How to Easily Fix the “Server IP Address Could Not Be Found” Google Chrome Error

Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers, and with good reason. Chrome offers many features for efficient internet browsing while saving data, but it’s not without its hiccups.

One notorious error you may encounter while using Chrome is “Server IP Address Could Not Be Found.” This error doesn’t have a single cause, so you’ll have to investigate a few things to resolve this issue on Windows devices.

1. Check Your Internet Connection

Yes, yes, you have probably already checked this. But just because you’re connected to your router through Wi-Fi or a LAN connection, doesn’t mean you’re connected to the internet.

The first thing you should check when you encounter this error is your internet connection. You might not even be connected to the internet, and if that’s the case, then Chrome isn’t guilty. No browser can browse the internet without the internet.

A quick way of checking for a working internet connection is using the ping command in the Command Prompt.

1. In the Start menu, search for Command Prompt and open it.
2. In the Command Prompt, type the following line and press Enter.

    ping google.com 

3. Investigate the results.

   

This command is going to ping google.com four times and return the results. If you get replies within reasonable times, your connection is fine. However, if you’re getting Request Timed Out or other errors, you need to further investigate your connection.

2. Clear Your Browsing Data

Accumulated browsing data can gradually muddle your browser’s performance and, in some cases, lead to the “Server IP Address Could Not Be Found” error. As a result, clearing up the cache, cookies, and other browsing data can freshen Chrome up and potentially resolve the error.

Here’s how you can clear your browsing data in Google Chrome:

1. Open Chrome.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + Del on your keyboard.

   

3. Select a time range.
4. Click Clear data.

This will clear your browsing data in that time range. If you’re getting the error for a particular website only, you can clear cookies for that specific website.

3. Check Your Proxy Settings

Another possible cause of the “Server IP Address Could Not Be Found” error is a bad or offline proxy server. You, or an app on your computer, could have set up a proxy which doesn’t work now.

You can set up a new proxy or disable proxies altogether in the Proxy settings. Here’s how you can do that:

1. In the Start menu, search for Proxy, and then select Proxy settings.
2. In the Proxy settings window, disable Automatically detect settings.

   

3. Scroll down to Manual proxy setup and disable that as well.

If you have VPN extensions for Chrome, they may have a proxy enabled for your browser. Disable them as well.

4. Change Your Network Adapter Settings

By default, your network adapter is set to use DHCP, allowing it to obtain an IP address automatically. However, if you’ve tweaked this setting, you’ll need to manually configure the IP and DNS for your network adapter.

You can revert the network adapter’s settings to DHCP from the Control Panel:

1. Open Control Panel, and choose Network and Internet.
2. Select Network and Sharing Center.
3. Click on Change adapter settings from the left menu bar. This will open a window that shows all your network adapters.

   

4. Right-click on the network adapter you’re using, and then select Properties. The network adapter is either called Ethernet or Wi-Fi.

   

5. Double-click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) to open its properties.

   

6. Select Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server addresses automatically.
7. Click OK to save the settings.

Open Chrome and check if your issue has been resolved.

5. Update Your Network Driver

Another cause of network problems like the “Server IP Address Could Not Be Found” error is the lack of proper drivers for your hardware. This could happen if your network drivers are outdated, or you haven’t installed the correct ones.

Windows does a good job at automatically finding and installing drivers, but you can’t ever be too sure. Here’s how you can update your network drivers on Windows:

1. Right-click on the Start menu.
2. Select Device Manager from the menu.
3. In the Network adapters category, right-click on your adapter and select Update driver.

   

Windows will now look for new drivers and install them if it finds any. The best way to ensure you have the proper drivers installed is by downloading the appropriate drivers from your network card manufacturer, such as Qualcomm or Realtek. This way, you won’t leave finding the drivers to Windows.

6. Use Windows Network Diagnostics

Google Chrome won’t be able to function correctly if your network has been poorly configured. Luckily, Windows’ troubleshooter tool does a good job of finding and fixing config-related issues.

1. In the Start menu, search for Find and fix network problems and open it.
2. Click Next.

   

3. Select whether you can’t connect to a specific website or the internet in general.
4. Follow the instructions provided by the troubleshooter.

In most cases, the troubleshooter can handle the detected issues by itself. However, if it doesn’t have the required privileges, it might give you instructions to fix the issue on your own.

7. Restart the Windows DNS Client Service

Windows uses a service called DNS Client to cache DNS and register the computer name. There’s a chance that your DNS Client service may be malfunctioning and causing the “Server IP Address Could Not Be Found” error in Google Chrome.

You can restart the Windows DNS Client Service to get it running again. Here’s how you can do that:

1. Press Win + R on your keyboard to bring up the Run dialog.
2. Type services.msc in the text box and press Enter. This will bring up a window containing all the Windows services.
3. Scroll down to find DNS Client.

   

4. Right-click the DNS Client service and select Stop.
5. Wait a couple of seconds so that the service completely stops.
6. Right-click the DNS Client service and select Start to get the service started again.

If the DNS Client service options are grayed out and unclickable for you, you can disable the service through Windows config. Here’s how:

1. Press Win + R on your keyboard to bring up the Run dialog.
2. Type msconfig in the text box and then press Enter.
3. In the opened window, go to the Services tab and find DNS Client. Sort the services by name to make this search easier.
4. Uncheck the DNS Client service, then click OK to stop the service.

   

Wait for a minute, and then check the DNS Client service box. Click OK to get the service started again.

8. Reset Winsock and IPv4 Settings

If none of the solutions above worked for you, you can try resetting Winsock and IPv4 settings to their defaults. This will revert a significant portion of network settings to their defaults and has the potential to fix conflicting configurations.

1. In the Start menu, search for Command Prompt.
2. Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
3. In Command Prompt, type the command below and press Enter. This will reset the Winsock.

    netsh winsock reset 

4. Once the command is executed, restart your computer.
5. Launch the Command Prompt as administrator and type the command below:

    netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log 

Now, restart your computer one last time and check if your issue has been resolved.

Quickly Get Back Online

Unexpected malfunctions and errors are potent ingredients of a total day-ruiner tonic, especially regarding your default web browser. The “Server IP Address Could Not Be Found” error can be frustrating, but it’s not insurmountable. If you’re facing other problems, such as excessive RAM usage, make sure to troubleshoot them as well.