80 Fort Brown, Brownsville, Texas 78520 | 956-882-8200

Technical FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Where do I go if I need help configuring my computer? 

  1. Make sure you have done the configuration mentioned at the Libertad settings page.
  2. The card must be installed and if Libertad does not work, please call the Open Lab at 882-4357 located inside the Library's second floor to setup an appointment (irhelpdesk@utb.edu). 
  3. Print and submit a Wireless User Agreement. This agreement can be found at http://ir.utb.edu under "Libertad Wireless Network."

Back to Top

I cannot connect to Libertad. What should I do?

We have prepare a set of questions that will guide you to find the solution to problems accessing Libertad. Click here for details

Back to Top

How do I find the MAC Address for my wireless card?

Windows 98/ME

  1. Click on Start, select Run, type winipcfg and press OK. Make sure your wireless card is selected.
  2. Copy down the Physical Address (MAC Address) for you wireless card. Make sure you copy it correctly. Failure to do so may not allow you to access the Libertad Wireless Network
  3. Use this MAC address when registering your wireless device.

Windows 2000/XP

  1. Click on Start, select Run and type cmd or command.  This will bring up the command prompt.
  2. Type in the following command: ipconfig   /all and press Enter.
  3. Locate the section called Ethernet adapter for your wireless network connection, and write down the Physical Address (MAC Address).
  4. Use this MAC address when registering your wireless device.

NOTE: When you use the ipconfig  /all command, a detailed configuration report is produced for all your network interfaces.

EXAMPLE:
Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : 
        Primary DNS Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . :
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . :
        Description . . . . . . . . :(Wireless Card Model)
        Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-FF-63-82-0C-FF <==> MAC ADDRESS
        DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
        Auto configuration Enabled . : Yes
. . .

MAC 0S 9.x

  1. Click on the Apple menu and select the AirPort icon.
  2. Expand the settings section and write down the AirPort ID (MAC Address) on the Request For Wireless Access form.  
  3. Use this MAC address when registering your wireless device.

MAC 0S X

  1. Click on the Apple menu, select Location and click on Network Preferences
  2. Select AirPort from the Show field
  3. Write down the AirPort ID (MAC Address).
  4. Use this MAC address when registering your wireless device.

Back to Top

What type of wireless cards do I need in order to access Libertad?

The UTB/TSC Libertad wireless network is "IEEE 802.11g" compliant.  Therefore, you will need to have:

For Portable Computers (Laptops, Handhelds, etc.)

  • a PCMCIA "IEEE 802.11g" compliant card
  • or an external "IEEE 802.11g" compliant adapter (USB or similar)
  • or an integrated (or internal) "IEEE 802.11g" compliant card (it comes embedded into the device from factory)

For Desktop Computers

  • an "IEEE 802.11g" compliant network interface card
  • or an external "IEEE 802.11g" compliant adapter (USB or similar)

Folks have purchased "IEEE 802.11g" cards and adapters from different vendors. Cards and adapters are available from several local stores.

Back to Top

Required Wireless Settings

When installing your wireless card's drivers and accompanying software, the installation wizard may prompt your to enter the important values that will be needed in order to connect to the Libertad wireless network:

Back to Top

When can I start using the wireless network?

Your wireless device MAC address must be registered on the DHCP servers in order to access the wireless network.

Back to Top

How do I set my wireless connection to DHCP?

In order for your laptop (or other wireless device) to access the wireless network, you will only need to set your card's IP configuration to "DHCP." 

DHCP stands for  Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol  and it is an Internet protocol for automating the configuration of computers that use TCP/IP.  Primarily, DHCP can be used to automatically assign IP addresses, and other TCP/IP configuration information. 

Back to Top

What buildings are equipped to provide access to wireless network?

See wireless coverage.

Back to Top

How do I view my wireless card network configuration?

  1. Click on Start, select Run and type in cmd or command in order to open the DOS Command Prompt
  2. Type in the following command: ipconfig /all

NOTE: When you use the ipconfig /all command, a detailed configuration report is produced for all your network  interfaces.

EXAMPLE:
Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : 
        Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Connection:

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . :
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . :
        Description . . . . . . . . : (Wireless Card Model)
        Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-FF-63-82-0C-FF
        DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
        Auto configuration Enabled . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 172.16.0.1
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . : 172.16.0.250
. . .

Back to Top

Wireless Connectivity at The Village at Fort Brown

The UTB TSC wireless network, Libertad, is also available for The Village at Fort Brown dormitory rooms. Residents wanting to have access to the wireless network must use the on-line registration page. The existing wireless network at Fort Brown currently covers all the dormitory rooms.

Back to Top

My wireless card is picking up a signal, but I cannot access the wireless network?

Verify that the following wireless network settings are properly set:

  1. Is your Wireless Network Name or SSID set to LIBERTAD (uppercase)?
  2. Is your wireless network mode set to "infrastructure" and not "adhoc"?
  3. Has your network card been registered with the Libertad DHCP server?
  4. Does your computer have DHCP enabled?

For more instructions, follow these help wizard.

Back to Top

Wireless connectivity & standby mode

If you configured your laptop to automatically go into "standby" mode, connectivity to the wireless network will be lost.  To refresh your wireless connection, without having to reboot your laptop, perform the following steps.

1. Click on Start, select Run and type in cmd or command, to open the DOS Command Prompt
2.  Type in the following command: ipconfig /renew

When you use ipconfig /renew, all network adapters on the computer, that uses DHCP,  renew their existing configuration or obtain a new configuration.

Back to Top

SONY VIAO Notebooks & Integrated Wireless LAN (Configurable)

Several of the latest SONY VIAO Notebooks come with an IEEE802.11g Integrated Wireless LAN (Configurable). After configuring your integrated wireless adapter, verify that the Wireless LAN button is set to ON. 

Back to Top

Internet Explorer: Libertad & Dial-Up Connections Conflict

You need to configure Internet Explorer so it does not attempt to access the Internet using a Dial-Up connection, but instead using the Libertad connection.  To configure Internet Explorer to be able to browse using Libertad, click here for details.

Back to Top

Windows ME: Installing WUSB11 LinkSys adapter

  1. Do NOT hook-up the adapter to USB port. 
  2. Insert the CD-ROM that came with the adapter. 
  3. Run Setup (from the CD-ROM) and follow on-screen instructions. 
    Make sure that you choose the following:
    SSID: LIBERTAD
    Wireless mode: INFRASTRUCTURE
    Channel: Auto 
  4. Shutdown the computer. 
  5. Plug-in the USB adapter to a USB port on the computer. 
  6. Turn on the computer. 
  7. Disable the wired network card (if any). 
  8. The computer will prompt you to install the drivers for the newly found USB hardware. Install the drivers as you would normally do. 
  9. Reboot the computer. 
  10. Make sure that the browser is not set to a Proxy server because the wireless network does not have proxy servers.

Windows 2000: Enterasys RoamAbout PC Card Drivers V7.44.XX Problem

It was reported, and tested, that wireless network connectivity is lost with the Enterasys RoamAbout PC wireless card using the V7.44.XX Windows drivers under Windows 2000. This problem occurs during the time period when the laptop is left idle, regardless of the wireless card's signal strength.  To temporality resolve this problem, users have to Disable/Enable their wireless network connection each time they loose network connectivity. To resolve this problem, it is recommended that users remove the V7.44.XX drivers and install the following RoamAbout PC Card Windows Drivers V6.25.XX. 

  • The RoamAbout PC Card Windows Drivers can be downloaded from the following link:
            http://www.enterasys.com/software/RoamAbout/archive/
  • Remove V7.44 drivers. Download and install the following drivers:        
            RoamAbout-Client-WIN95-98-2000-ME-NT-625-sw.exe

Back to Top

Windows XP: Unable to maintain connection to network over Roam About. Wireless Connectivity drops after approx. 1 min.

The following steps have been seen to keep the client from losing wireless connectivity.  As soon as connectivity is achieved, the Wireless Zero configuration service must be disabled.  As soon as connectivity is achieved, go to Start/Settings/Control Panel:

    1.    Click on the Administrative Tools icon, and then double-click on the Services icon.
    2.    In the Services window, scroll down to the Wireless Zero configuration line and double-click on it.
    3.    In the Wireless Zero Configuration Properties window that opens, click on the General Tab, and then click on the "Stop" button in the "Service Status" area.
    4.    This should allow the client to retain wireless connectivity until either "goes to sleep", or is rebooted.
  

Back to Top

Windows XP: Wireless network adapters may lose connectivity when they appear to be functioning

A wireless network adapter may loose its IP address and, as a result, may not have any network connectivity to access the Internet or browse the network. According to  Microsoft's Online Support, this issue can occur if the SSID (Service Set Identifier) for the wireless network has not been added to the list of preferred wireless networks.  This can occur if infrastructure networks are detected and wireless detection has been set to auto configuration ( the network has not been previously associated with and has not failed an 802.1x authentication attempt.)

To resolve this issue, set the SSID of the network that you want to use from the Visible Networks list to the Preferred Networks list:

    1.    In the Network Connections folder, right-click the icon for the wireless connection that you want to use, and then click Properties.
    2.    Click the Wireless Networks tab, and then click Configure.
    3.    In the Network Name (SSID) box, type the SSID that you want to add, and then click OK.  The Wireless Network Name for UTB/TSC is Libertad (all uppercase).  You should only have this wireless network name.

Back to Top

Windows XP: Cannot Connect due to Network Bridge

Windows XP support what is called a Network Bridge to combine to different networks into one. However, Libertad Wireless Network cannot work if a Network Bridge is enabled in the Wireless Adapter (Card) used to connect to Libertad.

Identify if Network Bridge is Enabled for Wireless adapter:

Check Wireless Network Connection (or equivalent name) under Windows Network Connections. The connection Type under wireless should say something like Network Bridge

Disable Network Bridge

Right-click on the Wireless Network Connection (or equivalent name) and select Remove from Bridge option. 

All Network bridges must be disabled in the Wireless Adapter (card) used to connect to Libertad

Back to Top

For comments and questions, please contact the Webmaster.