First and foremost, I’m an idiot. My buddy had a wireless router (a Microsoft one) that hooked up his laptop and (new Apple G5) desktop. I talked them into switching routers to a Linksys WRT54G taken off of Ebay. Anywhoot, I switched routers, even got to the Linksys config screen (on 192.168.1.1) on the Mac, but that’s as far as I got. So I switch back and the original router doesn’t have a connection (wireless or otherwise).
Again, I’m a damned fool.
Help?
My advice is to check out the Apple support forums (Official Apple Support). Go to “Discussions” and see if your router is discussed.
I use an Airport Extreme and Express… when I upgraded to OS X 10.4.8, it broke my wireless connection. I downgraded to 10.4.6 and everything is okay now. If you have 10.4.8 on your Mac, that might be a place to start…
Could you describe this better? So, the router’s on and everything, but the problem is you’re not getting a signal on the mac? Is the router set up for a closed network where you have to put int he network name? You’ve clicked the little wireless signal icon at the top and the thing’s not there? (I don’t know HOW much of an idiot you are from this… .). Or is the problem that you’re trying to configure it FROM the Apple which is hooked up via ethernet or something?
I didn’t see anything about the router or even anything about configuring a wireless router at all. I did Google a bit and find a little something, but when I tried THOSE steps, well…it didn’t end up pretty.
I have NO clue what version of anything is on this computer. It’s a new computer, I can tell you that much. I take that back. I poked around and it’s version 10.4.8.
Also, I found Apple’s website to be kind of clunky. It could just be me and my Microsoft-rich computer heritage talking, though.
Router is on. Everything’s fun. The appropriate lights are on as well. I don’t think the router is set up for a closed network either. This is being typed from their desktop, which has the wire coming from Comcast’s Stream of Fun directly into the Mac desktop. I don’t think the router is configuring properly. If I had to bet on the problem, that’s it right there.
I’m not sure I understand the problem either. For a full diagnosis:
This set of questions is exactly the same Mac or PC, by the way, only the place you look for the information changes.
Without knowing any of that, my best course of action for you is this: Turn off everything (computers, router, modem), and turn them back on again, starting at the phone jack and moving outward (modem, router, computer). Wait 1 minute between turning on each device (or until it appears stable and blinking lights and such settle down.) That actually solves a myriad of problems: it’s not impossible to have everything set up exactly correctly, but still not have it working because you put yourself in a funny state during the setup.
Not sure what you’re asking about “seeing” the machines. I assume it’s a way of asking if the router and computer recognize each other. I don’t think so. If they did, I think they’d have Internets flowing freely amongst them (and an Xbox).
Desktop is connected to the router, through a cable. This is wired to the Motorola modem that Comcast provided for its weekly bloodletting…er…fee. The laptop is connected wirelessly through the Linksys router. The Xbox is connected through a long cord that runs through the ceiling.
I think I found where the TCP/IP settings and crap are on this here Apple. It’s on the Apple logo in the upper right hand corner, System Preferences, Network, then Configure (right?) Um, the IP for the desktop is 64.42.94.219, the subnet mask is 255.255.255.128, the router address is 68.42.94.129. For the laptop, it’s 192.168.2.31, the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, the router address is 192.168.2.1, and the AirPort ID is 00:30:65:06:e7:ea. Looking at the laptop, the settings appear to be locked. This does not bode well for future endeavors, as I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if everyone forgot the password.
I suppose I can hook up the router again and power cycle them and see if it shakes something loose.
Here’s a guess, which in some ways is so obvious I’m afraid to ask, but on the other hand I haven’t heard it mentioned:
Have you checked that the security settings on the laptop match those on the wireless router?
When configuring my own wireless network with the Linksys router, it took quite a bit of trial and error to get that configuration exactly right. One wrong selection and there would be no connection.
Ed
Um. How would I go about doing such things with a pair o’ Apples?
My Linksys router is configured the exact same way for my macs as it is my pcs.
I don’t think you have an apple-specific problem.
Could you try using cat5 cable to verify the setup is working b4 going wireless?
Another dumb question: have you cycled the power on the cable modem after hooking up the new router (wired or wireless - doesn’t matter)? Often, cable modems won’t recognize a new router until the modem’s restarted.
That’s your problem right there. A netword is identified by it’s router addresses and subnet masks. These need to be the same for all systems. I’m assuming you’ve only got one router, although above you refer to “the router” and “the linksys router” as though they’re different. If you DO have two, and the wireless router has ethernet ports too (almost all of them do), get rid of the extraneous router; you’re just making your life more complicated with two of them.
The airport ID doesn’t really matter here, that’s just the hardware signature of the card.
So, the router address and subnet mask have to match. That’s all?
And yeah, there’s only one router in question here. It’s a matter of my momentarily imprecise language that made you think otherwise.
What in the hell is the AirPort ID for on an Apple?
All wireless cards and ethernet cards have them, they’re just called “MAC Addresses” (no relation to Macintosh computers) on other systems. It’s a supposedly globally unique number burned in the firmware, sometimes used for security setups. When I was working in a small office in the late 80’s or so, we got a batch of ethernet cards that all had the same MAC address - nothing worked and it took us ages to figure out why.
And yes, the router address needs to be the same on all computers (that’s the address of the router – if they’re not all the same, they’re not talking to the same machine). The subnet mask is used to determine what part of an IP address is the network and what part is the computer - not worth figuring out or understanding, just realize that for a home LAN it’s almost always 255.255.255.0.
Now even I’m getting confused.
In a home situation, everything should be configured via DHCP, meaning you don’t have to enter IPs, netmasks and router addresses 'cause a central device (in this case your router) configures everything automagically. This feature (DHCP Server) is by default on on all consumer-level routers, but if the previous owner changed the settings, who knows? Check all your computers to make sure they’re set to DHCP also.
With everything set to DHCP, you can unplug/plug things in as TimeWinder indicates, and should see the following:
[ul]
[li]Computers on the network will have IPs of 192.168.1.x[/li][li]They will all have gateway addresses of 192.168.1.1[/li][li]The router will have an external (WAN) address of… something. Probably 68.x.x.x, but who knows.[/li][/ul]
Power cycling your modem / router is important, as Comcast will only lease one IP address at a time, and it’s fixed to the device MAC. If you change the device plugged in to it, it won’t work until you power cycle the modem. (At least, that was the way things were when I worked there).