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Wireless Networking
Wireless
Troubleshooting:
5 Things for a Dead Wireless Network
by Jeff Cohen
Wireless
networks can be funny things. They'll work for weeks or months
and then suddenly, one day -- bang! They're dead. But what
can you do to try and resuscitate a dead wireless network?
The
Simple Things
Before
you go to too much trouble to fix your network, you should
try the simple solutions. Nobody's quite sure why they work,
to be honest, but they have a surprisingly high success rate.
To
get Windows to attempt to fix problems with a wireless connection,
double click the connection's icon in the bottom right corner
of your screen. Go to the Support section of the box that
appears, and then click Repair. Windows will deactivate and
reactivate the connection in an effort to get it to work.
Once
you've tried this, the last-ditch simple solution is that
Windows classic: restart the computer. If that doesn't work
either then, well, you'll have to try something else.
Has
Your Wireless Card Come Loose?
If
you have a USB or PCMCIA wireless card, you should check
now to see whether it's come loose. The best way to do this
is to disconnect everything and reconnect it. USB devices
are especially vulnerable to gradually coming loose -- make
sure you unplug your USB wire at both ends of the connection,
if possible.
Of
course, if you have an internal PCI wireless card, you might
want to try a few other things first before you go to the
trouble of opening the computer to take a look at it.
Have
the Networks in Your Neighborhood Changed?
Sometimes,
if someone sets up a new network near you, it can cause some
interference and take precedence over your own network, especially
if you're in a part of your house where your network's signal
is weak. Once your computer is connected, though, there's
no guarantee your computer will be granted -- the other network
could be set up in any number of strange ways. This leaves
you in a position where your computer has connected to a
network that it thought was 'better' without telling you,
even though it turns out that network is useless to you.
You
need to go to the 'View Available Wireless Networks' screen
and take a look at what you're connected to. If it's something
you don't recognize, you should double-click your own network
in the list to connect to it. If this works, make sure you
remove other networks' names from your 'preferred networks'
list, to avoid connecting to them in the future.
Check
for New Sources of Interference
If
you find that your connection will work if you put your computer
right next to the source of the Internet signal, but stops
working as you get further away, then the cause could be
interference. You should consider any changes you've made
to your home recently. For example, did you just get a new
cordless phone? They can often interfere with wireless networks.
Treat any equipment that uses radio waves as suspect -- try
switching each thing off in turn and see if the performance
of the wireless network improves.
Reset
Equipment to Factory Settings
With
routers and access points, one thing that might work is to
log in to their admin control panels (using a web browser)
and click the option to restore to factory settings. This
removes all your settings and makes the router or access
point 'like new' again, meaning that any problems it was
causing should be solved, unless it has been physically damaged.
If
none of these things work, but the network was working fine
before, the chances are that you've got a hardware failure
somewhere on your network. This could be as simple as someone
having sat on a USB device, or knocked an antenna on a router.
You need to try unplugging things in turn to figure out where
the failure is, and then call the manufacturer to report
the fault -- be prepared that you might need to replace the
item yourself, though, if it's not their fault or the equipment
is outside warranty. Even if it turns out not to have been
a hardware failure, they should be able to help you fix your
network.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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