Quick Internet Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Your Internet Connection

 

The following is a quick reference to help you troubleshoot your internet or LAN connections. This quick guide is only a general home based networking reference, specific issues may need more advanced troubleshooting techniques. This guide assumes that you have a broadband connection with a dynamically assigned ip address, if you are not sure if our ip address is dynamically or statically assigned please consult your ISP. This article addresses connection issues resulting from wired and wireless network problems.

 

1. Decide whether it is your wireless connection (router) or your internet connection (modem).

• on your wireless computer make sure your wireless signal notification icon has full signal

• on your desktop computer or a computer directly connected to your router, try to access the internet

2. If you cannot access the internet on both wireless and non-wireless machines you may have an internet (modem) problem.

• without turning anything off, unlplug the RJ45 (ethernet) cable running from your computer to your router (at the router end)

• now plug the cable in from your computer directly into your modem

• wait a few minutes (you may also need to restart your desktop computer or simply repair your internet connection), now try to access the internet

3. If you cannot access the internet directly connected to the modem, you could have a modem problem.

• unplug the power to your modem, wait 30sec and plug back in … try to access the internet

• if restarting your modem does not work, call your ISP, the network may be down

• at this point you may want to check your ip configuration, in a command prompt type “ipconfig”. If your ip address is (0.0.0.0 or starts with 169.x.x.x) then you do not have a valid ip. Your ISP will need to know this information.

4. You can access the internet directly connected to the modem OR you can access the internet from your desktop machine which is connected to the router.

• you could have a wireless communication problem between your router and your wireless enabled computer

• unplug your desktop machine from the modem and return the connection backto your router (your normal configuration)

• restart your wireless router by unpluggin it, waiting 30sec and plugging it back in, during this time restart your laptop

• try to access the internet from your laptop (through your wireless connection)

• if you are still not getting signal, you are not “associated” with the router and will need to make some changes

• navigate to Start> Control_Panel> Network_Connections> Wireless_Connection> Properties> Wireless_Networks> select your networks SSID (or name)> Properties>

• once their you will need to re-enter your password or key for the WPA-PSK/WEP encryption scheme, to Apply> hit “OK”

• wait a few moments … your connection should establish

5. You still cannot connect wirelessly.

• their maybe a problem with your wireless router configuration

• you will need to take approximately the same actions as step 4 but for your router

• from your desktop open an internet browser and type your wireless router’s IP address (i.e. 192.168.1.1) in the address bar

• you will need to login with your username and password, if you have never changed this option it will be the factory default username and password

• navigate to your wireless options where you are able to select “encryption”

• you should see options for WEP, WPA-PSK, or none, select the appropriate security method. You may now need to re-type your password or key (the same one you typed for your wireless enabled computer)

• save your settings and make sure your “SSID” is set.

Your wired and wireless network connection is now through the first and the most common steps of troubleshooting. If problems still exist at this point you may need to call a computer technician for more specialized troubleshooting.

Protect your Wireless Network

Old Wireless Router = Security Decoy

Many people today have switched from their old 802.11B wireless routers to an updated 802.11G. Considering that wireless G has a greater range and faster transfer rates many people have decided to ditch their old wireless routers. Well, don’t throw that old wireless router away just yet. You can use this old router to confuse and deter would-be hackers and wardrivers. If you have recently purchased a router (depending on the model) you have probably noticed an SSID option. Your SSID is simply the name you give to your wireless access point. For example, Linksys routers have a default SSID called “Linksys”. This means when you search for wireless networks you will see an access point based on their SSID name.

If you haven’t figured it out, having an extra wireless router can offer a special network security benefit. You can use your old wireless router by applying power to it and positioning it next to a window or outside wall. The old wireless router will act as a network decoy to the would-be bandwidth moochers or network attackers. They will see the stronger wireless signal and think they are connecting to your network, when in fact they will not be connecting to any part of your network.

Further Security Details

Your main wireless router should have some security features already in place. At minimum, those features should include:

• Encryption (WPA-PSK or WEP)

• SSID Modification

• A Router password

I will explain in a later Article how to apply encryption to your wireless network but for now know that if you have the choice between choosing WPA-PSK or WEP, choose WPA-PSK. WPA-PSK is easier to use and offers much better security features. (Do not use encryption on your decoy wireless router. We want people to be able to connect to the decoy with little or no effort.)

What is meant by SSID Modification? Simply put, you need to change your default SSID to something uninformative and mildly obscure. If your router gives you the option to turn off your beacon or turn off your SSID broadcast, then you should definitely employ this option. Let’s say you live in a neighborhood or an apartment complex and you choose your SSID to be “The Smith Family” or “John’s Network”, everyone who is in proximity of your wireless signal will see this description. Most hackers and attackers want to gain something from their efforts, so if you choose a descriptive name associated with your home or your person, hackers now have a target. (This precaution should also be taken for the decoy wireless router. You do not want to announce your location or the fact that you are hosting a wireless connection to anyone.)

Finally, you need to set an “Admin” password for your wireless router. In many cases, when you buy a wireless router there is no password set or it is manufactured with a default password. If a new password is not set, anyone that can connect to your router can also make changes to your router settings. If this happens, many critical security issues can arise and a more sophisticated hacker could forward all the information you send to and from other computers (i.e. bank servers) through his machine first. This is known as the ‘man-in-the-middle’ attack and your most secretive information can be compromised. Here is a bit of proof that your default passwords are not safe. It is also one more reason to change your default SSID, if I was connecting to a “linksys” router I would use this list to locate a linksys default password. (This precaution should be taken for the decoy wireless router as well, if someone could log into your decoy router they could easily find out that router’s purpose in your home.)

Re-Cap

You can use your old wireless router as a decoy for would-be hackers and bandwidth pirates.

First, you must secure both routers in the following manner:

• Main wireless router should employ at minimum:

• Encryption (WPA-PSK or WEP)

• SSID Modification

• A Router Password

• Decoy wireless router needs:

• SSID Modification

• A Router Password

Second, your decoy wireless router should be placed next to a window or outside wall and should ONLY have the power connected to it.

Finally, …monitor. Depending on your decoy router features you may be able to log the number of computers that connect to your decoy. If not, you can always monitor by logging into your decoy and looking at your LAN status. By monitoring the number of people that connect to your wireless decoy you can effectively gauge the traffic and potential risk you assume when you host a wireless network.