HELP My MAC can't find external HD mybook live

keanos_boot

I have a MAC using snow leopard and recently bought 2TB Mybook Live. What I wanted was wireless backup facility using MAC Time MAchine. Problem is the mac cannot find the Mybook. I was able to connect and back by connecting directly to mybook but wirelessly it just cannot find it. Conversations with WD helpdesk leads me to believe the problem is my wireless router (eircom Zyzel) is not allowing the mac airport to find it.

Any ideas how to get around this? Driving me nuts

Torqay

Connect the MyBook Live to your Airport router rather than the Zyxel (eircom still supplying this abomination??)

keanos_boot

Thanks Torqay - how do I do that?

blueser

Yep; I'm having the same problem. Can't find the drive on my iMac (10.6.8) and yes; I have a Zyxel wireless router. Any help, please?

yoyo

Moved to Mac

keanos_boot

Thanks for the help Torqay - any advice on how to do it?

or anyone else got some suggestions? all gratefully received

Torqay

keanos_boot wrote: »

Thanks Torqay - how do I do that?

Just plug it into your Airport router instead of the Zyxel DSL Modem.

blueser

Which router would you recommend? Will this one do the trick?

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Apple-AirPort-Express-300-Mbps-1-Port-10-100-Wireless-N-Router-MB321B-A-/220968266797?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item3372bc2c2d

Torqay

From what I can see, the MyBook Live requires a LAN connection, the Airport Express doesn't have any LAN ports., or does it?

But we're dealing with two scenarios here, keanos_boot does have an Airport router and blueser does not.

Bit confusing.

Stainless_Steel

Torqay wrote: »

From what I can see, the MyBook Live requires a LAN connection, the Airport Express doesn't have any LAN ports., or does it?

But we're dealing with two scenarios here, keanos_boot does have an Airport router and blueser does not.

Bit confusing.

Neither has an airport express not extreme by my reading of it.

Torqay

bueser was linking to an Airport Express, keanos_boot referred to "Airport" (which of course could as well be just the WLAN adapter).

Stainless_Steel

Yeah but think bueser just asking should he buy the express.

Anyway, the my book should support samba. When on mac desktop press command + k together to bring up connect to server dialog. Input smb:\\xxx.xxx.x.x\ where the x's is the ip address of the my book.

blueser

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

Yeah but think bueser just asking should he buy the express.

Anyway, the my book should support samba. When on mac desktop press command + k together to bring up connect to server dialog. Input smb:\\xxx.xxx.x.x\ where the x's is the ip address of the my book.

Not sure how I get the IP address of the my book. There's a label on the bottom of the unit with a P/N number, a Serial number and a ''Mac Address'' number, which I tried entering in the connect to server dialogue box, but it doesn't recognise the prefix ''00''.

Stainless_Steel

Go to 192.168.1.1 in your browser. Log in with password broadband1

On the right click on DHCP client list. In the list look for the MAC address number and you should see the IP for it there.

blueser

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

Go to 192.168.1.1 in your browser. Log in with password broadband1

On the right click on DHCP client list. In the list look for the MAC address number and you should see the IP for it there.

That page won't load in Firefox. What about the Airport Extreme as an (albeit pricier) alternative router?

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/New-Apple-AirPort-Extreme-Base-Station-access-point-/220809818641?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item33694a7211

It seems to be LAN friendly, according to the technical guff.

Stainless_Steel

Try 192.168.2.1 instead.

Airport extreme is good, but I don't think you need a new router. The mybook won't be found just by changing the router. You need to point to it first.

muggyog

Stainless, you were right the first time!

enter http://192.168.1.1 in the browser.
broadband1 as password.

I would connect the Mac to the Zyxel via ethernet cable first though.

Apparently the Zyxel is a piece of cr@p but may work if bridged with a better modem ( wireless part is particularly weak ).

blueser

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

Try 192.168.2.1 instead.

Airport extreme is good, but I don't think you need a new router. The mybook won't be found just by changing the router. You need to point to it first.

That page won't load either;


As for pointing the drive out to the router, isn't that supposed to be what the enclosed software is for; to ''discover'' the drive?

muggyog wrote: »

Stainless, you were right the first time!

enter http://192.168.1.1 in the browser.
broadband1 as password.

I would connect the Mac to the Zyxel via ethernet cable first though.

Apparently the Zyxel is a piece of cr@p but may work if bridged with a better modem ( wireless part is particularly weak ).

That page won't load either. Same onscreen message as above.

muggyog

Are you directly connected to the router? Which exact model of Zyxel is it?

This is the splash screen from IE on a PC



Just thinking, if you have an 'unfortunate accident' with your Zyxel modem will Eircom replace it with a Netopia 3347W ( like I have ) , without charge?

blueser

muggyog wrote: »

Are you directly connected to the router? Which exact model of Zyxel is it?

This is the splash screen from IE on a PC



Just thinking, if you have an 'unfortunate accident' with your Zyxel modem will Eircom replace it with a Netopia 3347W ( like I have ) , without charge?

Not directly connected; the Mac is in a different room to the phone socket. Tried one of those DIY extension socket thingummys; useless! Using Airport, and no problems with that. The Zyxel I have is the P-660HW-T1 v3.

Stainless_Steel

blueser wrote: »

Not directly connected; the Mac is in a different room to the phone socket. Tried one of those DIY extension socket thingummys; useless! Using Airport, and no problems with that. The Zyxel I have is the P-660HW-T1 v3.

You will need to connect to the modem using an Ethernet cable.

blueser

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

You will need to connect to the modem using an Ethernet cable.

What; the iMac? As I said; not possible without running a cable between the router and the iMac. Different rooms.

Stainless_Steel

blueser wrote: »

What; the iMac? As I said; not possible without running a cable between the router and the iMac. Different rooms.

Move the iMac maybe? All you need is a wall socket. Put it on the floor if needed.

blueser

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

Move the iMac maybe? All you need is a wall socket. Put it on the floor if needed.

Not feasible/practical to move the iMac. Guess it'll have to be the cable option. So; connecting the iMac and the drive to the router by CAT5 cable is the only option then?

Stainless_Steel

blueser wrote: »

Not feasible/practical to move the iMac. Guess it'll have to be the cable option. So; connecting the iMac and the drive to the router by CAT5 cable is the only option then?

Only until you find out the IP address of the mybook. Then you can connect to it using your iMacs wifi.

blueser

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

Only until you find out the IP address of the mybook. Then you can connect to it using your iMacs wifi.

Have to be the cable then, as I can't find the IP address. Thanks anyway.

muggyog

blueser, you are making this more difficult than it is.

The reason you have to physically connect to the router is because that is the only way to access the management menu. You need to get into this menu to see what IP address the router is assigning to the Mybook / is on the Mybook.

As explained by Stainless_Steel

On the right click on DHCP client list. In the list look for the MAC address number and you should see the IP for it there.

When you have the information you can go back to your wireless setup.

blueser

muggyog wrote: »

blueser, you are making this more difficult than it is.

The reason you have to physically connect to the router is because that is the only way to access the management menu. You need to get into this menu to see what IP address the router is assigning to the Mybook / is on the Mybook.

As explained by Stainless_Steel


When you have the information you can go back to your wireless setup.

Right. Sorry I'm not as technically au fait as you are. I thought it would be a simple case of plugging the drive into the back of the router and away you go. After all, if the iMac can latch on to the wifi signal, why not the drive? Obviously not. Anyway, I've shifted the mac out into the main living room and I now have the mybook page open in Firefox. Under settings-network, the IP address that is coming up is 192.168.1.1. I don't see this DHCP list though that's supposed to be on the right hand side.

Torqay

muggyog wrote: »

Apparently the Zyxel is a piece of cr@p

Ne'er a truer word spoken!

Unbelievable that eircom is still dishing them out

Stainless_Steel

blueser wrote: »

Right. Sorry I'm not as technically au fait as you are. I thought it would be a simple case of plugging the drive into the back of the router and away you go. After all, if the iMac can latch on to the wifi signal, why not the drive? Obviously not. Anyway, I've shifted the mac out into the main living room and I now have the mybook page open in Firefox. Under settings-network, the IP address that is coming up is 192.168.1.1. I don't see this DHCP list though that's supposed to be on the right hand side.

You should go to 192.168.1.1 in the address bar. Not the mybook page. The aforementioned ip is the ip of the router. Thats where you'll see the client listing.

keanos_boot

Hi Torqay -

Mybook live is plugged directly into the router. By airport I mean AirPort on my MAC i.e. how I connect wirelessly to my router. I can access my router via ip and can access mybook live via ip too, but my mac cannot locate mybook live when searching wirelessly. I have successfully connected to mybook live via usb but that defeats purpose of getting wireless external hd.

I think I need to do something in my router to allow my mac to connect to mybooklive. It seems the logical place for the blockage.