Tips For Wireless Troubleshooting

You know the benefits of using wireless networks. What are the costs? You can be cruising along without a single problem and then, one day things will just stop working. What should you do when your wireless network dies?

Before you call in that expensive service tech, there are several things that you can try.

1. The first thing that you need to do to attempt to get Windows to fix the problem with your wireless connection. Double click on the connection’s icon at the bottom right corner of your computer screen. Then click on the support section of the box that will show up. Click Repair. Windows will deactivate and then reactive the connection in order to attempt it to make it work again.
   
2. If this does not help, restart the computer. Sometimes that fixes things.
   
3. Check to see if your wireless card came loose. For a USB or PCMCIA wireless card, disconnect everything and then reconnect it. Do this for both ends of the connection. If you have an internal PCI wireless card, check everything else before taking the computer apart to check for a loose connection.
   
4. If there has been a new network set up nearby, it can cause interference and take precedence over your own network. This is especially true when you are in an area with a weak signal. To fix this problem, go the View available wireless networks screen and find out what you are connecting to. If you find a network name there that you don’t recognize, double click your own network on the list to connect to it. If that works, remove the other network from your computer’s screen. Remove it from the preferred networks list so that the computer avoids connecting to it in the future.
   
5. Check for new sources of interference. Does your computer work when it is near your internet signal, but stops when you move it further away? This could be a sign that the cause of your problem is interference. Have you made changes to your environment lately, such as a cordless phone? Any equipment that uses radio waves can interfere with wireless networks. To check for this problem, try switching each thing off in turn and see if the wireless network improves.
   
6. Go back to the factory settings. One thing that may help is to log in to their admin control panels (using a web browser) and click on the option to restore to factory settings. This will remove all of your settings and make the router and access point the way it was at the factory.

It could happen that none of these restored your wireless network. At this point, there is a good chance that you have a hardware failure. It could be something simple, like a damaged USB port or antenna on your router. Call your manufacturer to report the damage. More than likely, they will be able to help you whether or not it is a hardware problem.