Packet Tracer - Troubleshoot a Wireless Connection

[Santi56]

I have been taking a Packet Tracer course, and now I come across this guided activity: Packet Tracer - Troubleshoot a Wireless Connection
It tells me the following information:

"Before you can troubleshoot the problem, you need to understand which devices are affected. This is useful in determining if a single computer has a fault or if the entire network or parts of the network are affected.

A good way to test Internet connectivity is to verify that the hosts can access a website, such as www.cisco.pka.

When you have finished all the tasks, the Next button at the bottom will be enabled.

Click Next to continue thereafter.

You can use ping, tracert, or your web browser to try to reach www.cisco.pka"

But pinging or tracerting it, or trying it in the web browser gives me mixed results, and I think that's all I need to do for this part. However, I don't know let me advance to the next section.

It is worth mentioning that the course is in English and what I have done is based on my translation

[Leo Laohoo]

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@Santi56 wrote:

"Before you can troubleshoot the problem, you need to understand which devices are affected. This is useful in determining if a single computer has a fault or if the entire network or parts of the network are affected.

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This logic is completely wrong.  

• FIRST step in troubleshooting wireless is to VERIFY what is actually wrong.  Get the right information down first is key.  Remember, this is WiFi.  A lot of problems are actually caused by users who are upset they have lost contact to FB/Twitter/Instagram, etc.  
• Next, give me the MAC address of the offending machine or "it never happened".
• Dumbest Question to Ask:  What is the IP address of the offending machine.  Trust me.  It sounds "stupid" but I have lost count how many times the response is "169.254.X.X".  
• If the wireless client has a valid and dynamic IP address, can the machine ping it's own IP address?  
• Can the offending machine ping the default gateway or not? 
• Windows Command:  netsh wlan show drivers

These are the most basic to-do tasks before tackling anything else.  The list above spells the difference between 30 minutes and 4 hours.  

I hate answering PT questions because what happens "in the wild" is a totally different, if not contradicting, world.  

[Santi56]

This does not solve my doubt ._.

[Martin L]

I think this is PT exerciser TS steps in order to advanced to next section but not necessary real-world TS steps. However, there is some truth to those steps you listed.

I like "you need to understand which devices are affected".  If it just my laptop, and not yours, the issue is not Wireless AP; in case all neighboring laptops don't have Internet via wireless access, problem is AP point.  Normally TS steps are:

1.Check your IP settings; normally you would have IP, mask, default gateway IP, DNS IP.

2. Ping your IP, ping default gateway, then ping IP of remote host, like other side of a router or www server.

3. ping DNS IP, Ping WWW server and open website.  Note that its is DNS service job to change IP to URL name in case of website.

The steps in PT tell you to check website that PT server is hosting, like cisco.pta.  I would check with regular PC If you have regular PC wired connection in lab.  Check if PC can open website. If PC can but not laptop, the issue is with Wireless connection.  If you cannot open website via wired or wireless, ping server using IP of server.  if ping fails, check your IP address, then check your default gateway IP. Ping your default gateway. if any pings fail, you must fix them first.  Then Ping www server and ping DNS server. If you can ping www server, try open webiste using IP of server first. then try using URL name. if it fails, then check DNS settings.  That would mean that DNS IP is missing or DNS server is not setup. 

Do u have IP of DNS and can u ping it?  Quick check of DNS is by opening website using IP address and not its name (like www.cisco). In other words, you must have DNS set up to open a webiste using FDQN, aka URL, (http:or https:). 

"But pinging or tracerting it, or trying it in the web browser gives me mixed results," - What results are those? What can u ping or not? 

Regards, ML
**Please Rate All Helpful Responses **

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

can you post the zipped PT Activity file ?

[hexa]

I encountered the same problem with this one. 

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

Laptop1 had no wireless connectivity. You need to connect the laptop to the wireless router (Passphrase is Cisco123). After that, you can browse www.cisco.pka.

Attached the revised file.

[hexa]

Thank you. I thought I was only supposed to figure out which computer had no access to internet and then I'd be able to get to the next task. In other words assignment seemed a bit confusing.

[Georg Pauwen]

A little bit unclear indeed what they wanted. I got to the next task though...did you, too ?

[hexa]

It worked with the revised file you attached previously but not with the one downloaded from the course. 

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

so you are ok now ? Or do you need more help ?

[hexa]

All good, thanks for the help

[Craig Curry]

Hey Hexa and Georg,

Having the same problem. I connected Laptop1 checked www.cisco.pka and its fine. Still not letting to check next.

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

I remember that you had to check the links for all connected devices in order to get the correct checks. Post your zipped Packet Tracer project file...

[Kryt3n]

Something is definitely wrong with this activity. After using tracert with Laptop2 to get the default gateway, I connected with the router using PC4 via the web browser with 192.168.1.1 to know the passphrase (Cisco123) in Wireless Security tab. After doing this, I connected Laptop1 to the Wifi. Now I can finally reach www.cisco.pka with Laptop1, but as you can see in the attached screenshot, the NEXT bottom is still not enable, even when I have already solved the issue. As a beginner, I have lost a lot of time thinking that I was doing something wrong and finally it seems to be an issue in the activity itself... quite frustrating!