Troubleshooting a WAP Log File

Analyzing the WAP logs that your wireless Internet router produces can help you troubleshoot issues that you may be experiencing with your connection. The logs can reveal connection times, duration, devices, as well as attempted logins made with failed password entries and usernames. Using this information, you can find out if there are network issues, software problems, or hardware issues that are causing your trouble connecting to the wireless access point.

Instructions

1. Locate the WAP log file by navigating to the file directory of your router's firmware, or any files that it may store on an administrative machine that's connected to it.

2. Open the WAP log file using a plain text editing application, such as Mac OS X's TextEdit or the Notepad application that is installed on Windows machines.

3. Scan the log file for attempted logins, failed logins, and the duration of each login. Look at the devices that are connecting to the access point, and check to see that your device, identified by its MAC address, is logged as a device that has connected to the network.

References

• Microsoft TechNet: Troubleshooting IEEE 802.11 Wireless Access with Microsoft Windows
• Netgear: Troubleshooting Access Points
• SawMill: WAP Log