Help: Technical Support:

Connectivity Problems Checklist

Members of the Cornell community can use restricted Library resources from both on and off campus, but occasionally users run into problems connecting to one or multiple resources.

Here's a quick summary of things to consider. For more information, visit the Technical Support links on the Gateway Help Pages.


Individual Resource is Down or Misconfigured
A particular journal or database may be unavailable due to problems at the publisher's Web site, or the Library may need to make changes in its own configuration.

Some resources don't work properly with some browsers.

Browser Incompatibility
Many different browsers are available, and most resources should work with the majority of browsers. If you are having trouble you should rule out browser incompatibility by attempting access with a recent version of Internet Explorer or Netscape.

Browser Settings
Cookies need to be enabled. Some browsers give you the ability to fine-tune your cookie policy, but some resources won't work if your cookie settings are too restrictive.

Make sure your browser frequently compares its cached pages to those on the network. "Every visit to the page" is the best choice, if the frequent checking doesn't slow your browser down too much. Choices of "Never" or "Automatically" (Internet Explorer's default) can cause problems. You may also want to limit your cache size, since a large browser cache can cause performance problems. One recommendation states that a 10 MB cache is sufficient if you have a high-speed connection.

If your browser is configured to go through a proxy server, you may run into problems accessing Cornell resources.

Clearing Cookies and Cache
Odd behaviors can occur when cookies or cache files become corrupted. Try clearing your cookies and cache and restarting your browser.

Firewalls and Pop-Up Blockers
Web browser pop-up stoppers won't prevent you from connecting to a particular site but may interfere with your ability to display some of the resources within that site.

If you're using a firewall, the following ports need to be open in order for you to access Library resources:
80 and/or 443 for CUWebAuth (or SideCar, 913)
20028 (ENCompass server)
2048 (for EZproxy itself)