If you can’t get online or access shared files, we might be able to help…
Once you’ve set up your network, it instantly becomes essential to everything you do online. That’s why, when one goes wrong, it can be a source of near-infinite frustration. Troubleshooting a network – especially a wireless one – is hardly ever easy. If do you encounter a problem, the best way to fix it is to already know what’s wrong, or know someone who does.
Unfortunately, when your network is down, you can’t even get online to Google the problem. It’s just you, your wits, and a near-incomprehensible router administration page to guide you. Unless, of course, you’ve got this article handy…
PROBLEM: Your Network Connection Isn’t Active
If your PC can’t find the network connection, the number of reasons for that are virtually endless. The only way you can approach the problem is to start with the absolute basics. The first thing you have to check is whether your PC and network hub (we’ll assume it’s a router) are actually capable of communicating.
So from the bottom up: does your network hardware actually have power? Both the router and your network adaptor need to be active. Check that the router is still plugged in, that it’s switched on, and that your network adaptor is properly seated (whether that’s in a PCI slot or USB port).
If you’re not sure whether it has power, check the LEDs. Even hubs and adaptors that aren’t actively transmitting data should give off some sign of life, even if it’s just the occasional flash as it tests for an available connection.
In the case of network hubs, a lack of power should be easy to diagnose and repair (check the power leads and socket), and at worst you might find yourself having to replace a fuse or switch plug sockets. At best, it’ll be a loose cable or accidentally flipped switch.
With adaptors, you’re in a much more precarious position. USB adaptors can simply be swapped between ports to see if they wake up once they’ve been plugged in somewhere else. The main ports at the rear of your system have the best chance of working, because they’re attached directly to the motherboard. If the adaptor doesn’t seem to wake up, then either the LEDs are broken (unlikely) or the USB adaptor itself is dead and should be replaced. It’s always worth trying the adaptor in a different system just to check, though!
Internal network adaptors are a little bit more of a chore to move, especially if you don’t have any PCI slots free. Before you take the step of opening your PC, we recommend checking the Windows device manager. If the network card is present and free from errors, it’s probably receiving power regardless of whether the LEDs are going or not, so use that to guide your decision.
In the case of wired networks, you should also check the network cables. It’s not impossible that they can get pulled out, so give them a good push into their sockets and check for any nasty twists or nicks that might have broken the internal wiring. Replace any damaged cables before doing anything else.
If you correctly address and fix all of these problems, then your network should hopefully be alive again. If not, triplecheck that the hardware is powered and working and that the operating system still recognises it.
PROBLEM: You’re Connected To The Network But Can’t Reach Web Pages
One of the most frequently encountered (and irritating) problems is when your network seems to be connected but you can’t reach web pages, or you can only reach a small number of them. This is typically a logical problem between your computer and the internet, so given that you can’t troubleshoot the entire internet at once, it makes sense to start with your own PC.
First, check that you’re still connected to your router. If you’ve lost your network connection, that would explain why web pages aren’t loading. This could something simple, like a dislodged cable or rebooting router, so check your connections and restart your hardware to try to kick it back into life.
If that still doesn’t work and you’re using wi-fi, try connecting directly to your router with a cable. If that works, then the problem can at least be narrowed down to the wireless signal in some way.
If the connection exists and you still can’t get to web pages, that’s when things get difficult. First you have to make sure the connection is actually working properly, so check that you can access your router’s administration system. You’ll normally need to browse to 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 in your browser to do so. If this connection fails, it’s probably that the router has crashed (so reboot it by cycling the power).
If you can access the router’s admin page, then at least you know the problem isn’t between your PC and the router. The problem is that it means there’s likely something wrong between the router and the ISP.
But all is not yet lost! To troubleshoot this, try to establish that the connection to your ISP is working. Have a look at the lights on your router, and if the one marked something like ‘ADSL’, ‘DSL’, ‘Cable’ or sometimes just ‘Internet’ is switched off, then it means your modem has no signal. That means the connection has probably gone down (though it could just mean the cable is unplugged, so check that too!). Assuming the cable is fine, the fault is with the ISP, and all you can do is wait for them to fix the problem, though obviously you can call them or check their service status page on your phone’s mobile connection to confirm whether they know of any faults.
If the internet connection is working, then there’s one last avenue to pursue: the problem could be that your ISP’s DNS server has gone down. This is most likely if some pages are still working, but others aren’t. Those for which you already have the DNS information will continue to be reachable, but others won’t be.
To fix this, open your router’s admin page and change the first two DNS servers to the IP addresses of the free OpenDNS servers: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. Make a note of the ones you change, though, in case you need to change them back. Once that’s done, reboot your router and the connection should – hopefully – be working.
PROBLEM: Your Router Keeps Resetting
A spontaneously resetting router is a difficult problem to fix, and usually requires a permanent solution in the form of replacement hardware – but that doesn’t mean always. At the very least, you can try a few things to see if you can manage the problem.
When routers spontaneously reset, it tends to mean that they’ve actually crashed and performed an automatic reboot. This could be the result of a hardware fault, but it’s not always that. There are a few potential causes, so we’ll tackle them in terms of how easy they are to fix.
The first is that the router might be overheating. Like all computers, if they get too hot, they become prone to errors, which cause crashes. If your router is kept in an enclosed space, near another heat source or has its vents covered, then this might be the problem. Ensure it’s in a cool and well-ventilated area and, with any luck, the crashes will stop.
The next problem is that the router might be overheating because it’s overworked. This is something that can happen a lot if you’re using a lot of heavy traffic, like video streaming or file sharing. You can potentially stop it by limiting the traffic throughput, either in your router’s settings or by slowing down your own system’s demands on it. It’s not an ideal solution (after all, no one wants to limit their connection permanently), but if it works, at least you’ve got a stable connection while you see what can be done.
Finally, if none of that works, the best thing to do is flash your router’s firmware with the latest version. If the crashes are being caused by a bug or configuration error, flashing the firmware will hopefully fix it. You can obtain the latest version of the firmware from the manufacturer’s website, but be aware that flashing it will probably lose any custom settings you’ve got, so you may want to make a note of them before you do it!
PROBLEM: Your Wireless Network Isn’t Visible
Being unable to find the wireless network you’re looking for is one of the most irritating problems for wireless hardware, though 90% of the time it means that the access point has reset itself, and the network will reappear as soon as it’s finished rebooting and reinitialising. The other 10% of the time, it’s the indication of a much bigger problem.
Being unable to see the network name you want in your list of available networks means, on its most basic level, that your wireless antenna isn’t picking up a signal from which it can extract SSID. Several things can cause this, so we’ll try to eliminate them in a logical order.
First, check whether you can see any other networks in the list, even if you can’t connect to them. Assuming you’re not living in a lone house with miles of farmland in every direction, you should see a few other wireless networks around. If you can, you have good reason to believe that your wireless adaptor is working fine. If you can’t, then the problem might be that the antenna isn’t working properly. Check that it’s powered up and, if it’s a full-size aerial, that it’s properly screwed in.
If the adaptor definitely working, then the next thing to check is whether the SSID is actually being broadcast. Assuming you’ve checked the wireless access point’s power (remember that even after being switched on, a router takes a minute or two to start broadcasting the SSID), then the best thing to do is quickly check another wi-fi capable device to see if that can pick up the SSID.
If it can’t, then you know that the SSID isn’t being broadcast, which can be a consequence of three different things: that the wireless isn’t active, that the SSID has been voluntarily suppressed or that the range simply isn’t long enough to reach the antenna. You can fix the second by checking that SSID broadcast is enabled in the router backend, and the third by moving the router and access point closer together (or rearranging the antennas).
However, if that doesn’t have an effect, then the only remaining cause is the first: that the wireless access point has stopped working for some reason.
The best course of action at this point is to connect to the wireless access point using an Ethernet cable and manually enter the administrative backend. See if the wireless (WLAN) signal has been disabled, and if it has, switch it back on. If it’s already enabled, you may have a hardware problem with the router’s antenna, so check that it’s attached and undamaged.
If, for some reason, you can’t access the router via Ethernet or any other device’s wireless signal, then your only remaining hope is to do a factory reset on the wireless access point. Most wireless access points come in the box with wireless enabled by default, and assuming there isn’t a manual switch for enabling and disabling the feature, a factory reset is the only way to turn it on without accessing the router’s back-end. Check for a pinhole button and/or consult your device’s manual for details on how to do that.
PROBLEM: You Can’t Connect To A Wireless Network
Being unable to connect to a network is, in many ways, more frustrating than being unable to find it at all. In this case, you know that the network is available but something is preventing a stable connection from being established.
If the network uses encryption, it’s probable that the thing preventing you from connecting to it is an incorrect wireless key being used. If you’re manually entering the password, double-check with your source that you’re entering it correctly and that it hasn’t changed.
If it has changed and you can’t get the correct one, you have to find an Ethernet cable, connect your device directly to the wireless access point, then use the administrative backend to enter a new wireless password. Alternatively, you can perform a factory reset and use the default wireless password, which should be printed on a sticker somewhere on the device.
If the password isn’t what appears to be at fault (i.e. at no point are you asked to enter a password, implying that the one you’re using is correct), then the problem is probably something far harder to get a handle on: a software misconfiguration.
To fix this, open the ‘network and sharing centre’ from the control panel and click ‘change adapter settings’. Select your wireless network (probably called ‘wifi’ and right-click on it to access the properties. Here, under the networking tab, open ‘Internet Protocol Version 4’ and make sure both sections under the general tab are set to ‘obtain automatically’. Click OK and restart all of your hardware. With any luck, the configuration problem will be fixed.
Hopefully, this helps you fix the most common networking problems, and it gives you some idea about any others that might come up. Let us know if you have any of your own and we’ll try to address them in a future issue!