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. With so many features that let you enjoy browsing the internet while saving data, Chrome is one of the best browsers out there.

One notorious error that you may encounter while using Chrome, is Server IP Address Could Not Be Found. This error doesn’t have a single cause, so there are a couple of things you’ll have to investigate 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 that 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.

In the Start menu, search for Command Prompt and open it. This will bring up the black plank known as the Command Prompt.

In the Command Prompt, type the following line and press Enter. This command is going to ping google.com four times and return the results.

ping google.com

Investigate the results.

If you’re getting replies within reasonable times, then your connection is fine. However, if you’re getting Request Timed Out or other errors, then you need to further check your connection.

2. Check Your Proxy Settings

One other possible cause of the 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 to do this:

In the Start menu search for Proxy, and then select Proxy settings.

In the Proxy settings window, disable Automatically detect settings.

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

Open Chrome and check if your problem has been solved.

3. Change Your Network Adapter Settings

By default, your network adapter is set to use DHCP which allows it to automatically obtain an IP address. However, if you’ve tweaked this setting, then IP and DNS will need to be manually configured for your adapter.

You can revert the settings to DHCP from the Control Panel. Follow these steps to do that:

Open the Control Panel, and choose Network and Internet.

From here, select Network and Sharing Center.

In the Network and Sharing Center, click on Change adapter settings from the left menu bar. This will open a window that shows all your network adapters.

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

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

Select Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server addresses automatically.

Click OK to save the settings.

Open Chrome and check if your issue has been resolved.

4. Update Your Network Driver

Another cause of network problems 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 10 does a good job at automatically finding and installing drivers, but you can’t ever be too sure.

Here’s how to update your network drivers:

Open File Explorer.

Right-click on This PC. From the menu, select Manage. This will bring up the Computer Management window.

From the left bar, under System Tools, click on Device Manager.

In the Network adapters category, right-click on your adapter and select Update driver.

Windows will then look for new drivers and install them if it finds any.You can also manually install the drivers provided by the manufacturer of your hardware (e.g. Qualcomm or Realtek).

The absolute method for making sure you’ve got the right drivers installed is by downloading the appropriate drivers from your network card manufacturer, such as Qualcomm or Realtek. This way, the doubt of Windows downloading the wrong drivers is dispelled.

5. Use Windows Network Diagnostics

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

In the Start menu, search for Troubleshoot settings and open it.

Under Get up and running, click on Internet Connections.

Click Run the troubleshooter.

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

6. 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 is in need of a restart.

Press Win + R on your keyboard to bring up the Run dialog.

Type services.msc in the text box and press Enter. This will bring up a window containing all the Windows services.

Scroll down to find DNS Client.

Right-click the DNS Client service and select Stop. Wait a couple of seconds so that the service completely stops.

After that, 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.

Press Win + R on your keyboard to bring up the Run dialog.

Type msconfig in the text box and then press Enter.

In the opened window, go to the Services tab and find DNS Client. Sort the services by name to make this search easier.

Uncheck the DNS Client service, and 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.

7. 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 great portion of network settings to their defaults and has the potential to fix conflicting configurations.

netsh winsock reset

netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log

Quickly Get Back Online

Unexpected malfunctions and errors are potent ingredients of a total day-ruiner tonic, especially if It’s regarding your default web browser.

Luckily, you now have a good idea of what to do if Chrome encounters the Server IP Address Could Not Be Found error. If you’re currently experiencing this issue, trying the above solutions should have you back online in no time!