL equivalent, but its worth trying this on sites like Google which do support both.

If this does help narrow down the behaviour, then Ive seen this behaviour once before, but this was behind a corporate proxy which didnt support SSL SPDY.

You can try disabling SPDY support, but there is likely to be an underlying issue (perhaps anti-virus acting as a proxy?).

To test disabling SPDY:

Internet Explorer 11

In the browser, select Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > HTTP Settings and clear the Use SPDY/3 option.

Firefox

In the browser, enter about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Confirm the security warning. Type network.http.spdy.enabled in the Search field. For all the entries, set the Value to false.

Chrome

Use a switch to disable SPDY for Chrome. Edit the shortcut for Chrome and add the following switch at the end of the Target path:

--use-spdy=off

For example, if Chromes default shortcut link is pointing to "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe", change it to "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" –use-spdy=off.