Resolve common issues with ChromeOS devices

This article describes how to troubleshoot ChromeOS device administration issues. The content is for IT personnel who encounter issues specific to ChromeOS devices in a business or academic organization. For general ChromeOS device troubleshooting information, see How to use Chromebooks.

If these troubleshooting tips don't resolve your issue, consider wiping or recovering your device, or contact Support. Remember to re-enroll any device you wipe while troubleshooting.

Network connection slow or unavailable
Walk through the Internet connection troubleshooter in the ChromeOS device user help center. If connectivity issues persist:
  • Re-enable Wi-Fi on your ChromeOS device. If that does not work, reboot the device and then re-enable Wi-Fi.
  • If the Wi-Fi signal is weak, disable 3G cellular in the drop-down menu at the top of the screen on the device. 3G interferes with weak Wi-Fi signals.
  • Disable Wi-Fi and enable mobile data (3G) to see if the 3G connection is slower. If 3G is faster than Wi-Fi, the problem is with your wireless network. Note that enabling 3G might incur fees.
  • Reset your router and modem.
  • Clear your cache and cookies.
  • Sign in with a Guest account. If you can sign in as a guest but not your user account, recover the ChromeOS device.
  • "Forget" the network, then re-add it.
  • Create a USB flash recovery drive and recover the device.
  • Update the firmware on your wireless router.
  • Configure your router to use a different channel.
  • Verify that ChromeOS devices support your Wi-Fi protocol. The supported protocols are WEP, WPA, WPA2, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, and EAP-PEAP. Note the following:
    • Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) is not compatible with IEEE 802.11n. The client should automatically downgrade the link to legacy operation, and you should see 22Mb/s as described for other devices.
    • ChromeOS devices support networks with a non-broadcasted SSID, but you must know the network name and password. Chrome does not always notify you if you enter an incorrect password or SSID, or if Chrome fails to join a network for some other reason.
    • ChromeOS devices do not support ad-hoc networks.
  • Verify your network password is less than 24 characters. If it is longer, log into your router, set your network password to a shorter length, and reconnect your ChromeOS device.
  • Set the networkmode of your router to BG-Mixed instead of Mixed to improve speed.
  • Access through a Captive Portal might not work, but you might be able to sign into a guest account, connect to the network, and then sign in with your Google account.
Enrollment issues

If you encounter issues when you enroll a ChromeOS device, try the following:

  • If anyone else had physical access to the device, ask if they signed in to it as someone other than a guest user. You can't enroll a ChromeOS device after someone signs in with a user account, even if that user is an administrator. If someone signed in to the device as a user, wipe the device, then try to enroll it again.
  • Verify that the device has a working network connection. To check, click the Wi-Fi indicator in the bottom right corner of the screen or click Browse as Guest and access a website.
  • Check to make sure that you have available Chrome upgrades in your organization. For details about how to see how many upgrades you have, go to Use Chrome upgrades.
Chromebook power and battery issues

Samsung Series 5 Chromebook

If your battery doesn't charge or your Samsung Series 5 Chromebook doesn't turn on, connect a different power adapter to ensure the adapter isn't malfunctioning. If the problem persists, follow these steps:

  1. Remove the power adapter and turn over the Chromebook so that you see the model number information.
  2. Insert a paper clip or pin into the hole to the right of the model number information, and press until you feel a button depress. Pressing the button disconnects the battery.
  3. Plug the power adapter back into the Chromebook and a power outlet. This reconnects the battery.
  4. See whether the battery is charging by checking the charge indicator light next to the power port.
  5. Turn on the Chromebook.

If your Chromebook still does not turn on or charge, contact your hardware retailer to report the malfunction. If you purchased your Chromebook through the Google, contact support.

For issues with other models, visit the Chromebook user help center.

"Before signing in, please start a Guest session to activate the network" error message

This error occurs when users have a renamed conflicting account associated with their username. Chromebooks require a full Google Workspace account on the new infrastructure to sign onto the device. If the user had an existing account during the transition, the account was renamed to an account @gtempaccount.com.

For example, for the user user@domain.com, the renamed account is user%domain.com@gtempaccount.com; the password is unchanged from the original account. To resolve the conflict, the user needs to sign into the renamed temp account at any Google service (or simply at google.com/accounts). After signing in, the user is prompted to follow instructions on migrating the data previously stored in this account to the Google Workspace account and how to rename the account.

If you forget the password associated with a conflict account, click the Can’t access your account? link on any sign-on page to receive a reset link in your current Google Workspace account email. Enter the user%domain.com@gtempaccount.com credentials as the email address and click Submit.

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