General Troubleshooting

Problem or Symptom

Possible Solution

The wireless network card cannot connect to the access point.

Ensure that your access point is turned on, and that you have a profile for the wireless network. The security settings in your profile must match your access point’s settings.

Ensure that 802.1X is disabled on both your access point and your wireless card.

The wireless card drops connection occasionally.

1. Move closer to the access point.

2. Power cycle access point.

3. Update access point firmware from access point vendor support site.

4. Update the wireless LAN driver.

Your wireless connection is slower than expected.

1. Move closer to the access point.

2. Power cycle access point.

3. Update access point firmware from access point vendor support site.

4. Update the wireless LAN driver.

The name of my wireless network is not displayed in the list of available networks.

Ensure that your access point is functioning correctly.

Check the SSID (network name) of the wireless network and ensure that the access point is set to broadcast the SSID.

For XP users: The computers seem to be connected to the network, but printers and/or file shares do not appear in My Computer or in My Network Places.

Verify that File and Printer Sharing is enabled on all the computers on your network.

1. Click Start.

2. Click Control Panel.

3. Click Switch to Classic View, if available in the left pane.

4. Double-click Network Connections.

5. Right-click Wireless Network Connection.

6. Click Properties.

7. Click the General tab.

8. Under This connection uses the following items, verify that the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks is selected.

9. If cleared, click to select File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks.

10. If this item is not present, perform the following steps:

• Click Install.

• Select Service

• Click Add.

• Select File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks.

• Click OK

11. Close OK to close Wireless Network Connection Properties.

12. Close Network Connections.

For Vista users: The computers seem to be connected to the network, but printers and/or file shares do not appear in Computer.

Verify that File and Printer Sharing are enabled in the Network and Sharing Center.

1. Click Start.

2. Click Control Panel.

3. Click Network and Internet.

4. Under Network and Sharing Center, click View network computers and devices.

5. If no resources are displayed, network discovery and file sharing may be turned off. This is indicated by a message by the top of the window: Network discovery and file sharing are turned off. Network computers and devices are not visible. Click to change... Click this message.

6. Click Turn on network discovery and file sharing. The instructions will guide you through the process.

Data transfer is sometimes very slow.

Microwave ovens, some baby monitors, cordless game controllers, and some cordless phones operate at the same radio frequency as the installed wireless card. When these devices are in use, they interfere with the wireless network. For optimum performance, keep wirelessly-connected computers at least 20 feet away from devices that operate at a frequency of 2.4 GHz.

Data transfer is always very slow.

Some homes and most offices are steel-framed structures. The steel in such buildings may interfere with your network's radio signals, thus causing a slowdown in the data transmission rate. Try moving your computer to different locations in the building to see if performance improves.

Computers are not communicating with the network.

Verify that all of the wireless network properties settings are correct.

• Make sure that your computer is receiving a good signal from the access point or router.

• Verify with the network administrator that installed the wireless card in your portable computer is compatible with the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard under which the wireless network is operating.

• You may need to disable or uninstall firewall software to connect.

• If your network uses access points or routers, check all cables and make sure the power LED on the front of the access point or router is green.

I cannot connect to any wireless network.

Radio may be disabled. See: Turn on/Turn off Radio for more information.

Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi software asks me for a key when I try to connect to a wireless network.

Network has security enabled. See Security Overview for more information.

No WiFi networks are displayed in the list of available networks.

Computer is too far from wireless network or there are no WiFi networks in the area.

How do I configure roaming identity for multiple users?

Configure Roaming Identity to support multiple users:

If you use a Pre-logon/Common profile that requires the roaming identity to be based on the Windows logon credentials, the creator of the profile can add a roaming identity that uses %username% and %domain%. The roaming identity is parsed and the appropriate log on information is substituted for the keywords. This allows maximum flexibility in configuring the roaming identity while allowing multiple users to share the profile.

Please see your authentication server user guide for directions about how to format a suitable roaming identity. Possible formats are:

%domain%\%username%
%username%@%domain%
%username%@%domain%.com
%username%@mynetwork.com

If Roaming Identity is cleared, %domain%\%username% is the default.

NOTE: Credentials: This user name and domain must match the user name that is set in the authentication server by the administrator prior to client authentication. The user name is case-sensitive. This name specifies the identity supplied to the authenticator by the authentication protocol operating over the TLS tunnel. This user identity is securely transmitted to the server only after an encrypted channel has been verified and established.