When a student's connection goes down, you should go through a sequence of steps to try to determine what is going on.  Use the instructions below as a guide.

Check the simple things

Check a known good cable

Ping the adapter itself

Set the adapter to 10 megabits, half duplex

Uninstall and re-install TCP/IP

 Remember:  Always check the simple things first:
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- Is the cable connected in the computer.  Is it in the wall?
- Is the cable connected in the ethernet port on the wall (the right side), or has the student placed the cable in the phone jack?
- Is the connection secure?
- On a laptop with a dongle or x-jack, is the connection between the dongle/x-jack and the body of the adapter secure?
- Are there lights on the ethernet adapter where the cable is plugged in?

1.  Check a known good cable - your own.
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2. Ping the adapter itself:
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- Go to Start > Run > and type "command"
- At the prompt, type ping 127.0.0.1.    This pings the adapter itself.
- If you get a response, the adapter works.  If you get a "request timed out" message, the adapter may be bad.
- Type ping 137.1412.15.12.  This pings a remote device.  This test will tell if the adapter is connected to the network, that TCP/IP is working, and that the computer can communicate..



3.  Set the adapter to 10 megabits, half duplex
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- Go to the Network Neighborhood properties.
- Double-click on The adapter in question (with the green icon).
- Click the Advanced tab.
- Expand the Property menu.  Search for an entry labeled "Media type" or "Duplex mode".  Choose that entry.
- Expand the "Value" menu.  Search for an entry labeled "10mbps half-duplex" or "10 half" or "10 base t".  Choose that entry.
- Click OK and restart the computer by accepting the restart prompt.



4.  Uninstall and re-install tcp/ip
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- Go to the Network Neighborhood properties.
- In the Configuration tab, highlight "TCP/IP --> [adapter]".
- Click Remove.
- Restart the computer.
- Go to the Network Neighborhood properties.
- In the Config tab, click Add.
- Click Protocol.
- In the left pane, choose Microsoft.  In the right pane, double click tcp/ip.
- If you are asked to insert a disk, place the appropriate disk in the computer and point to it.
- Restart the computer.

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