Troubleshooting Your Network Connection

Requesting a new Network Connection

Cal Poly Pomona’s campus network includes more than 15,000 connections across the campus. The network is divided into several Virtual Local Area Networks, or VLANs.

Users should vector their network connection requests through the IT Service Desk. University Village and University Housing residents need to make their connection requests to either the University Village or University Housing staff.

The IT Service Desk refers new connection requests to the appropriate college or administrative area technician.

When technicians request connections via the IT Service Desk, they should provide as much of the following information as possible:

1. Building number
2. Room number
3. Jack number
4. A date the connection is required.
5. Contact information, including name, phone number and email address of the requesting technician.

An IT Service Desk ticket will then be generated with the detailed information and assigned to IT's network technicians.

Troubleshooting Existing Connections

Difficulties encountered when trying to establish a network connection can easily be remedied through a few, short precautionary steps.  Sometimes, requests for jack activations are being initiated for jacks that are already active.  This occurs when a user has a laptop in standby or hibernation mode.

When a laptop goes into standby mode it shuts down the Ethernet network interface to save power.  Since the Ethernet network does not turn back on when the laptop is returned to normal operation users cannot establish a network connection.  Fortunately, rebooting the laptop will allow users to connect to the Internet with no further delays.

When testing a network connection with a laptop, please ensure the computer does a full start-up rather than “waking it up” from a sleep mode.  On some models, the network card can be disabled and re-enabled to reload the card drivers and may fix some of these connectivity problems.