[LM_NET] TECH: Laptops & Wireless Network

[Juli Harris <bookstar99@AOL.COM>]

I?m hoping that the great minds at LM_NET can offer some advice?  
 
We got a cart of 26 IBM laptops last spring.  We are running them exclusively in 
the Library which is the only area in the school within the wireless network.  We 
don't have any desktops for the students to use; the laptops are the only computers 
in the Library.  
 
The problem that we are experiencing is that Internet access is erratic.  The 
students are continually complaining that they can?t access the Internet and need 
to exchange one laptop for another.   When I attempt to check the problem I 
typically get the message: "limited or no connectivity" and/or something to the 
effect that the computer is missing its IP address.  I?m not sure if those are two 
separate problems or part of the same issue.
 
Sometimes the connection will miraculously ? and almost immediately come back ? 
other times I will just shut the computer down and when it is later restarted it 
will work. 
 
My principal, who also the "tech person" at this school, has told me that I must 
have the students completely shut down the computer after each use (that?s on and 
off at least 7+ times per day) and that this would solve the problem.  So far that 
has not helped.  
 
I haven?t found any correlation with the number of computers using the network, 
where they are located within the Library, etc.
 
Has anyone else encountered a similar problem and come up with a solution?  It is 
very perplexing, time consuming and extremely frustrating for both the students and 
me.
 
 
Juli Harris
School Library Media Specialist
Trinity Catholic High School
Stamford, CT
BookStar99@aol.com

"What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it thinks about 
education." 
~ Harold Howe

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