mac + magnet compatability problems

preilly79

hi all
i have a quick question which i'm hoping you can answer. i dont know if this is the correct forming so please feel free to move this is needed.

basically, i have magnet entertainment at home and i'm having problems connecting my macbook to the wireless router ... when i try to connect to it i get an error message stating 'there was an error joining the wireless network', but nothing more decriptive than that.

i'm a new mac user and so dont know my way around everything right now so would appreciate your hep.

i have two other laptops, both running XP and they connect without any problems ... it's just with the mac/osx.

hope you can help!

Urban Weigl

Have you tried resetting the wireless access point? There should be recessed button somewhere that will reset it if pressed down for at least 10 seconds with a pen or other pointy object.

Maybe there's a password or some other odd setup involved that's preventing the MacBook from connecting?

preilly79

unfotunately not. while there is a WEP key required to join the network, there is no reset switch on this particular access point. magnet used to ship a 2-wire router but have since changed to a product made by 'telsey' and has no reset switch.

Oriel

I'll hep you. Spelling company names with a capital letter will prevent people from thinking that your talking about having a laptop around equipment with magnets in it.
Are you sure you have the encryption set up correctly?
Try turning any passwords off and try again.

uncle_sam_ie

Have you gone into System Preferences>Network and clicked Assist me? That should walk you through it.

preilly79

sinecurea wrote:

I'll hep you. Spelling company names with a capital letter will prevent people from thinking that your talking about having a laptop around equipment with magnets in it

Symantics. I'm hoping most people have a sufficient command of the English language to know that if i were referring ferrous magnets then i would use magnets (plural) in the title. also, i can't think of any situation where i would wonder if magnets were 'compatible' with my laptop. compatability infers interoperability and not interference. anyways, like i said, symantics - let's not get bogged down in them

sinecurea wrote:

Are you sure you have the encryption set up correctly?
Try turning any passwords off and try again.

see, here's the problem ... Magnet don't allow the user to change any settings on their routers. they come re-configured and completely locked-down, so i can't turn off WEP.

preilly79

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

Have you gone into System Preferences>Network and clicked Assist me? That should walk you through it.

Hi, i have tried that and I run into the same problem. Just spoke to Magnet and told them i'm a Mac user. the girl on the end of the line said "go to start, then go to settings, then go to control planel". i interrupted her and said, "sorry, i'm using Mac OS X and not Windows XP", to which she replied, "what's that?"

thanks for you help!

Urban Weigl

Can you turn WEP off on the access point? Do so and let us know if the problem goes away.

formatman

have had better results with Airport ( wifi on MAC) with WPA instead of WEP

not familar with the Magnet router but if possible switch the security settings ove to WPA PSK ?( password shared key ) if possible on the router

ZENER

Do you know the WEP Key ?
Do you have enough access to the WAP to change it ?

ZEN

SouperComputer

see, here's the problem ... Magnet don't allow the user to change any settings on their routers. they come re-configured and completely locked-down, so i can't turn off WEP.

If thats the case, they made a big mistake shipping them with WEP. It can be cracked no time with very little knowledge. Google kismac.

Have a look at the router and post up what make and model it is. I doubt they have locked it down.

parsi

actually its "semantics"

I can't help you but I have a similar situation with connecting my Mini (Mac not car) to the Fon La Fonera - its at times like this I wish that OSX would have a network scanning wizard similar to MS....

I loaded Kismac and iStumbler but they couldn't detect the network either - you could try this with your router maybe ?

Urban Weigl

parsi, clicking on the little airport logo in the menubar will scan all available networks. Of course it will only detect visible networks. Perhaps you have this hidden? I have a fon router myself, and it always shows up there and lets me connect instantly. I've also had almost a dozen different access points over the years, every brand you can imagine, and never had any connectivity issues.

parsi

@Urban Weigl - that seemes to have done the job alright thanks. Strange but when I click the airport icon it doesn't always show up the networks, but if I turn it off/on then it will show them but didn't do this up to now ...

Urban Weigl

If it doesn't show up instantly, have ye tried closing the menu, waiting a few seconds, and clicking on it again? With the newer chipset used in the MB and MBP, it can take a few seconds to "warm up" it seems.

Greybeard

preilly79 wrote:

hi all
i have a quick question which i'm hoping you can answer. i dont know if this is the correct forming so please feel free to move this is needed.

basically, i have magnet entertainment at home and i'm having problems connecting my macbook to the wireless router ... when i try to connect to it i get an error message stating 'there was an error joining the wireless network', but nothing more decriptive than that.

i'm a new mac user and so dont know my way around everything right now so would appreciate your hep.

i have two other laptops, both running XP and they connect without any problems ... it's just with the mac/osx.

hope you can help!

PReilly
I am told that the clever Magnet marketing people said put "a ZERO between MAGNET and your modem serial number," when they should have said " a DASH". Furthermore, it is the LAST 6 digits of your serial number, if longer than 6. I hope this works for you.

acs 1

Ok. i've had the same problem but Magnet sorted it out today.
When you select the Magnet network in the airport icon scroll down menu it asks for a WEP password. Instead of the default 'WEP Password' use the WEP 40/128-bit ASCll then enter your password MAGNET in caps and the serial number of your router (if 7 digit do not leave a space - or 0) if a 6 digit use the same format they sent to you on the install sheet.
Thats it!

440Hz

You shouldnt have to do that. My mac works perfectly with my Magnet... never had any issues... If its setup properly at the start there should not be any problems.

acs 1

440Hz wrote:

You shouldnt have to do that. My mac works perfectly with my Magnet... never had any issues... If its setup properly at the start there should not be any problems.

Well if you bothered reading this post and other posts plenty of people are having problems...I have had MAC's set up on many LAN and wirless routers for years and have never had any problems but the Telsey wirless router and Magnets new WEP setup is not the same as the rest on Tiger 10.4.6 and above. So it's not just a mater of "setting it up properly at the start" All i'm trying to do is throw some light onto setup problems that are occuring. Your post neither informs people nor gives any help, just another 'i'm alright jack'.

toodles

acs 1 wrote:

Well if you bothered reading this post and other posts plenty of people are having problems...I have had MAC's set up on many LAN and wirless routers for years and have never had any problems but the Telsey wirless router and Magnets new WEP setup is not the same as the rest on Tiger 10.4.6 and above. So it's not just a mater of "setting it up properly at the start" All i'm trying to do is throw some light onto setup problems that are occuring. Your post neither informs people nor gives any help, just another 'i'm alright jack'.

I'm with you on that... I've a MacBook and I've tried everyway I know of hacking the thing... It's a nightmare... And Magnet haven't a goddamn clue...

Gonna f~ck the thing out the window... Who the f~ck are Telsey anyway?!?

440Hz

acs 1 wrote:

Well if you bothered reading this post and other posts plenty of people are having problems...

i HAD bothered to read the other posts. This thread has been going for a while, I read them when it was posted first and again when it was revived. I dont just reply to a thread without reading it.

Have a nice day.