Campus Network (macOS) - Connectivity Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting macOS for wired campus network connectivity.

Use eduroam

If UWNet is not working for you, try configuring and using eduroam on your computer. eduroam is the preferred wireless network on the UW-Madison campus.

See Connect to Campus Wi-Fi for instructions to connect to eduroam. 

Basic Troubleshooting

  1. If you are connecting using an Ethernet cable, try unplugging the cable plugging it back in after 15 seconds.

  2. If you are connected wirelessly, try disconnecting from your current Wi-Fi network and rejoining it.

  3. Have you registered your devices? UWNet requires each device to be registered in order to access the network. 

  4. Make sure your network adapters are enabled. This document shows you how to check for that below. 

  5. Try rebooting your computer.

  6. Make sure your computer is updated to the newest version.

  7. Do you have viruses prohibiting your use of the internet? Try running a virus scan with an application like Malwarebytes or AVAST Antivirus.

  8. If you connect to a router either wired or wirelessly, make sure that it is connected to the wall jack.

  9. Routers need to be registered with UWNet in order to use them. 

  10. If you are using an Ethernet cable, make sure that that cable is not faulty by testing your connection with another wall jack. Or by testing the same jack with a different cable. 

  11. Turn off iCloud Backups in the background. If you only have 5GB iCloud storage (the default free storage) there is no reason to have this on at all. If you pay for iCloud, do backups manually occasionally instead of having your MacBook backup automatically in the background.

Additional Troubleshooting

Use Wireless Diagnostics on your Mac

See the Apple Support documentation for instructions to use the Wireless Diagnostics tool on your Mac. Use the dropdown to select your version of Mac.

This may pinpoint issues that are happening within your computer and provide steps for solving those problems.

Verify the computer is getting a valid Wired Campus Network IP address

  1. Open the Apple Menu in the top-left corner.
  2. Click System Settings.
  3. Click Network.

    MacOS settings Network

  4. Click Wi-Fi (or Ethernet).

    MacOS 15 Wi-Fi Network Settings

  5. Click Details.

    MacOS 15 Wi-Fi Details button

  6. Look for IP address. Valid campus network IP addresses are 128.x.x.x, 146.x.x.x, or 144.x.x.x.

    A 169.x.x.x IP address is an automatically assigned IP address by the computer, and means the machine is not communicating with the network.

    macOS Network IP ssettings

Verify the computer is transmitting traffic

See the Apple Support documentation for more information on network traffic in Activity Monitor.

  1. Open the Activity Monitor app on your computer.
  2. Click Network.
  3. Look under Packets In, Packets Out. If received Packets In are 0 and you have a valid IP address, you may have one or multiple of the following:
    1. A problem with your computer's network card.
    2. A bad network/Ethernet cable.
    3. A bad data jack on your device.

Renew DHCP Lease

  1. Open the Apple Menu in the top-left corner.
  2. Click System Settings.
  3. Click Network.

    MacOS settings Network

  4. Click Wi-Fi (or Ethernet).

    MacOS 15 Wi-Fi Network Settings

  5. Click Details.
  6. Click the TCP/IP tab.
  7. Click Renew DHCP Lease, then click OK.

    Renew DHCP Lease button



Keywords:
troubleshooting Mac OS X campus network diagnosis connectivity macos 
Doc ID:
2967
Owned by:
Help Desk KB Team in DoIT Help Desk
Created:
2004-06-17
Updated:
2025-06-27
Sites:
DoIT Help Desk, Systems & Network Control Center