Some students had trouble accessing the University’s wireless network Thursday after one of LSU’s main wireless controllers crashed around noon because of a corrupted process.
The single crashed controller supports about a third of the University’s wireless infrastructure, said Hector Rios, University assistant director of Networking and Infrastructure.
Rios said when the controller returned to operation, it appeared to be in an unstable state, causing sporadic wireless connectivity for that third of LSU’s wireless infrastructure.
Wireless was eventually stabilized at around 3 p.m.
Ric Simmons, deputy CIO and executive director of University Networking and Infrastructure, said problems of this type are rare, and the wireless network’s central equipment was having a “conniption fit.”
“This isn’t the norm,” Simmons said, “but equipment failures are just a part of the life-cycle of a network.”
Rios said the University’s Information Technology Services division is currently working with the wireless provider to analyze crash logs to determine the cause of the issue.
Jessica Smith, history education sophomore, said the wireless failure prevented her class from conducting their online poll.
“It was a disadvantage to our discussion,” Smith said.
Linsey Groach, political science sophomore, suffered more drastic consequences from the Wi-Fi failure.
“I couldn’t turn in my geology homework that was due at midnight,” Groach said. “I couldn’t even work on it.”
Courtney Fischer, biology freshman, said she would not be able to write a paper due tomorrow because she could neither update her notes app or check her rubric.
“This isn’t the norm, but equipment failures are just a part of the life-cycle of a network.”