Basic Network Concepts And Troubleshooting

A Simple Computer Network for File Sharing

10/100 Ethernet Switch

Your computer’s network adapter connects to a port on a switch. When you have a connection to a switch, there should be a link light on the network adapter. A link light is a small LED that can be seen near where the network cable plugs into your computer.

Network Addressing Before your computer can communicate with other computers on a network, it must have an address. On your network, this address is known as an “IP address.”

In order to view your IP address on a Windows XP or Windows 2000 computer, you can open a command prompt window…

At the command prompt, type “ipconfig.” Then, hit enter. Basic IP address information will be displayed. Here, you can see that my IP address is

You can do a simple test to see if you’re connected to the network. After using the “ipconfig” utility to see your IP address information, note that you can also see an address for “Default Gateway.” In this case, you can see that my default gateway is At the prompt, type “ping [gateway address]”. If you get a reply, you’re connected.

Basic Troubleshooting Very that you are physically connected to network. Make sure there is a network cable plugged into your network adapter and look for a link light. Verify that you have an IP address. Take note of which applications on your computer are working, and which ones aren’t.

Basic Troubleshooting Cont. If you’re having trouble with your web- browser only, see if you can get to If you can, but still can’t reach other resources on the Internet, check your proxy settings.

In Internet Explorer, click on Tools/Internet Options…

Click the “Connections” tab at the top, then select “LAN Settings…” “Use automatic configuration script” should be checked. In the address box, you should see the following address… It’s important that you verify every single character.