To Be a Network Engineer: 10 Ways to Quickly Troubleshoot Wireless AP

As we all know, wireless AP devices are used to connect all wireless nodes and perform centralized management centrally. The general wireless AP provides a wired Ethernet interface for connection with wired networks, workstations, and routing devices.

SPOTO introduces ten ways to troubleshoot wireless AP quickly; I hope to help everyone.

1. Wireless connection rate drops

Wireless network equipment can intelligently adjust the transmission rate to adapt to changes in wireless signal strength and ensure the smoothness of the wireless network. However, if the network connection speed is lower than 2Mb / s for some time, it means that the system may be faulty. You can perform the following operations to restore the original transmission rate:

01. Check whether the power saving mode of the wireless network card is turned on. When the power-saving method is adopted, the transmission power of the wireless network card can be significantly reduced, resulting in weakening of the wireless signal, thereby affecting the transmission rate of the wireless network;

02. Check if there is any obstruction between the wireless devices. If there is an obstruction between the wireless network card, or between the wireless network card and the wireless AP, especially a metal shield, it seriously affects the wireless signal transmission. It is recommended to place the wireless AP at a higher position in the room to make it visible to the wireless network card;

03. Check if there are other interference devices. Devices such as microwave ovens, cordless phones. That is close to the frequency of the wireless network causes more significant interference to the wireless transmission, resulting in a decrease in the communication rate. Most microwave ovens use 7 to 11 of the 14 channels on the 2.4GHz frequency band, so for wireless devices that use the 802.11b protocol, as long as the communication channel is fixed to 14 (the last channel).

The wireless network cannot receive data.

If everything is normal when the wireless AP connected to the wireless router, Internet connection sharing of the wireless network can be realized, indicating that there is no problem with the hardware and settings of the wireless AP.

Since the data cannot be received, it means that the connection with the network cannot be established correctly, and the cause of the failure may appear in the relationship between the wireless AP and the switch.

If the switch supports smart ports, it can determine the device connected to the peer and automatically complete the port mode switch. Otherwise, it would help if you used the designated jumper to connect the wireless AP and the switch.

Typically, crossover cables should be used for the connection between network devices. Therefore, it is recommended to use a crossover cable to connect the wireless AP and the switch to test whether the fault is resolved.

The wireless AP cannot connect too many devices

Although, in theory, a wireless AP or wireless router can simultaneously support 256 Wi-Fi connections. However, from practical experience, once more than ten clients are using the same access point, its performance quickly declines. In a sense, wireless APs and wireless routers are very similar to hubs, and all access users share bandwidth.

Therefore, as the number of access users increases, the available bandwidth decreases rapidly, resulting in a significant drop in the network transmission rate. Also, the performance of wireless APs and wireless routers is limited, and when processing concurrent access by multiple users at the same time, the delay becomes very large. The following methods can be adopted to solve:

01. Configure another wireless AP, set the two APs to different channels (such as one using channel one and one using channel 5), and use a crossover cable to connect them directly, or use a switch to interconnect each other;

02. Lock each network card to the designated access point. After configuring a wireless AP, it forms a wireless roaming network. The wireless network card roams from one access point to another access point and then locks on the access point with the most reliable signal strength. If there are multiple access points in an environment and there are more than two comparable signal strengths, the wireless network card continuously switches back and forth between different access points, significantly reducing the performance of the network.

Locking the wireless network card to a fixed access point can eliminate the phenomenon of switching between access points. It can improve security, and make unauthorized wireless network cards unable to use wireless AP as well as prevent wireless AP from connecting too many wireless clients.

The computer cannot communicate with the wireless network if the wireless network card shows regular operation. Still, the data receiving and sending values are 0, you can take the following methods:

01. Check all the cables of the wireless AP and make sure that the power indicator is green;

02. Verify that all wireless network property settings are correct;

03. Make sure that the signal received by the computer from the access point is good.

Unstable wireless network transmission rate

After the wireless network is installed, the network communication is healthy, but the data transmission speed is fast and slow. It is the reason that wireless devices are strictly related to the environment, such as distance and interference.

They can automatically adjust the speed according to the environment, so the speed change is healthy. The simplest is that the transmission speed decreases when the distance is far. Generally, the wireless access device AP can be placed in the center of the wireless local area network device group so that all wireless terminals are not too far away.

6. The wireless network card shows only sending and not receiving

If the wireless AP setting is correct, other staff in the office can receive wireless, and the computer can access the Internet through the wired network. Still, the data collected through the wireless network is always 0.

Check the wireless network properties and find that the IP address and subnet mask are not the average values. It indicates that the network card is not connected to the wireless network and does not obtain IP address information from the wireless AP.

The cause of this failure is related to the wireless network settings. Different wireless networks use different SSID and WEP encryption. Therefore, the problem may be due to modified network settings. The solution is to refresh and set the wireless AP and modify the WEP encryption.

7. The laptop cannot access the wireless network

Use SVA wireless AP and wireless network cards to build a wireless network. The SVA wireless client can access the wireless network regularly, but the built-in wireless network card of the IBM notebook cannot establish a wireless connection.

It is because wireless products of the same manufacturer have the same default SSID and WEP encryption, but the SSIDs of different manufacturers are not the same.

Therefore, in addition to Windows XP, other operating systems must install a wireless client, and modify the SSID (note the case) and WEP password of the IBM wireless network. It should be pointed out that the SSID and wireless connection mode of the wireless network card should also be checked in the "Device Manager."

8. Low communication rate between wireless APs

The maximum distance of wireless AP bridging is about 150m. At this distance, two APs often fail to connect. Generally, it can be solved by setting up an external gain antenna, but the cost of doing so is relatively high.

Another method is to install two wireless APs to the outdoor wall and use the two walls as reflection objects to enhance the first radiated waves. The aluminum-plastic board is used as a pot-shaped container for protection between the wireless AP and the wall, which not only looks beautiful but also solves the problems of waterproofing and sun protection, and also plays a functional role in reflection. After processing, the connection rate can be as high as 11Mb / s, and there are no more disconnections.

9. The wrong location of wireless AP can't get online

If the company's office building is on the 6th floor and two wireless APs are used on the first and third floors, Internet access is not good. Measures can be taken to place two wireless APs on the second and fourth floors to achieve wireless coverage of the entire office building. The two APs are connected to the switch through a cable, and then access the Internet through a broadband router.

10. The wireless signal weakens after the wireless AP moves

After moving the wireless AP in the office to the file cabinet, the broadcast signal weakened a lot, and the transmission rate dropped significantly. The cause of this failure is the problem of MulTIpath.

When using a horn antenna to watch TV, there were ghost images on some channel screen of some channels in the past. These ghost images are called multiple channels.

Similarly, after nearby objects bounce the wireless signal, it reaches the receiver at different points in time, resulting in multiple paths. For example, place a wireless client in a room and have an access point in the room.

When the access point sends a signal, the signal spreads out from all directions and reaches the wireless client. However, the broadcast signal also bounces off other objects, and then contact the wireless client through the turning path. It means that the wireless client received two or more signals. It is almost impossible for wireless networks to eliminate multi-path messages, so they can only reduce multi-path phenomena as much as possible. Try not to place metal objects near the access point or wireless client.

The wireless AP plays a vital role in the wireless network; it is equivalent to a relay, connecting all nodes. I hope that the above ten quick troubleshooting methods for wireless APs can give you a reference. If you have any questions, and you can contact us directly. We will provide some professional tutors with you. Besides, we will update more technical articles, and you can follow SPOTO.