Wireless self help and troubleshooting guide

The answers to the following questions will help diagnose problems when connecting your computer to the wireless network.

General wireless questions

1. Have you registered your wireless LAN card for access?
2. Is the driver installed properly?
3. Do you have a connection to a wireless access point (WAP)?
4. Can you ping the Monash network?
5. Where can you download software updates?

Monash-Connect specific questions

1. The Monash-Connect installer fails
2. Where can I find previous versions of the Monash-Connect installer?

Monash-Wireless-Net specific questions

1. Do you have the correct settings in your wireless client software?
2. Do you get a 172.17.x.y IP address?
3. Can you ping the VPN gateway?
4. Have you installed the VPN client?
5. Does the VPN connection disconnect after 10 minutes?

General wireless questions

1. Have you registered your wireless LAN card for access?

To use the Monash-Wireless-Net you must register your card. If it is not registered the network will refuse to respond to your network request.

For students: register your card at http://addhost.its.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/register
For staff: please see your local TWP or IT Support.

Your ethernet/MAC address should be 12 hex characters long and look something like

The ethernet/MAC address is often printed on the back of the wireless card and can be found in Windows NT/2000/XP by opening a command prompt and typing 'ipconfig /all' for Windows 95/98 use 'winipcfg'.

eg.

C:\>  ipconfig/all

     Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : monash.edu.au
     Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Cisco Aironet 802.11a/b/g Wireless
     Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-40-96-AE-AE-F3
     Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
     Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
     IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.17.4.148
     Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
     Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
     DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 130.194.15.1
     DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 130.194.1.99
                                         130.194.7.99
     Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 26 April 2006 10:00:57 AM
     Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 26 April 2006 12:00:57 PM

The ethernet/MAC address of this card is 004096AEAEF3.

2. Is the driver installed properly?

Highly recommended: Download the latest drivers from your manufacturer's website!

In Windows:

1. Click Start > (Settings->) Control Panel > Networks
   
2. Double click on your wireless network adapter.
   
3. Click properties->configure and check that device status is:
   "This device is working properly".

Most wireless cards have a 'Client Manager' program that you can use to check that your card is working.

• With an Avaya card, you can start the client manager and click Advanced > Card diagnostics to check that the card is OK and the driver is working.
• With a cisco card, start the Aironet client utility and click on the status button.

3. Do you have a connection to a wireless access point (WAP)?

Check your 'Client Manager' software to see if you have a connection to an access point.

The Avaya client shows a small bar-graph of signal strength in the taskbar (near the clock).
To test the strength of your connections to nearby access points
Double click the client manager > Advanced > Site monitor.

What is a good signal?

SNR (Signal to noise ratio) of 15
Signal (-85dBm) or better (-50 is better than -80)

Using the Cisco Aironet client utility. Start the 'Site Survey' tool. To have an interruption free link, you would want a signal of 20% or better.

4. Can you ping the Monash network?

From a command prompt, type:

ping ns1.its.monash.edu.au <enter>

You should see something similar to this:

Pinging ns1.its.monash.edu.au [130.194.1.99] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 130.194.1.99: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=244
Reply from 130.194.1.99: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=244
Reply from 130.194.1.99: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=244
Reply from 130.194.1.99: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=244

If you get a successful reply from that address, similar to the above example, then your connection to the wireless network is OK.

5. Where can you download software updates?

Update your driver and firmware!

Our tests have shown that using the latest software for your wireless card can significantly increase performance in terms of radio reception and reliability.

Updates can be downloaded from:

Monash-Connect specific questions

1. The Monash-Connect installer fails

Some wireless interfaces include third party software which takes control over the Windows wireless network connection management. In some cases this can interfere with the installer and cause the process to abort.

If this problem occurs it is recommended that you stop using the third party software and allow Windows to manage the wireless network settings.

For Windows XP:

• Click the Start button then Settings then Control Panel then Network Connections
• Right click Wireless network connection then Properties
• Tick Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings

Note: Please consult the documentation that came with your wireless interface to disable or remove the third party wireless management software.

2. Where can I find previous versions of the Monash-Connect installer?

Previous versions of the installers can be found on the old wireless clients page.

Please note that clients listed on that page are no longer recommended and you should only use them if you are having trouble with the current approved installer.

Monash-Wireless-Net specific questions

1. Do you have the correct settings in your wireless client software?

Note for Windows XP users

The network name (SSID) of 'Monash-Conference-Net' is available in some areas.
Do not select it.

XP includes a 'wireless zero config' that is designed to make connections to wireless LANs simple. If you see a message that says:

"Monash-Wireless-Net This network is not secure because a network key(wep) is not used for authentication or for data encryption ....."

Put a tick in the "Allow me to connect to the elected wireless network, even though it is not secure" and click Connect.

If this window disappears for a few second then returns... it is likely that your card is not registered properly - refer question 1 for assistance.

* Monash uses VPN for authentication and encryption. Its 168-bit encryption is much more secure than WEP which is known to have some security flaws.

2. Do you get a 172.17.x.y IP address?

Check your IP address using 'Ipconfig' or 'winipcfg' as in Question 1 above.

• If you have an address starting with 172.17... then you have been given a proper IP address by the network.
• If your IP address is 169.254..... then your computer has failed to get an IP address from the network. Go back and check your registration and signal as listed in Question 1 above.

Known problem:

Sometimes when you have been using wireless in one area and the move to another, the network will seem to drop out - and although you have good signal and your card is properly registered, you cannot connect to the network.

This is not a wireless network problem, but a problem within our fixed-wired network. It is caused by the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) cache reading that you are still connected to the old switch. This cache entry should time-out after 5-10 minutes.
Restart your wireless connection after 10 minutes.

3. Can you ping the VPN gateway?

From a command prompt, type:

ping vpn.monash.edu.au <enter>

You should see something similar to this:

Pinging vpn.monash.edu.au [130.194.13.1] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 130.194.13.1: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=117
Reply from 130.194.13.1: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=117
Reply from 130.194.13.1: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=117
Reply from 130.194.13.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=117

If you can ping the Monash network (Step 4) but not the VPN gateway (Step 3), then there could be a fault. Please check with your nearest ITS Service Desk.

4. Have you installed the VPN client?

For security, you are required to use the VPN to connect to the Monash network. This is available on the web at https://secure.monash.edu/its/vpn/ or via the ITS Student Resources Guide CD available from Library Service Desks.

5. Does the VPN connection disconnect after 10 minutes?

In some cases, the VPN connection will be disconnected from Windows XP systems after about 10 minutes of inactivity. For details on how to fix this problem, see Wireless VPN disconnection problem with Windows XP.