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Troubleshooting Wireless Networks
This guide will help your troubleshoot wireless networking problems
Home networking benefits you in numerous ways. It helps you in:
Going wireless, would help you connect all your PC wirelessly rather than connecting with ethernet cables by drilling holes through the floors and jammin connections to the router and pc's etc.,
Wireless networks has a big list of advantages and also carry a host of problems that you might not find in a wired network. Lot of configuration procedures involved and the following tips should help you resolve most of the problems faced on your wireless network.
Positioning of your Wireless equipment:
After you connect your laptop with a wireless adapter that is compatible with your router, you see that transferring files to other PCs is slower in some rooms and faster in other. This is because of the distance and physical obstructions. Like all other wireless devices, like TV remotes and cordless phones, distance and wall obstructions can weaken the wireless signals.
Move to a room closer to your wireless router, or position your router in such a way that the signals of your router are not getting obstructed. Windows XP's Wireless Network Connection application can give you a some information on your network’s strength to a computer at a particular location.
The above will display every wireless network within your wireless adapter’s range. You’ll see as many as five bars across from the name of the network, which indicates the signal strength. More bars indicate a stronger signal, and one or no bars indicates your signal is very weak.
You can also improve your signals by adding an extra hardware, a wireless repeater which acts as an intermediary between the wireless router and a wireless adapter on your PC.
Most of the routers operate on 2.4GHz frequency. Some other equipments like cordless phones, microwaves operate on the same frequency which might disrupt the wireless network signal. Switch them off when you are not using them or place your wireless router away from these devices
Installation Issues:
The plug and play capabilities of a networking hardware should not be taken for granted. You need to check the user guide before you install it on a Windows machine. Some hardware requires you to install the software first before installing the hardware.
Most routers use a web-based configuration utility instead of a separately-installed application. Manufacturers will assign their routers a default local IP (Internet Protocol) address, which is a series of numbers that serves as your router’s location. Refer your router guide for the IP address. Click here for instructions setting up your router
You need to only configure three things:
Power Cycle your network equipment:
Power cycling here in simple words mean "Unplugging and plugging it back" your router and cable modem.
Let your Windows XP give a try:
Microsoft added a number of feature the Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2). One of them is the Repair function which has proved to be one of the most beneficial functions in solving your problems.
When you start this function, Windows XP automatically disables and restarts your wireless adapter, which most of the times clears out errors or stumbles in the adapter. To evoke the repair function:
Windows XP will begin the repair process and notify you when it’s complete. The process usually takes sometime to finish.
Check Your Network Configuration and Compatibility:
A common problem you would face when you add PCs to your wireless network is configuration problems. A wireless router and adapter must share the same settings in order to properly exchange data.
Reconfirm whether your hardware is on the same wireless standards. Generally all the network hardware that is available in the market is compatible with 802.11b or 802.11g, but any 802.11a hardware will be incompatible with 802.11b/g.
Try going Back to the Drawing Board:
If you have tried everything on both your wireless router and adapter but still have no luck, rather than beating around the bushes and banging your head, you can give a reset to your router back to factory settings and start off from there.
Most of the times, the reset button may be slightly recessed in the router, you need to use a bent paper clip to actually press it. Check your router's user guide to locate the reset button. You should find on the back of the router near the LAN and WAN (wide-area network) ports. You need to reconfigure your router after resetting it.
Choose the right Wireless equipment:
It is just that we tend to buy the wireless network adapter from company A and the wireless router from company B. This is the key for all the problems. Ensure you buy a compatible network equipment and check the manufacturer's guide for the list of compatible equipment, that should reduce the percentage of problems you face. If you encounter a little glitch, then it can be surely taken care of.
The universal rule is that you need to ensure your settings are correct. Troubleshooting a wireless network is generall a game of guesses and tests.
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- Transferring or sharing files from one computer to another,
- Sharing an Internet connection,
- Playing video games against a friend or family member
- Flexibility to move from one place to another at home
- No wiring needed for all computers to get internet access
- Protecting your network and PC's against hackers and Internet intruders.
Going wireless, would help you connect all your PC wirelessly rather than connecting with ethernet cables by drilling holes through the floors and jammin connections to the router and pc's etc.,
Wireless networks has a big list of advantages and also carry a host of problems that you might not find in a wired network. Lot of configuration procedures involved and the following tips should help you resolve most of the problems faced on your wireless network.
Positioning of your Wireless equipment:
After you connect your laptop with a wireless adapter that is compatible with your router, you see that transferring files to other PCs is slower in some rooms and faster in other. This is because of the distance and physical obstructions. Like all other wireless devices, like TV remotes and cordless phones, distance and wall obstructions can weaken the wireless signals.
Move to a room closer to your wireless router, or position your router in such a way that the signals of your router are not getting obstructed. Windows XP's Wireless Network Connection application can give you a some information on your network’s strength to a computer at a particular location.
- From your task pane, click Start -> Control Panel.
- Double click on Network Connections.
- Open Wireless Network Connection.
The above will display every wireless network within your wireless adapter’s range. You’ll see as many as five bars across from the name of the network, which indicates the signal strength. More bars indicate a stronger signal, and one or no bars indicates your signal is very weak.
You can also improve your signals by adding an extra hardware, a wireless repeater which acts as an intermediary between the wireless router and a wireless adapter on your PC.
Most of the routers operate on 2.4GHz frequency. Some other equipments like cordless phones, microwaves operate on the same frequency which might disrupt the wireless network signal. Switch them off when you are not using them or place your wireless router away from these devices
Installation Issues:
The plug and play capabilities of a networking hardware should not be taken for granted. You need to check the user guide before you install it on a Windows machine. Some hardware requires you to install the software first before installing the hardware.
Most routers use a web-based configuration utility instead of a separately-installed application. Manufacturers will assign their routers a default local IP (Internet Protocol) address, which is a series of numbers that serves as your router’s location. Refer your router guide for the IP address. Click here for instructions setting up your router
You need to only configure three things:
- Configure SSID: SSID (service set identifier) is your network identifier.
- Configure Wireless encryption (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA).
- Change Administrator Password.
Power Cycle your network equipment:
Power cycling here in simple words mean "Unplugging and plugging it back" your router and cable modem.
- First, turn your Router off and wait for a couple of minutes.
- Turn off your modem.
- Disconnect all the ethernet cables that are connected to the router and modem and the PC.
- Reconnect them and ensure that there are no loose connections in between them.
- Now, switch on your PC and let it boot.
- Switch on the modem first and after it gets initialized, switch on the router.
Let your Windows XP give a try:
Microsoft added a number of feature the Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2). One of them is the Repair function which has proved to be one of the most beneficial functions in solving your problems.
When you start this function, Windows XP automatically disables and restarts your wireless adapter, which most of the times clears out errors or stumbles in the adapter. To evoke the repair function:
- From your task pane, click Start -> Control Panel.
- Open Network Connections.
- Right-click on the Wireless Network Connection icon and click Repair.
Windows XP will begin the repair process and notify you when it’s complete. The process usually takes sometime to finish.
Check Your Network Configuration and Compatibility:
A common problem you would face when you add PCs to your wireless network is configuration problems. A wireless router and adapter must share the same settings in order to properly exchange data.
Reconfirm whether your hardware is on the same wireless standards. Generally all the network hardware that is available in the market is compatible with 802.11b or 802.11g, but any 802.11a hardware will be incompatible with 802.11b/g.
- Now, many manufacturers have produced a superior MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) networking hardware that’s superior to 802.11g technology.
- The MIMO products are usually backward-compatible with older 802.11b and 802.11g networking hardware, their speed will revert to the slowest hardware in your network.
- For example, if you buy a MIMO router to use with a PC having 802.11b wireless adapter, the data transfer between the wireless adapter and router will be consistent with 802.11b performance but would not change.
Try going Back to the Drawing Board:
If you have tried everything on both your wireless router and adapter but still have no luck, rather than beating around the bushes and banging your head, you can give a reset to your router back to factory settings and start off from there.
Most of the times, the reset button may be slightly recessed in the router, you need to use a bent paper clip to actually press it. Check your router's user guide to locate the reset button. You should find on the back of the router near the LAN and WAN (wide-area network) ports. You need to reconfigure your router after resetting it.
Choose the right Wireless equipment:
It is just that we tend to buy the wireless network adapter from company A and the wireless router from company B. This is the key for all the problems. Ensure you buy a compatible network equipment and check the manufacturer's guide for the list of compatible equipment, that should reduce the percentage of problems you face. If you encounter a little glitch, then it can be surely taken care of.
The universal rule is that you need to ensure your settings are correct. Troubleshooting a wireless network is generall a game of guesses and tests.
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