There was a little girl, with a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good, she was very, very good
But, when she was bad, she was *Horrid*!

Her name?

Wi-Fi!

Really - when it works, Wi-Fi is SO good.  You turn it on, click connect, and you’re browsing at high speed!  BUT!  If it doesn’t work, there are SO many possible causes.  When we were first learning to troubleshoot Wi-Fi, back in 2004, I wrote an article about it.  It’s a LONG article! 

I like to deal with the basics of logic - if light bulb ‘A’ lights up when plugged into socket ‘1′, that proves to me that both the light bulb and the socket are working properly.  So, I should be able to test light bulb ‘B’ by plugging it into socket ‘1.’  Since I know that socket ‘1′ is functioning properly, this should be a good test of light bulb ‘B.’  If it works, the bulb is good.  If it doesn’t work, it must be the bulb’s fault, because we’ve already proven that socket ‘1′ works fine. 

A in 1 = true (both A and 1 are in working order)
B in 1 = false (B must be faulty)

This is the logic I bring to troubleshooting Wi-Fi.  A guest’s Computer (light bulb ‘B’) is not getting online at the Wi-Fi Access Point near their coach (socket ‘2′.)  To determine where the problem lies (with computer, or with Access Point) I need to try a different computer at their site.  My Computer, at their location, works just fine.  Therefore, the problem must lie with their computer.

B in 2 = false (either B or 2 must be faulty)
A in 2 = true (both A and 2 are in working order)
B must be faulty

However, before digging too deep in their computer, I decide to bring their computer to my site and try it.  It works fine! And, these are both Toshiba laptops running Vista using their built in adapters.
Does not compute!