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Solving Problems Connecting to Wireless Network

In most cases, problems connecting to the wireless network can be corrected by checking a few things on your laptop:

Verify Your Wireless Settings

Make sure that you review the setup instructions to be sure everything is configured properly.

Turn On Wireless Only When Needed

To conserve power and avoid interfering with or connecting to networks inadvertently, it is best to always leave your wireless card turned off unless you need to use it. Your wireless device will usually have an external switch or keyboard combination you can use to turn off the wireless radio. For example, the Dell Latitude D Series uses Fn+F2 to turn the wireless radio on and off.

Disable Connecting to Ad-Hoc Networks

Even if you followed our setup instructions, this setting is easy to miss. By default, your system will connect to both Access Point (aka infrastructure) and Ad Hoc networks. Ad hoc networks are wireless networks composed of computers talking directly to each other over wireless. We sometimes find students who create an ad hoc network with their laptop. If nearby laptops are set to automatically connect to networks, they may associate with the laptop instead of our access points, resulting in no Internet access. By telling your laptop to connect to access point networks only, you eliminate this possibility from happening.

1. Click the Wireless Network Connection icon (1) in your System Tray. The Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box is displayed.
   
   
   
   
2. Click View Wireless Networks (2). The Wireless Network Connection dialog is displayed.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Change the order of preferred networks (3). The Wireless Network Connection Properties dialog box is displayed.
   
   
   
   
4. Under Preferred Networks click Advanced (4). The Advanced dialog is displayed.
   
   
   
   Important! If the option Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings (5) is unchecked and/or grayed out, you are using the software that came with your laptop to manage your wireless settings and not Windows. You must use the software that came with your card to tell it to let Windows manage your wireless settings, or you will have to consult the documentation that came with your card for assistance in disabling connecting to ad hoc networks instead of using these instructions.
   
   
5. Make sure that only the option Access point (infrastructure) networks only (6) is checked and the option Automatically connect to non-preferred networks (7) is unchecked.
   
   
   
   
6. Click Close.
   
   
7. Click OK.
   
   

Disable Hosting of Ad Hoc Networks

If you create an Ad Hoc network on your laptop, you may cause other laptops around you to connect to your system rather than our wireless network. To ensure that you don't disrupt your classmates' network access, make sure that you remove any Ad Hoc networks you may have created on your laptop.

Windows XP

1. Click the Wireless Network Connection icon (1) in your System Tray. The Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box is displayed.
   
   
   
   
2. Click View Wireless Networks (2). The Wireless Network Connection dialog is displayed.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Change the order of preferred networks (3). The Wireless Network Connection Properties dialog box is displayed.
   
   
   
   
4. Under Preferred Networks will be a list of networks. In the sample image are three networks: a disconnected Access Point network (4), a connected Access Point network (5), and an Ad Hoc network (6).
   
   For each Ad Hoc network, select it and click Remove (7). Repeat until all of the Ad Hoc networks are gone. it is good idea to also delete any Access Point networks you don't need. Windows remembers all of the networks to which you connect so you should trim the list from time to time.
   
   
   
   
5. Click OK.
   
   

Mac OS X

1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences.
   
   
2. Click on Network.
   
   
3. If the options for networking are grayed out, you need to logon as an administrator. Click on the Lock
icon, and logon with your username and password (assuming you have admin access to your Mac). If the options are not grayed out, continue to the next step.


4. If you use network locations to customize your network settings for different locations (such as home or school), select your location from the Location drop-down menu. Otherwise, the default location Automatic will already be selected.
   
   
5. From the Show drop-down list, select AirPort.
   
   
6. Select the Airport tab.
   
   
7. Make sure that the option Allow this computer to create networks is unchecked.
   
   
8. Click Apply Now and close System Preferences.
   
   

Repair Winsock Settings

The Windows TCP/IP stack (Winsock 2) is a critical component, needed for Windows and other applications to communicate on the network. Spyware and other programs often damage the Winsock2 stack when they are installed and removed. If your laptop connects to the wireless network but any of the following is true, you probably have a Winsock problem:

• You can't access any web sites, receiving only "page not found" errors.
• Your system is not assigned an IP address (wireless 10.1.0.x, wired 128.252.176.x or 128.252.193.x) and instead defaults to a failsafe address starting with 169.x.x.x.
• You can connect to a site using its IP address, but not its DNS name.

if you have this problem, you can download the Winsock XP Fix utility (http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html) to try repairing your Winsock settings. The program is fairly self-explanatory:

1. Before you run the Winsock utility, run the WinsockXPFix.exe file that you downloaded.
   
   
2. Click Fix.
   
   
3. When asked to apply the VB_Winsock fix, click Yes.
   
   
4. When the repair is completed, click OK to reboot.
   
   

If you still have problems connecting after running this utility, contact the Help Desk for assistance.

Report the Problem

If these suggestions don't solve your problem, please report it to the Help Desk. Be sure to provide as much information about your problem, including the location(s) in the building where the problem occurs. If the problem is specific to a location, there may be a problem with the access point(s) serving that location. Although we have software which monitors our network equipment, sometimes an access point may appear to the monitoring software to be functional, but in reality it isn't.

Don't assume someone else has reported the problem. We would rather have a hundred people all report the same problem than have no one report the problem. We can't fix it if we don't know it's broken.