How to Troubleshoot Network Connectivity Problems

I have never been very good with computers. Luckily my role at Jones IT doesn't involve fixing them. My knowledge has always been confined to the tools and apps required to perform my job. This was all fine while I was working in companies that had a dedicated IT department with enough free time to address my little problems. But since I started working remotely, things had to change.

Of all the variety of issues that can plague your computer, network connectivity problems are perhaps the worst. Although computers can do a whole lot offline, not being online can severely cripple everyday tasks. This is especially true when most of our work resides in the cloud. All the apps and online tools that make our life a whole lot better can make us miserable when we cannot connect to the internet.

When you are working for an IT services company, it isn’t really a problem until, of course, you are working remotely. Network connectivity is a small but nagging problem that we encounter quite often. It is frustrating, and a serious drain on our efficiency especially if we do not have ready access to IT support or the requisite know-how. What is an even bigger problem is that when we are offline, we can’t search for fixes online. That’s a double whammy.

HOW DO YOU FIX A NETWORK CONNECTIVITY PROBLEM?

Follow this step-by-step guide from the network experts at Jones IT and it will help you isolate and troubleshoot your network problem in no time. After each step, try to connect to the internet, which tells you if the problem is fixed. Here are the steps for fixing network connectivity issues:

1. CHECK THE SILLY LITTLE THINGS

Yes, it is annoying to think that you can overlook a minor thing like the WiFi not being switched on for your laptop. But the fact is that it does happen. We have a hundred things going on in our minds and the hotkeys add to the problem rather than solve it. So it is best to check that you haven’t inadvertently hit that key. Look for the following:

• Check that the WiFi is on and the WiFi symbol on your Windows taskbar is not greyed out

• Check that your Windows Laptop is not in Airplane mode

2. CHECK IF IT IS THE WEBSITE’S PROBLEM

Many times what appears to be a network problem may be a problem on the website’s end. You can quickly check if the website in question is down at the aptly named site Down For Everyone Or Just Me, provided you can get online.?

3. CHECK IF IT IS JUST YOUR DEVICE

Ask your colleagues if they are also experiencing connectivity problems. Additionally, check your mobile device. If it is down for everyone in your office, then it is likely an issue with your network device or ISP (Internet Service Provider).

Check if the lights on your router/modem are flashing green. If no lights are on, your device could be dead. If you see red lights or a power light but no connection light, your ISP is likely down.

At this point, you should reach out to your IT Support who will likely have a hotline to your ISP, and if not then you can try to reach your ISP directly. If the problem is with a single device, you can continue with the next steps.

If multiple devices on the network are experiencing connectivity issues, you or your IT person will have to troubleshoot the network slowdowns and performance issues for the entire network.

4. RESTART/HARD BOOT/POWER CYCLE

We hate to hear this and it seems silly to think that simply turning your system off and then back on can solve the network problem, but most of the time it does. This is the go-to step for all things IT because it doesn’t take long (recommended to wait for 60 seconds before turning your system back on) and fixes a ton of problems. So go ahead and switch off your system.

All right, at this point in time, if none of the above steps work, we can safely say that the problem is not a temporary glitch and that it resides in your system alone. The following steps may appear a little technical if you are not familiar with the command prompt in Windows. However, you can simply follow the steps and you should be fine.

5. CHECK FOR A VALID IP ADDRESS

You first need to open the command prompt by typing cmd in your start menu in Windows or by pressing the hotkey combination window key + R to launch the Run window and then typing "cmd". This will give you the following window:

At the command prompt type ipconfig?and you should see the following information in your command prompt:

Look at the text under Wireless LAN adapter WiFi. If the IPv4 Address value is of the form 169.x.x.x then it implies that you are not receiving a valid IP from your router. Now, type ipconfig /renew?at the command prompt. This can sometimes fix the problem. You can check if the problem is fixed by typing ipconfig?again. If you still see the IPv4 as 169.x.x.x, connect your system to the modem with an ethernet cable. Now check if you can get online. If yes, then the problem is with the router, and if not then continue with the next step.

6. TRY A PING AND TRACE THE ROUTE

If in the above step, you receive an IP address that begins with any value other than 169 then it means the problem is occurring between the router and the internet. Type the following command in your command prompt: ping google.com

If it fails to send packets to Google, it will let you know the problem that caused the failure. After this, you can use a command to check the path that the packet takes to reach Google’s DNS servers. Type the following in the command prompt: tracert google.com

This displays the path and if you see that a problem occurs early in the path, then the issue is likely with your local network otherwise it lies outside your network.

7. INFORM YOUR IT SUPPORT/ISP OF THE NETWORK CONNECTIVITY PROBLEM

At this point we have verified that your gear is working fine, you have a valid IP address, and where the problem lies in the network. With this information, you can reach out to your IT Support or your ISP. Once you have let your ISP or IT Support know of the problem, hopefully, they will resolve the problem in a short time, especially since they have all the valuable information that you have gathered about the problem.

While you wait to get back online, have patience and remember that you can do plenty when you are offline.

CONCLUSION

This step-by-step guide for troubleshooting network connectivity on Windows is a general template and may vary from case to case. In general, whenever you start the troubleshooting process you can eliminate quite a few causes by verifying if the problem persists after restarting, and checking if the problem is occurring on other devices or for your colleagues.

This article was originally posted on the Jones IT Blog: https://www.itjones.com/blogs/2018/5/1/troubleshoot-network-connectivity-problem