Help wireless Problem

ec18

How do I set up my new Macbook with my wireless network at home. The macbook won't pick up the eircom wireless. It picks up other ones from around the street but not the one downstairs. Any ideas?

WUSBDesign

There are going to be a dozen questions about your setup, but it helps if you can check if the connection works by using no security.

ec18

no its has a wpa key

rudden

Check and see if your router is broadcasting it's SSID (Network Name). If it is disabled then you wont pick up the network unless you manually enter the name in. Hiding the SSID stops people from accidentally trying to access your network.

ec18

how do I check that?

rudden

Basically you need to access the settings of your router/access point. Usually through your web browser. Do you have a computer that already has access to the network? Or you may have to initially hook up direct to the router with a cable. The access details vary depending on hardware. Most routers have the access address and default admin login and password (unless you have changed the defaults which is recommended) printed on the bottom of the equipment.

i.e. on mine the page is 192.168.0.1 which is typed into the web browser. On my mums the address is more like a web address instead of numbers. This all depends on having a computer that can access the network..

Once you have brought up the settings control panel in your browser you need to look for the SSID setting. What's the make and model of your equipment? Wireless router? or router and separate wireless access point?

PS if you have a computer already hooked up to the wireless you should be able to see the SSID name in the network connections.

ec18

ok i can see and connect to my home network now but my macbook is self assigning it's ip address ans it won't let me use the internet...How do I fix that?

rudden

Self assigning an IP shouldn't be a problem unless it clashes with an IP of another computer on the network. Can your macbook access the wireless router settings page wirelessly? I want to see whether your mac is having problems getting onto the wireless network or is just having problems surfing the net.

You can manually assign an IP address to the mac through the wireless router settings. Using static DHCP, you should be able to fix an IP to the mac address of the network card in your macbook. The macbook gets it's IP address by querying the router.

Usually I find macs are the easiest to get working on a wireless network and windows machines give the problems. Do you have many computers accessing the wireless part? Maybe easier to reset the wireless access point to defaults and start afresh.

ec18

rudden wrote: »

Self assigning an IP shouldn't be a problem unless it clashes with an IP of another computer on the network. Can your macbook access the wireless router settings page wirelessly? I want to see whether your mac is having problems getting onto the wireless network or is just having problems surfing the net.

No I can't access the router settings page from my mac.

rudden wrote: »

You can manually assign an IP address to the mac through the wireless router settings. Using static DHCP, you should be able to fix an IP to the mac address of the network card in your macbook. The macbook gets it's IP address by querying the router.

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rudden wrote: »

Usually I find macs are the easiest to get working on a wireless network and windows machines give the problems. Do you have many computers accessing the wireless part? Maybe easier to reset the wireless access point to defaults and start afresh.

I've 3 other windows machines that work fine on the network.

flywheel

if you have other machines working fine on the network, determine the network name from one of those and then attempt to connect from the mac by selecting:
'Join Other Network...' and manually entering the network name you determined from one of the PCs

if it is an eircom supplied router (netopia?) you should be able to 'configure' it by connecting with an ethernet cable... ensuring you are assigned an IP address... and enter: http://192.168.1.254

there you can manage the 3D-Wireless settings... ensure if you make any changes you write things down as you may have to reconfigure your other 3 Win PCs... there should be detailed info on your eircom supplied router on http://support.eircom.net/search/

ec18

DubWireless wrote: »

if you have other machines working fine on the network, determine the network name from one of those and then attempt to connect from the mac by selecting:
'Join Other Network...' and manually entering the network name you determined from one of the PCs

Tried that but the connection kept timing out. I changed the channel on the router and the mac started connecting then...but it isn't getting an IP address from the Router

DubWireless wrote: »

if it is an eircom supplied router (netopia?) you should be able to 'configure' it by connecting with an ethernet cable... ensuring you are assigned an IP address... and enter: http://192.168.1.254

Yeah it is a netopia and connecting the ethernet doesn't work same problem as with the wireless

DubWireless wrote: »

there you can manage the 3D-Wireless settings... ensure if you make any changes you write things down as you may have to reconfigure your other 3 Win PCs

What settings should I be changing?

ec18

I tried setting the IP manually but no joy .....anyone have any ideas?

WUSBDesign

On any of the windows machines, which is successfully connected to the internet, open up a command window and type "ipconfig /all" and post up here what you get.

flywheel

go to the mac's system preferences, and open network

create a new location, and then try connecting using this new location

ec18

DubWireless wrote: »

go to the mac's system preferences, and open network

create a new location, and then try connecting using this new location

doesn't work
After ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : alcohollica
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : do you need that?
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.6
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 18 April 2008 07:53:00
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 18 April 2008 08:53:00

WUSBDesign

Right, your windoze machines are being assigned with IP addresses with DHCP enabled. Do the same for the MacBook - SystemPreferences > Network > Airport > TCPIP > DHCP. Click the APPLY and then click on Renew DHCP Lease. MacOS should then come back fairly quickly with a new IP address in the range 192.168.1.XXX.

Do you enable the router to use a (restricted) DHCP range? If so, disable that for the moment. Also, disable security on the router just to get the Mac connected - you can always re-enable security later. Another thing to check is that you have not enabled the wireless access control list (aka MAC filtering).

ec18

it worked when I turned off security for some reason....it hadn't before....thanks for the help.