Essential Guide to Troubleshooting Network Problems

Basic Network Troubleshooting Techniques (windows 10)

In this tutorial you will learn basic techniques that are troubleshooting network problems. These techniques should be used as a first attempt in troubleshooting any network problem. You can use this techniques to solve a basic network problem and a good start in troubleshooting network problems.

The Ping Utility

The ping utility is one of the helpful tools in network problem troubleshooting. It gives you a very quick way to determine if a device or network service is functioning correctly or not on a network.

How to Use

1. In Windows, click on Start and Run.

1. Run box will open type cmd and press <Enter>. You will see a window with a black background and a command prompt.

2. At the open command prompt window, type ping followed by host name (e.g. computer name, website address, etc.) or the IP address of the device or service you would like to test then press <Enter>. In this example, we’ll ping eduglow.in to see if it is accessible on the network. So at the command prompt type ping google.com. You should see the “Reply from” lines below which shows that the ping to eduglow.com was successful

4. If pinging the network service or device was unsuccessful, you may see one of several screens shown in the succeeding steps. This screen is usually a case where the machine has no connectivity to a network. This could be a result of the computer you are running the ping on not physically connected to the network. Here are some examples could be the problem:

a. Bad network jack or line run from the wall outlet back to the data center room Switch.

b. Unplugged or bad network patch cable (cable that connects the computer to the wall jack)

c. Bad network card

d. Bad network switch

e. Network card drivers not properly loaded on the machine

f. Wrong network settings on the computer.

Below command you can try

a. Make sure that a patch cable is plugged in between the computer and the wall jack.

b. Plug the Patch cable from the computer in working network jack (this will let you know, problem exists with the

patch cable or with the computer’s network card). If there are still no results, replace the patch cable with a known,

working patch cable to narrow the problem down to the machine itself.

c. Type ipconfig command at the command line to see if you have correct network settings on the machine.

d. Right click on This pc icon on desktop and Select Manage or go to control panel and double click on system icon.

Click on Device Manager and check to make sure there are no entries with a yellow ? next to the line (this is

indicative of a bad or non-existent driver).

5. If you ping hostname or IP address and screen shows another type of output from the ping utility where network connectivity is a problem. This one is almost the same as step 4 and includes all the same scenarios. The results of the ping utility below could be one of the problems OR, it can also mean that the end point you are trying to ping is not available. If those don’t work, check to see if there is a system outage or the end device is off line. Sometimes it is best to try pinging several known host names or IP addresses to rule out the problem with the computer you are working on.

For example, try pinging www.eduglow.in. If you are receiving successful results from any one of the attempts, chances are the problem exists outside of the machine you are working on. Using the examples above can also tell you if 1) the problem is out on the Internet (by pinging www.eduglow.in), or 2) the problem is between your building and the rest of the district network or 3) if the problem is local to your machine (by pinging a device in the building like a printer).

6. If Ping utility show “Destination Unreachable”, then this is generally a problem with network routing. First, you should still rule out the obvious to make sure all problem areas have been addressed and functionality has been confirmed). If you have checked all steps and the problem still exists, it is time to call a technician.

Tracert Utility (traceroute)

The tracert is another utility to determine where a network problem exist. By using tracert, you will be able to see where network connectivity works and show a particular point in the network where a problem exist.

Follow below step:

1. In Windows, click on Start and Run.

2. Run box will open type cmd and press <Enter>. You will see a window with a black background and a command prompt.

3. At the open command prompt window, type tracert followed by either the host name (e.g. computer name, website address, etc.) or the IP address of the device (if you know) or service you would like to test then press <Enter>. In this example, we’ll do a tracert to eduglow.in to see the number of hops between the machine you initiate the tracert command on to the final destination which is eduglow.in. A hop is a device where the tracert command can return a reply such as a switch or a router.

4. The above shows a successful tracert response using the tracert starting on the computer happens to be my computer workstation. The first hop goes to 192.168.1.1 which is the router located at the building where my computer workstation is located. It then goes to 45.122.122.1. After several series of hops, you can see the final message of Trace complete. The tracert utility successfully found its way over the network from my workstation to eduglow.in.

5. If you see results as shown in the below screen, this can mean one of two things. 1) Either there is a problem with a router after the last successful hop or 2) the end device you are doing a tracert to does not accept ping requests. Most generally, if you are getting past the 67.128.27.X IP addresses, chances are that number 2 is the case where the host you are performing the tracert on does not accept ping requests. This can be fairly standard as hackers are known to use ping to flood hosts with an enormous load of ping requests and cause a Denial of Service (or DoS) attack on machines. Many viruses use the same tactics.

6. You must note, the best place to use a tracert utility is within your organization, primarily between buildings, when there is network connectivity to a particular device.

Ipconfig Utility

The ipconfig utility is used to find network settings are being applied to a computer. Network settings include the

machines IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and other network information.

Use Below commands:

1. . Use same steps explained above for the tracert and ping utility to bring up a command prompt window.

2. At the command prompt window, simply type ipconfig and press <Enter> button on keyboard.

3. In the above screen you have seen the Connection-specific DNS suffix which is simply just the name of the network also known as a domain that the machine resides in. You will also see the IP Address of the machine, Subnet Mask and the Default Gateway which typically is the main switch or router of your building. These settings are generally set automatically when the machine starts and get the settings from a server also located on the same network.

4. One of the option using ipconfig for troubleshooting is to perform one of the following tasks to have the machine acquire a new IP address.

i. Type ipconfig /release. This will remove the current IP address of the machine. If you run this, you should not be

able to access any network resources.

ii. Now, type ipconfig /renew. This will send out a request to the nearest server for a new IP address. the machine

back onto the network.

If you have any doubt please send me mail info@eduglow.in . I will help you free of cost.