After all my bouncing back and forth for 3 years on this I found another possible solution...
From the QB Help menu at top of screen... Is a strangely placed menu for internet connection enable / disable...
1.Launch Quickbooks and sign in as a user with sufficient rights to change system preferences and settings.
2. Click "Help, " choose "Internet connection set-up," select "I do not have an Internet connection" and click "OK."
3.Exit Quickbooks completely, launch the program and log in again as an administrative user.
Test the lack of connection -> Click "Help" and "Update Quickbooks." Confirm that Quickbooks issues an error message that it cannot connect to the Internet.
