Why Can I Ping but Not Browse? Diagnose and Fix IP Conflicts, DHCP Issues, and Network Equipment Problems

Cause 1: IP Conflict

When two devices share the same IP address, the network becomes unstable: ping may work intermittently, but some devices cannot access the internet.

Solution: release the current IP and obtain a new one using Windows command line.

Run ipconfig /release to free the address, then ipconfig /renew to request a new one.

Cause 2: No Fixed IP (DHCP)

Most networks use DHCP to assign IPs automatically. Without a fixed address, it is difficult to pinpoint which device is causing problems, especially in larger surveillance or office deployments.

Cause 3: Network Equipment Issues

Switches overloaded with too many devices cannot process all traffic.

Incompatible or low‑end switches lack sufficient backplane bandwidth and forwarding capacity.

Aged or low‑performance network hardware degrades overall stability.

Binding an IP Address to a MAC Address

To prevent IP hijacking, bind a specific IP to a device’s MAC address using the ARP table.

First, view the current IP and MAC with ipconfig /all.

Bind the IP to the MAC: arp -s 10.168.1.143 36-F3-9A-2B-9E-13 Verify the binding with: arp -a After binding, the gateway address 10.168.1.143 is permanently associated with the specified MAC, preventing other devices from causing the "cannot access internet" fault and improving LAN stability.