Important Note: References to ‘Restart your home modem and router” should only be taken by students after parent or guardian consent.
I can’t connect to the Wireless (Wi-Fi) network
Watch this short Google video for an overview of how you may be able to resolve your Wi-Fi issues at home or scroll past the video for additional step-by-step troubleshooting tips.
Video | Fix Wi-Fi Connectivity Issues on your Chromebook
To turn on Wi-Fi
- At the bottom right, select the time.
- Select Not Connected.
Note: If you see your Wi-Fi network name and signal strength, your Chromebook is already connected to Wi-Fi. - Turn on Wi-Fi.
- Your Chromebook will automatically look for available networks and show them to you in a list.
Verify another device is working on the wireless network to rule out it's not an issue with your Wi-Fi network
Ensure you are inputting the correct Wi-Fi password for the wireless network you attempting to connect to.
- Turn off your Chromebook by pressing one of the power buttons, or by clicking into the menu in the bottom-right corner and selecting the power icon.
- Press and hold down the "refresh" button (which is located just above the 3 and 4 keys) and tap the power button.
Performance issues with Google Meet, Google Classroom and Zoom can sometimes be affected by the use of Chrome extensions. It is best to remove any non-school Chrome Extensions (themes, games, emulators, VPNs, Ad Blockers, Google Meet/Zoom) to see if that affects your virtual meeting experience.
To remove Chrome extensions:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select More Tools > Extensions.
- Click Remove for all non-school extensions. All YRDSB-managed extensions will not have a Remove button showing.
NOTE: You can Reset your Browser Settings in Chrome at any time. You might need to do this if apps or extensions you installed changed your settings without your knowledge. For example, if your homepage was changed or every time you open a new tab a website loads. Your saved bookmarks and passwords won’t be cleared or changed.
To reset your browser settings:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select Settings.
- In the left-hand pane, expand Advanced.
- Under Reset Settings, click Restore settings to their original defaults and then Reset Settings.
- If you removed unwanted programs or reset your browser settings, you might need to turn some of your Chrome extensions back on.
- Open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select More Tools > Clear browsing data.
- A new window will open.
- Set the Time range to All time.
- Uncheck Browsing history.
- Check Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
- Click Clear data.
- To ensure the changes take effect, sign out of your account and restart the Chromebook.
- Log back into your account.
- Unplug your router/modem for 10 seconds.
- Plug-in your router/modem.
- Attempt to connect to your wireless network after five (5) minutes.
- Contact your Internet Service Provider if all your devices are experiencing slow or no internet.
WARNING: The above steps should ONLY be taken by students after parental or guardian consent.
Fix Wireless Network via Chromebook Help
- Turn off your Chromebook.
- Press and hold Refresh + tap Power. When your Chromebook starts up, release Refresh.
We appreciate you attempting some of the troubleshooting tips we provided to resolve your technology issue. Unfortunately, it is likely your device is experiencing an issue that cannot be resolved by you.
For further assistance, you can do one of the following:
- Contact your teacher or school to report the issue. They will log a ServiceDesk ticket on your behalf.
Once a ServiceDesk ticket is generated, someone will be in touch with you. If the issue cannot be resolved with your existing device, a replacement may be arranged.
Web pages not loading
Verify another device is working on the wireless network to rule out it's not an issue with your Wi-Fi network
- Turn off your Chromebook by pressing one of the power buttons, or by clicking into the menu in the bottom-right corner and selecting the power icon.
- Press and hold down the "refresh" button (which is located just above the 3 and 4 keys) and tap the power button.
Performance issues with Google Meet, Google Classroom and Zoom can sometimes be affected by the use of Chrome extensions. It is best to remove any non-school Chrome Extensions (themes, games, emulators, VPNs, Ad Blockers, Google Meet/Zoom) to see if that affects your virtual meeting experience.
To remove Chrome extensions:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select More Tools > Extensions.
- Click Remove for all non-school extensions. All YRDSB-managed extensions will not have a Remove button showing.
NOTE: You can Reset your Browser Settings in Chrome at any time. You might need to do this if apps or extensions you installed changed your settings without your knowledge. For example, if your homepage was changed or every time you open a new tab a website loads. Your saved bookmarks and passwords won’t be cleared or changed.
To reset your browser settings:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select Settings.
- In the left-hand pane, expand Advanced.
- Under Reset Settings, click Restore settings to their original defaults and then Reset Settings.
- If you removed unwanted programs or reset your browser settings, you might need to turn some of your Chrome extensions back on.
- Open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select More Tools > Clear browsing data.
- A new window will open.
- Set the Time range to All time.
- Uncheck Browsing history.
- Check Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
- Click Clear data.
- To ensure the changes take effect, sign out of your account and restart the Chromebook.
- Log back into your account.
- Unplug your router/modem for 10 seconds.
- Plug-in your router/modem.
- Attempt to connect to your wireless network after five (5) minutes.
- Contact your Internet Service Provider if all your devices are experiencing slow or no internet.
WARNING: The above steps should ONLY be taken by students after parental or guardian consent.
Fix Wireless Network via Chromebook Help
- Turn off your Chromebook.
- Press and hold Refresh + tap Power. When your Chromebook starts up, release Refresh.
We appreciate you attempting some of the troubleshooting tips we provided to resolve your technology issue. Unfortunately, it is likely your device is experiencing an issue that cannot be resolved by you.
For further assistance, you can do one of the following:
- Contact your teacher or school to report the issue. They will log a ServiceDesk ticket on your behalf.
Once a ServiceDesk ticket is generated, someone will be in touch with you. If the issue cannot be resolved with your existing device, a replacement may be arranged.
Web pages loading slowly
Verify another device is working on the wireless network to rule out it's not an issue with your Wi-Fi network.
- Turn off your Chromebook.
- Press and hold Refresh + tap Power. When your Chromebook starts up, release Refresh.
Performance issues with Google Meet, Google Classroom and Zoom can sometimes be affected by the use of Chrome extensions. It is best to remove any non-school Chrome Extensions (themes, games, emulators, VPNs, Ad Blockers, Google Meet/Zoom) to see if that affects your virtual meeting experience.
To remove Chrome extensions:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select More Tools > Extensions.
- Click Remove for all non-school extensions. All YRDSB-managed extensions will not have a Remove button showing.
NOTE: You can Reset your Browser Settings in Chrome at any time. You might need to do this if apps or extensions you installed changed your settings without your knowledge. For example, if your homepage was changed or every time you open a new tab a website loads. Your saved bookmarks and passwords won’t be cleared or changed.
To reset your browser settings:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select Settings.
- In the left-hand pane, expand Advanced.
- Under Reset Settings, click Restore settings to their original defaults and then Reset Settings.
- If you removed unwanted programs or reset your browser settings, you might need to turn some of your Chrome extensions back on.
- Open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select More Tools > Clear browsing data.
- A new window will open.
- Set the Time range to All time.
- Uncheck Browsing history.
- Check Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
- Click Clear data.
- To ensure the changes take effect, sign out of your account and restart the Chromebook.
- Log back into your account.
- In the bottom left corner of your screen, select the Launcher (Circle) and click the Up Arrow.
- Click Files.
- Select the file or folder you want to delete. Note: You can delete files in the Downloads folder, but deleting a file from your Downloads folder is permanent | Chromebook Help
- Select Delete.
NOTE: Files in the Recent, Images, Videos, and Audio folders are viewable only and can’t be deleted directly in those folders.
Keep the number of open Chrome tabs to a minimum
- Unplug your router/modem for 10 seconds.
- Plug-in your router/modem.
- Attempt to connect to your wireless network after five (5) minutes.
- Contact your Internet Service Provider if all your devices are experiencing slow or no internet.
WARNING: The above steps should ONLY be taken by students after parental or guardian consent.
Perform a Wi-Fi speed test - Google - Click on Run Speed Test
Fix Wireless Network via Chromebook Help
We appreciate you attempting some of the troubleshooting tips we provided to resolve your technology issue. Unfortunately, it is likely your device is experiencing an issue that cannot be resolved by you.
For further assistance, you can do one of the following:
- Contact your teacher or school to report the issue. They will log a ServiceDesk ticket on your behalf.
Once a ServiceDesk ticket is generated, someone will be in touch with you. If the issue cannot be resolved with your existing device, a replacement may be arranged.
Working with Offline Files (when no access to Wi-Fi)
You have the ability to work on files when you are offline. You will need access to Wi-Fi to save your files to the Chromebook. See below for step-by-step instructions.
WARNING: Your Chromebook has limited space for storing files locally. When saving a file to the Chromebook and there is not enough room left, the Chromebook may automatically delete some of the downloaded files to create space to accommodate the newest file.
Save a File to Your Chromebook
- While connected to Wi-Fi, go to your Google Drive, select the page, image or document you want to save.
- Right-click (two-finger click on the trackpad) on the file and select Download.
- More information: How to use your Trackpad | Chrome Help - If downloading a Google Doc, your file will be converted to a Word Doc.
- A confirmation box appears in the bottom right of the screen when the file has finished downloading.
- To access your files while offline click on the Launcher (circle in the bottom left corner) and click Files.
- A new window opens, click Downloads in the left column and you will find the file you have downloaded.
- Changes made to the file while working offline will not automatically update the original file in your Google Drive. You will have to upload your edited file to your Google Drive once you are connected to Wi-Fi again.
More information: Open, Save or Delete files | Chromebook Help
You have the ability to work on files when you are offline (no Wi-Fi). Below are tips on how to save a file to an external USB flash drive so that you can access your files when not connected to Wi-Fi.
Save a File to a USB Flash Drive
- While connected to Wi-Fi, plug your USB Flash Drive into one of the USB slots on the Chromebook.
- A notification will appear in the bottom right corner.
- Click Open Files App in the notification window.
- A new window will open.
- Click Google Drive on the left-hand side.
- Click and place checkmarks beside the files/folders you want to save.
- Click and drag your file to your USB Flash Drive represented on the left-hand side. Alternately, use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste the selected files to the USB Flash Drive.
- You can access the files on your USB Flash Drive for offline use on your Chromebook. You will have to upload these files back to your Google Drive if changes have been made to them.