Ah, the old favorite, "I can’t connect to the internet." In my last post on printers, I covered the
basics of checking to make sure the connections were tight. I don’t want to spend much time on that, but obviously,
the same “start with the simplest explanation” concept applies. Why’ll we’re at it, what are some other simple explanations for
why a user’s internet is not working?
Here’s a few examples:
It actually is
working, but it’s just one site that’s
down.
Solution: Either wait
it out, or if the site is mission critical,
get in contact with their support.
It is working but a
specific site(s) is having browser issues
Solution: Varies, but
often involves enabling cookies, SSL , TSL, or switching to a different
browser, if that’s allowed in your environment.
The user is trying to
get on to a blocked site.
Explain that the company firewall is designed to keep
everyone safe and productive, but if the site is blocked in error, we can
petition IT and regular management for changes in policy. Notice that claims of “internet not working” can mean a lot of things to an end user.
The user has internet
service, but can’t connect to intranet site, such as a file server
Solution: Varies, but
the first step is to confirm that the server isn’t having general issues, not
specific to the user. The second step is
to ask the user to refresh the connection to test, and then restart the
computer. Restarts will often fix these
issues, as inelegant as it seems. The
third step is to check permission settings on the file server. Is the user part of a group that is denied
permission to the server?
The user has general
connectivity issues.
For the sake of argument, let’s say the obvious solutions
have been tested. I like to use
the ping command from Command Prompt to see if a user’s IP can be reached from my computer. If it can, that’s a sign that the network
cabling between us is intact. If not,
we need to investigate further.
From the user’s computer, you can
use the command ping google.com
You can also try to ping a public DNS server (above)
Ping is working loud and clear for me. Seeing this would rule out general
connectivity issues. If it stalls and
never connects, it’s a sign that A: a
network cable, possibly at the network rack, is unplugged, or B:
Your network’s security apparatus has decided it doesn't like the end
user and has blocked his IP or MAC address.
To remedy this, you should check to see if the wiring corresponding
to the user’s data port has made it to the network switch uninterrupted. One of your co-workers may have gotten
adventurous when rearranging things and left the user unplugged. A security administrator will have to change
settings on a firewall if the user is currently blocked.
If none of this resolves the issue, then I would break out a
technician laptop and see if it is able to connect at the users work area. If it can connect, it narrows the issue down
to the user’s personal computer. From
there, I’d move the user’s computer to a test area, ideally connected directly
to the internet and not through our intranet.
If the user has a virus, we don’t want it spreading through the
office. The network interface card would
be the likely culprit if it’s a hardware problem. If it’s not lighting up at the point where
the Ethernet cord is plugged in, that’s a sure sign it is not working.
Lastly there’s a chance the PC is infected with
a virus. Dealing with viruses will be
the subject of a future post. As you can see, internet connectivity issues are a broad set of issues, with many possible points of failure. I’ve undoubtedly neglected a few. On the whole, the most important thing is to communicate with the user about the true nature of the problem. It’s by far the most time saving step.
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