Troubleshooting your online access

If you are not able to access the online databases, use this guide to problem solve.

1. What is the Web Address (URL) of the page you are using?
• Make sure it is http://www.tiu.edu/library
2. Are you using the correct username and password?
• Your username and password is the same one you would use for your Trinity GroupWise email account.  If you are a student, it should look something like this:
• username: zastuden
  password: ss55555
• For faculty or staff, it will be the same as your Novell network login that you use to login to your computer on campus.
• Don't know your Groupwise Username/Password?  Visit the Get Your GroupWise Username/Password Page.
3. How are you Accessing the Internet?
4. Are you accessing the databases from work?
• If you are trying to access the databases from work, you might check with your network security.  Some places of employment have their network configured in such a way, usually with firewalls or other security features, that access to our databases is prevented.  If you get an error message such as Alert:  2048 Connection Refused, this is probably the case.
5. Does your home network have a firewall?
• Some people also have firewall software, such as Norton Internet Security, Norton Personal Firewall, or Symantec Desktop Firewall, on their personal computers that may be blocking referrer information to our proxy server.  You may need to open port 9000, which is the port our proxy server uses.  Or, you may need to consult your software manual and/or contact their technical support for help in setting your software so that you can access our proxy server.
6. Your Browser may be incompatible
• Sometimes, hitting the Refresh button on your browser will resolve the problem or using a different browser might work.  If you are using Internet Explorer, try using Firefox or vice versa.
7. Other issues
1. Too many users
• Some databases, such as the Historical Abstracts and Philosopher's Index only permit a limited number of simultaneous users.If you cannot access one of these databases, "traffic" might be the problem.  You should try again later.
2. Server down
• One of the most common web page error messages is 404 Not Found, which may mean that the server is down on the other end.  Try again later. 
3. Are you using AOL?
• Our proxy software sometimes does not work with the AOL browser.  If you are accessing the internet via AOL please open either Netscape or Internet Explorer and access the web via one of those two browsers.
4. Have you enabled Cookies?
• You must enable cookies on your browser.
• Here is how to enable cookies:

For Internet Explorer v. 6.0, click on Tools, Internet Options, and, then, Privacy.  Set your browser to enable cookies to the level you are comfortable with.  For other versions of IE, consult the Help files.

For Firefox 1.5, click on Tools and choose Options.  Under the Privacy category, choose Cookies and check "Allow sites to set Cookies."

• Sometimes, however, previous cookies become invalid for some reason.  The proxy server URL or another URL for a database may have changed.  In this case, you will need to delete your old cookies related to that database or to the proxy server (houdini.mc.cc.md.us).  Here is how to delete cookies:

For Internet Explorer v. 6.0, click on Tools and, then, Internet Options.  In the middle of the box, you will see Delete Cookies.  For other versions of IE, consult the Help files.

For Firefox 1.5, go to Tools and choose Privacy, then click on the Cookie tab.  Choose View Cookies and delete the appropriate cookies (i.e., houdini.mc.cc.md.us) or click Clear Cookies Now.