Why Can’t I Connect to the Internet???

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? But hey, as help desk folks, we’re supposed to troubleshoot the problem… not scream into the void like the Wi-Fi personally betrayed us.

1. Overview

The troubleshooting process will depend on the OS the device is currently running. But generally, it should look similar. We can go from layer1 - layer3 and figure out the problem steps by stpes.

2. Description

2.1 Identify the scope

• have you tried reboot your device or the network device?
• what environment are you in? school? or company network?
• has this happened before?
• is there other people experiencing the same proble?
• what device are you using? laptop or smartphone?
• is it wired or wifi?
• can you access the internal shared drives? (local network problem or gateway problem)

2.2 Layer 1

• is the ehternet cable securely plugged in?
  • “Are the link lights on the NIC and the switch/router port solid green or amber?”
• is the netowork device power on?
  • Check the power lights on any intermediary devices (router, switch).
• how’s the signal bar?

2.3 Layer 2

• how’s the MAC address doing? Is the NIC working?
  • ping the default gateway (if can’t the problem is inside local network)
  • arp -a
  • Verify the Default Gateway’s IP and MAC address appear in the ARP cache.

2.4 Layer 3

• Do you have an assigned ip?
  • ipconfig /all for windows
  • ifconfig /all for linux/ Mac
  • ipconfig/release, ipconfig/flushdns, ipconfig /renew, ipconfig /registerdns
  • what is the reuslt when you ping google.com? (is the router working? is the DNS working?)
  • what about when ping 8.8.8.8?
  • run tracert to see the route of the packet