Wireless Connectivity | Losing Connection, Not Connecting

Summary

Your laptop or wireless-capable computer keeps losing connection. There are several reasons why this could happen.

Incorrect network
WiFi Settings
Recent Windows Update
Lost connection from the wireless access point
Saturated wireless network
No internet
The computer isn't whitelisted for the network

Troubleshooting

If you haven't done so already, please make sure you've rebooted the computer and followed the steps from our Solutions article: https://servicedesk.nobisrehabpartners.com/support/solutions/articles/16000062270-unresponsive-applications

! We're currently aware of the ongoing issue with WOWs and laptops losing connection. We have a problem ticket for all of the hospitals. You can feel free and try the troubleshooting steps below. It may or may not help with the problem. Our Senior System Administrator has been working with our vendor and has visited the hospital for on-site troubleshooting as well. Please be patient as he is diligently trying to find the source of the problem.

1/30/23 - New possible fix. There is a new BIOS update. Please run step 2 of the Solutions article: https://nobis.freshservice.com/support/solutions/articles/16000062270

If you require assistance, please let us know.

1. Incorrect network - There are two networks in the hospital.

Hospital_Employees - this network is reserved for company computers such as laptops and WOWs. This is like being connected to an ethernet cable which means it's a trusted network. A first-time connection requires a password. If you see it prompting for email and password, it's not whitelisted.
Hospital_Guest - this network is public. This is normally used by patients, visitors, or employees. This network requires the user to sign in. Yes, company computers do work on this network, but it won't allow file share access unless on VPN. New employees trying to sign in for the first time will also experience issues since the computer is not on the domain.

2. WiFi Settings - This setting is normally turned on by default. It's possible it is off or the driver is missing. You can try typing "WiFi" in the Windows search at the bottom of your screen. You should see a setting for "Wi-Fi." If it's off, click on it to turn it on. If it's greyed out, you may not have permission and that requires a ticket with your IT department. If it's missing, then the network adapter driver is possibly missing. This will require an incident.

3. Recent Windows Update - Updates are supposed to fix known issues with Windows, but at the same time, it can break things during the process. If you haven't rebooted the computer, your computer may not work correctly. Always reboot after an update and reboot often. You can follow this article to help you through this step.

4. Lost connection from the wireless access point - Although there are several wireless access points throughout the hospital, it's possible there is interference or the possibility of the computer deciding to hop to another network because someone connected to the hospital_guest network previously.

Interference could be from the building structure. You can lessen the structure part if you're in a patient's room by leaving the door open.
Network hopping happens when the computer wants to join an existing network it connected to before because it thinks the signal is stronger or has lesser traffic. If someone decided to connect to the hospital_guest network in the past, the computer remembers that connection. It should be forgotten.

Please follow these instructions to help eliminate lost connections. https://nobis.freshservice.com/support/solutions/articles/16000065933

5. Saturated wireless network - This means too many wireless connections are going on that the wireless access point can't handle it. It could result in dropping connectivity. This is a rare occurrence since hospitals have several wireless access points.

6. No internet - means no service with the Internet Service Provider. Your computer could show your connection to the wireless access point, but you have no internet. At this point, it's not a connectivity issue, but an internet service issue. There is redundancy built in each hospital with backup connections. It could result in slower internet connections, but you'll still have service. If there is no service at all, an incident needs to be created with your IT department.

7. The computer isn't whitelisted for the network - Whitelisting means the computer has been added to our wireless network table which gives full access to our network. How do you know if your computer has been whitelisted?

Hospital_employees - if your computer is whitelisted, it may only ask for the password. If it's not whitelisted, it'll ask for an email and password. Examples of what should be whitelisted on this network are WOWs, therapy laptops, company laptops, and certain devices. This allows unrestricted access on the network to include file shares.
Hospital_guest - this is a public network used by patients, visitors, and employees. It does prompt for a log in and gives access for a period of time. It's unnecessary for a company computer to be on this network if whitelisted.

If you think your company laptop isn't whitelisted, please visit our Service Catalog and request Wi-Fi access.

NOTE: Globe icon This usually indicates there is no connectivity. It can represent a false positive. It could be connected to the Internet, but not the company network. You can try reconnecting to hospital_employees by clicking on this icon in the lower right corner of the taskbar.