Network Troubleshooting: Overview

This diagnostic is designed to help familiarize you with home networking; how it’s components, software, and tools work.

1. Start troubleshooting by visually inspecting all your network components for normal operation.
2. Make sure all your devices are plugged in and powered on.
3. Make sure all your network cables (Ethernet) are plugged in. If you are in doubt of the condition of any of your network cables, replace them with known good cables. 98% of all network problems are caused by defective cables.
4. Try restarting your computer, and the MSS unit.
5. Check to see if Windows, or your virus software ran Automatic updates immediately before you noticed the problem.
6. After checking everything mentioned above, start diagnosing the light functions and physical connections on your MSS unit.
7. Check your current TCP/IP configuration. Get comfortable with typing from a command prompt window (black and white screen). This is the quickest and easiest way to check network connections.
8. Confirm that your PC and MSS unit are on the same network.
9. Ping your PC 127.0.0.1 Pass/Fail
10. Ping seagate.com and Ping globalaccess.seagate.com.
11. Any time you make changes to your network whether its router, switch, firewall, or cable connections, always run the Maxtor Manager after every operation to try and discover your MSS on the network.

(See page 10 for instructions on usin the Command prompt)

Network Attached Storage: Settings

This portion of the diagnostic is used to help familiarize you with typical home networks settings, and, how to find them.
To check your network connections go to Start>Settings> and click on Network Connections.

After the Connection screen displays, right click on the Local Area Connection icon and select Status.

The Status of your connection should show that packets are being sent and received.

Clicking on the Support tab reveals the current IP settings, the Details button, and the Repair button.
You can click on the Repair button at any time.

Clicking on the Details button of the Support tab will display the current Network Connection Details.
If you go to a command prompt and type ipconfig /all the connection details will display along with your ISP information.

Check the Properties of your Local Area Connection. This window should show your Ethernet adapter and, the software protocols that are installed which allow you to access your home network and the internet. You should see your Ethernet card, drivers, and the protocols that are currently being used by this connection.
Highlight the TCP/IP properties line in the protocol field and select the Properties button to the right.

When the internet protocol ( TCP/IP) properties screen displays, the radio button next to Obtain IP address Automatically and the Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically should be selected. The other fields should be blank and grayed out.

If you click on the Alternate Configuration tab, the Automatic Private IP address radio button should be selected, and everything else should be grayed out.

Typing from a command prompt is the best way to view and diagnose your network settings because it allows more flexibility when diagnosing the network. To open a command prompt window in Windows 2000 or XP, click Start | Run, type cmd in the box, and click OK.

The black C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe screen will display.



Type one command per line, and press Enter after each one to execute it. Your first command to type is: ipconfig /all

You should see all of the information that the grayed out Windows IP fields don’t display. This page shows you have a wired connection and the wireless is disconnected.

If you see something that says disconnected that means you have a cable or power problem. Start checking cables, connections, routers etc.

This laptop is equipped with wired and wireless Ethernet adapters and it shows that both are currently disconnected from the network.

This concludes the . This concludes the MSS Settings tutorial. Select another topic by clicking on the appropriate Command Panel Tab at the top of the page.

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