So I bought a new CB, connected to the internet and proceeded to download and install a VPN (Windscribe). Within the VPN app option I made it so that it would only connect to internet when the VPN is connected. Also in the Chrome system menu/shelf I went ahead and set up the VPN so it would connect automatically without having to open the Windscribe app everytime. Problem arises however whenever the screen of the CB turns off. When I turn it back on, while the VPN still says connected, I can’t connect to the internet at all. So I decided to simply uninstall the VPN altogether to see if I could get the internet back, but now even without any VPN installed, despite being connected to my home WiFi, it can no longer connect to the internet. I can confirm on my other devices that my home WiFi is working perfectly. I have tried powering on and off the CB, and forgetting the network and connect again. Nothing seems to works. Any idea why that is? Did the VPN permanently change some network setting on my CB? Any help will be appreciated. Otherwise might need to reset my whole CB or even return it back to the shops.
You should powerwash the system and start from scratch. It appears the installation of the VPN client corrupted a network component. I use Private Internet Access’ Android VPN app and it works like a charm. Good luck.
VPNs are a bit of a mess on ChromeOS. I find toggling the ‘always-on VPN’ setting of and hard resetting (power+refresh) and making sure the VPN doesn’t reconnect usually does the trick.
Try using guest mode to connect to the internet and see if that does anything. if it works, we know that the issue is limited to something changed in your account only, and not the whole computer
The only thing I may suggest is to go to settings - Go to google play - Manage android preferences - Network and internet - VPN (None) - Then you will see Windscribe - Click on the setting (Cog) symbol - Forget VPN (Delete)
you don’t need to powerwash it to fix the problem. I’ve had the same thing happen many times (not with windscribe though).
Just recreating the VPN and fiddling with the settings is enough to reset the weird network settings (specifically the chrome OS and Android ‘always connected’ options are usually to blame I believe)… definitely quicker than a powerwash in my opinion. I did not find that disabling Android made any difference however, so i wouldn’t bother trying that.
A useful flag is available to allow chrome OS to bypass the VPN which will allow you to have internet access while you solve your problem - just search for ‘VPN’ in the flags.
Man that really sucks. I’ll let this thread run for a day to see if anybody else have experienced the same. And if there is no solution then a power wash it is
Powerwashing the system sounds drastic, but people do it on occasion to refresh their systems. I spent many years managing large Windows PC networks and it wasn’t uncommon to format the C drive and reinstall a fresh copy of the OS as part of the maintenance process.
