Safari cannot access internet

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Umber Author

Level 1

16 points

Safari cannot access internet

How can I re-establish my internet connection?

I connect to wifi ok

I get error message Safari can’t connect to the server.

I’ve tried Avery thing. Cleared cache history etc removed malware. All to no avail.

help please!

Posted on Sep 16, 2022 12:45 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

John Galt

Level 10

141,210 points

Sep 20, 2022 9:24 AM in response to Umber

👍

If you use your Mac on a network that is yours to control and all the users of your network are people you trust (meaning, you trust them enough to give them your wireless network password), then the macOS application firewall is unnecessary and will only result in your own inconvenience. Read about it here: Block connections to your Mac with a firewall - Apple Support

Like all non-Apple "anti-virus" products, "Bitdefender" is entirely useless. Just get rid of it.

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Answer 2

Ronasara

Level 6

14,613 points

Sep 16, 2022 11:20 AM in response to Umber

Your description is unclear. You say you've tried everything. What things precisely? Are you saying that the Mac shows that you are connected to Wi-Fi but Safari is unable to make a connection to any internet sites? If so, I would do the following things to identify the problem.

Connect to the modem with an Ethernet cable to see if you can access the internet. If so, this proves that the modem is connected to the internet.
If no internet is connected, then turn the modem off and then turn it on to reset it.
Does that fix it? If not then you either have a failed modem or no working internet in which case you need to contact the internet provider.
If the reset fixed the Ethernet connection, check the Wi-Fi internet access again.
If that still doesn't' give you access to the internet, try restarting the computer in the Safe Mode. Hold down the Shift key on restart. This startup process can take up to ten minutes while the Mac is doing OS repairs and emptying its caches, so be patient. Then test again. If it works, restart and test again.

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Answer 3

Umber Author

Level 1

16 points

Sep 18, 2022 1:40 PM in response to Ronasara

Ronasara. Many thanks for your reply to my question.

My problem is as you first deduced .. My Mac is connected to wifi. However, Safari cannot connect to a search engine.

I have restarted the modem. All of my devices, apart from the Mac, which use the home network work ok. AirPrint is fine from the iPad. Our boiler for hot water and central heating uses the Hive app This works fine.

The problem of no access to a search engine started after I inadvertently pressed to yes button on a dialogue requesting access so the app behind it could monitor files etc from the internet for security.

I have just reinstalled MontereyOS. It took 11 hours to complete. Wifi was needed to allow the process to go ahead. However, the problem of being blocked from using a search engine wasn’t removed by this process. So it looks like I can get internet access with Apple, yet am blocked from using a search engine such as Google Chrome. It’s very frustrating!

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Answer 4

Umber Author

Level 1

16 points

Sep 20, 2022 6:12 AM in response to Ronasara

Hi, I have now discovered that the firewall was blocking me.

I have installed a 3rd party virus scanner app. Bitdefender. It seems to be doing a good job. I’m at the start of a learning curve with this app. Finding out how to set up the firewall which came with the iMac , as when I switched it on it blocked me again.

will get there.

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