How to Connect a Game Console to Knoxtronics

Connecting game consoles, speakers, and Smart TV's onto the Knox Network can be a bit difficult since these consoles were not made with the expectation of being on a secure network like what's seen on most college campuses. Things are getting better, though. Some newer devices actually do support WPA and WPA2, so it may be possible to connect them directly to Knoxtronics.

General Game Machine Instructions

Step 1: To connect your game console or Smart TV to the wireless on campus, you'll need to connect to the Knoxtronics SSID. It will ask for a password or "WEP Key", which is: AsDfGW2481632

Once it establishes a connection, your console will probably say it failed to connect to the internet/Xbox Live. This is normal, ignore the messages.

• For Xboxes - you will need to click Advanced Options (far right) when list of SSIDS (wireless connections) appears. Select the first option (unlisted) and enter KnoxTronics, with 128 bit WEP encryption, and then enter the WEP key.

Step 2: Open the device’s web browser

If your device does not have a web browser, skip to step 3b.

Step 3: Your device should be re-directed to the Knox Registration page, just like for your computer. Accept the terms and choose the first option (registering as a student). Fill in your username and password and click downloaded as if you were going to get the FortiNAC client. At this point, the network will notice that your console is not running Windows or OSX and will simply pass your console without dropping the FortiNAC client.

• If you are not automatically redirected to the wireless registration page, navigate to knoxaccess.knox.edu

Step 4: You may need to power off the device for 30 seconds and then power it back on before it successfully connects to Knoxtronics. 

If you experience any disconnection problems shortly after you get it all set up, don't worry. After the device gets registered, our network manager has to put it under a special VLAN to make sure it doesn't hop ISPs during streaming/play. You'll know this has been fixed once your console IP Address looks like 10.10.##.###. If this doesn't happen after a few days, submit a ticket to the Help Desk explaining the situation along with your console's MAC Address. For any issues after this change, refer to the previous paragraph. 

If there are any issues getting connected, just let us know, and we can try to help (309-341-7700).

*Note: Know that not all games may work while playing over the Knox Network. Older games, especially, sometimes use communication protocols different and totally separate from Xbox Live, PSN, etc, which our network may not support or may interpret as malevolent. We cannot and DO NOT offer support beyond that point. Most current games should work fine, but we can't make any promises. The nature of the Knox network's goal of being secure conflicts with the device expecting to be operated from a home network. While you'd think Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, etc., would think about the college market, the fact of the matter is that none of them do... at the moment.

Nintendo Wii

As of this date, we have been unable to establish connections to Wiis. This appears to be a wireless security issue on Nintendo’s side