I have a nice little iBook that runs Mac OS 10.2 Jaguar. I love it so please spare me the “Macs sux, PCs rule” stuff.
I live with two very nice guys who own PCs running Windows XP. We all decided to get a cable modem. (They wanted it to download porn, I need speed to look at all the Lexis-Nexis crap I use for school) We got the cable modem and the router (a Linksys 4 port one), we hooked it all up and then…
Nothing.
While they are surfing and downloading, I cannot connect. I selected ethernet in my internet preferences and still nothing.
Linksys basically told me to go screw myself because they don’t support Macs but Macs can use the router. Apple won’t help unless I pony up $75.
Anyone out there have a clue how I can remedy this?
The only MAC I work with runs OS 9, but I have two guesses as to what is happening:
1- For some reason DHCP isn’t working, and you aren’t getting an IP address.
2- The Linksys router is unable to supply DNS information to the MAC.
3- Hi Opal!
As a workaround, you can manually configure an IP address and DNS server. A manual IP address of 192.168.1.2 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 should work with the default linksys settings, and for DNS you can use one of the root internet DNS servers (which at the moment I can’t find a list of). Or just go to one of the Windows machines, go to Start->run, type winipcfg in the open box and hit enter. Hit the More Info button and read what address it gives for the DNS server, and use the same address on yours.
Go here for details on where to configure these settings for OS X.
This shouldn’t be too difficult, if you can get your roomies attention. Try yelling “live girl!” Ask them for the set-up information that they received from the ISP. You’ll need to determine a couple key points; static or dynamic IP addressing, routeable or internal IP addresses, DHCP router or router running NAT, and the IP address of the router.
With that information we can configure your iBook. Open the control panels and click network. Choose “Built in Ethernet” from the “Show” drop down menu. Choose “Manually” or “Using DHCP” in the “Configure” drop down. If you’re using DHCP, you’re done.
If you are not using DHCP and have choosen “Manually,” enter the router’s IP address in the “Router” text field. If you’re using internal addresses (probably) it will be something like 192.168.254.0 or 254 or 1, oh who knows, it could 10.10. something. If your router is running NAT your subnet mask will likely be 255.255.255.0, but this is dependant on how many IP’s you’re allowed to use and that’s a whole 'nuther discussion, the ISP’s intructions will list it. Enter an “IP Address” that matches the first three of the “dotted quad” of your router, frinstance if your router’s address is 10.10.75.1 use 10.10.75.2 or some similar number that your roomates are not using. Fill in the addresses of the “Domain Name Servers” that the ISP provides. That’s it, unless you’re using PPPoE. We can deal with that too, but it’s less likely.
This looks like a mess, and it’s just a few of the possibilities, if you can get the answers to the first four questions we’ll go from there.
So you’re plugged directly into the router?
Are the activity lights on for that connector on the router? If they’re not, it may be a bad cable. Try one of your roommate’s working cables.
What are your “built in ethernet” settings in your network control panel?
Useful in these situations is the “Network Utility” in the Applications->Utilities folder. You can use it to ping the other machines and the router. Just go to the “ping” tab, enter the IP address of one of the other machines, and click the ping button. If you have a good connection, you’ll see the response times. If not, you’ll see “host is down”.
tramp, does your network work at all? Try pinging one of the Windows boxes. Better yet, type http://192.168.1.1 into your browser. Does the Linksys setup screen come up on the browser? If NOT, your network doesn’t work, so it’s too soon to worry about your internet working.
My Lombard PowerBook doesn’t play well with my Linksys at all – it may be a similar issue with your iBook. In my case, I have to connect the PowerBook to a dedicated 10Mb/S only hub, which is uplinked to the Linksys. Plugged right into the Linksys at 100Mb/S, I get no network connectivity at all. I don’t have problems with other brands of hubs/switches/routers though. And my iMac and QuickSilver connect just fine to the Linksys.
I’m fairly Mac saavy so this is quite a mess for me. OS 10.2 Jaguar was supposed to make it easier to talk with PCs, network, etc. but obviously I am having some issues.
The lights to the router don’t even go on in the port I am connected to so I am totally not connected.
I tried manually entering an IP address and still nothing.
Should I just punt and get a dedicated hub for my little iBook? Can it be uplinked to the router along with the cable modem? Should I make the boys return the Linksys and get another brand?
Okay, no lights means no signal is coming through. Are there any lights on the NIC in your MAC? Have you tried swapping cables and router ports with one of the PC’s?
Also, try to ping 127.0.0.1. If you get no response your network card is either not working or does not have TCP/IP configured at all.
Yeah I thought maybe the cable could be bad but it is brand new… I tried swapping the router port and that did nothing either… I don’t think the card is bad in the computer because it has worked quite recently…
I’ll add that my PowerBook/Linksys combo DO NOT light the router lights, either. Under Mac OS 9, there was an extension to force the PowerBook ethernet card to work at 10Mb/S, but there’s no way under Mac OS X yet. It’s an autonegotiation problem between Apple notebook ethernet adapters and Linksys routers I imagine. The Linksys tries to autonegotiate from 10 to 100, and so does the PowerBook (or your iBook), with no success. FORCING 10Mb/s works, but there’s no way to do that. So, a solution would be a $30 10Mb/S only hub, which uplinks fine to the Linksys Uplink Port (port 1 IIRC). Tacky solution, but it works for me.
FWIW, I don’t have problems with other routers, just the Linksys. For peace of mind, consider taking your iBook somewhere else and see if you can get on a network. Once you get the hardware happy, Mac OS X is very, very simple to get playing nicely.
tramp, I don’t know what the problem is, but I have a Macintosh using OS X (10.1.5) and my wife has a PC running Windows XP. Both of them go through a Linksys 4-port router to share our DSL modem. The set-up was very easy. I think you were unlucky with your tech support person. When I first purchased my router a couple of years ago I was taken aback when the manual said “Macintosh not supported” but when I called tech support and told them I had a Macintosh they helped my anyway.
Just trying to encourage you - it should work fine.
P.S. It also worked like a charm with my old Macintosh running OS 9.x. And the router lights come on for the port being used by my new Macintosh running OS 10.1.5.
The key is, as Balthisar said, that when you type in http://192.168.1.1 in your web browser you should see the Linksys setup screen. What web browser are you using?
I don’t understand any of that. While I don’t doubt that the workaround you describe worked, it actually points to the MAC being the source of the problem.
First of all, autonegotation is a hardware standard, and there is only one standard for it, so it is platform independent. Autonegotiation failures are almost always due to faulty hardware (NIC, cable, or switch) or one side using forced speed or duplex settings (which can effectively disable autoneg), although faulty software drivers can be the cause also. When you turn the MAC on, do the full duplex and 100Mb lights light up on the switch, then go off once the OS loads? That would prove it to be a software issue. If the MAC using forced settings, then all bets are off… there is a standard for autoneg, but no universal standard for forced settings. So much for just plug it in and it works, because with forced speed and duplex this is seldom the case. (Unless you are the one making those settings on both ends, of course. But forced on one end and auto on the other…good luck indeed.)
In the PC world, there are hardware configuration utilities for most NICs to configure autonegotiation settings. Perhaps it might be a good idea to look into this with the MAC also.
Tramp, try N9IWP’s suggestion before springing for a hub. But yes, there is an uplink port seperate from the WAN port that the cable modem uses. While the hub is just a workaround, it may be a lot less time, trouble, and expense than getting to the root of the problem would be.
I’m pretty sure it’s an Apple hardware issue or a Apple-Linksys together hardware issue, at least for notebooks (at the very least for mynotebook). Under Mac OS 9, I used Apple’s Speed-Duplex tools (extensions) to force the speed to 10Mb/S. The Linksys switch happily works with some ports at 100Mb/S and some at 10Mb/S. Under Mac OS X, there is no equivilent kernel extension, and for some reason the standard Unix tools for setting en0 attributes don’t work (don’t remember the command offhand, but it’s a standard built-in NIC configuration utility). When I turn on the Mac, I do not get a connection at all – I get a flashing light on the Linksys that’s not documented and that Linksys tech support says is not supposed to happen! If I connect to a 10Mb/s hub as described, the NIC arbitrates just fine. If I connect to any other brand (well, and others that I’ve tried) of router, switch, or hub that supports 10/100Mb/s, I get a perfectly good 100Mb/S connection. It’s not a cabling problem – I’ve gone through all of that. I only have problems with Linksys. So, I use the NetGear 10Mb/S hub at home, because it was a cheap, permanent fix. Curiously, my HP WinBox, my prior iMac, my G4, and my JetDirect don’t have this problem at all (well, the JetDirect is 10Mb/S only). My G4 does have a software problem with the Linksys, though – it won’t restart the ethernet card after a long sleep under 10.2.1 (it’s fine under 10.1.5 and Mac OS 9).
None available – if it’s from Apple it’s just supposed to work!
I’ll reiterate my connection – my cable modem is wired to my WAN port on the Linksys using a regular CAT-5 ethernet cable. My NetGear hub is wired to the Linksys Uplink Port (port 1 then must stay empty) with a regular CAT-5 ethernet cable. This cable is plugged into port 4 of the NetGear, with the uplink switch pressed to Uplink. No crossover cables necessary anywhere. If you get a different hub, consult the directions for uplinking – it could be a different port and you may need a crossover cable. Anything modern, though, will have a dedicated uplink port or an Uplink switch that allows a regular cable.
This may not be much help here, but I definately recall hearing of a problem with Linksys gear and Macs. Wish I could be more helpful, but that’s all I can recall for sure.
