Apple/Airport/Wireless/Linksys/HELP!

[LeeH]

Our Linksys wireless B router is hooked to the cable modem. Our main PC is hooked directly (i.e. via wire) to the router. When my wife bought her Ibook, she turned it on and it found the network and she was immediately able to access the internet.

At some point yesterday our network died. We had no internet access from either machine. I pulled the router and had internet access on the main computer when it was hooked directly to the cable modem. Linksys technical support had me run an application that's on their web site and the router worked again. But, my wife's Ibook will does not work on the net work now. It asks for the network password, but when the password (yes, the correct password) is entered it says "Can't find server."

Any suggestions?

[bryanthompson]

I had something like that happen... I have a Motorola WR850G, though... I shut all the computers down, unplugged the cablemodem and router power, then plugged the cablemodem back in, then the router, then each computer... Still didn't work. I called the cable company, and they said something about the modem losing config & whatnot, so they were able to reset the cablemodem from there and it worked fine.. dunno what the actual problem was.

When you plugged the computer right into the cablemodem, it might have taken over as the primary for the cablemodem, so the modem won't recognize the modem now... I think that's how they work... some security crap. They just don't want people switching computers on the cablemodem for some reason. The cable company should be able to reset it...

edit: should be "so the modem won't recognize the router now"

[jyl]

What Linksys tech support had you do, I'm sure, was to open the router's administration page and either change some settings or reconnect or both. That's how you control the router - you open a web browser, type "http://168.192.1.1" (I think that is the number), and you get what looks like a website with various tabs for changing settings. You're not actually on Linksys' website, you're just controlling the router
itself.

I'd start by restarting the iBook and letting it look for the wireless network again.

If no luck, then on the iBook's menu bar (top right of screen) there should be a "pie wedge" symbol for the Airport wireless card. The symbol should be showing one or more "bars" to signify it is connected to the wireless network. If no bars, then not connected. If just a wedge outline, then Airport is turned off. Anyway, click it. A menu appears, try clicking "Turn Airport Off" and then "Turn Airport On", see if that makes any difference.

You say there's a network password. Does that mean you've turned on the wireless security ("WEP", or similar)? I confess I never could get the WEP to work on my Linksys (whether with my wife's iBook or two different work Windows notebook), so I shut it off. Anyway, you might try disabling WEP to see if that is the problem. You do it from the router administration page. If your problem is indeed WEP, I have no idea what to do.

If the iBook still doesn't connect to the wireless network, even with WEP turned off, then click the "System Preferences" icon (a white square with Apple logo and lightswitch), which should be in the Dock (collection of icons at bottom of screen). Click "Network". If there is a red dot next to "Airport", then it is not connected. Click "Connect". If no success, click "Configure" and check the settings by clicking the four tabs in the center of the screen ("Airport TCP/IP AppleTalk Proxies"). Airport should be set on "Automatic", "TCP/IP" should say "Using DCHP", AppleTalk should not be active, and there shouldn't be anything checked in Proxies. Try again to "Connect".

Hopefully something here will help. I no longer use the Linksys, got an Airport Extreme instead, and I don't recall the specific settings and issues I ran into with the Linksys.

You can also try Apple's support forums, get there via www.apple.com.

[Moses]

Excellent suggestions by jyl. Also open "internet connect" in the iBook. Make sure an airport connection is open.

In the end, you might find an Airport Extreme helpful.

[LeeH]

OK... I turned off the WEP and now the Ibook is connected to the network. But, now I'm getting an error message that says, "Safari can't open the page "http... web address.com" because it can't find the server "www.web address.com."

AirPort shows the proper network name and a good signal strength, but for some reason I still can't open a web page.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by LeeH
I turned off the WEP

Wireless isn't just something you take take out of the box, plug in and go, unless you want everyone else in your neighborhood snarfing your connections.

I'll bet a donut your wife didn't connect to your network, but to some unsecured wireless access point in your vicinity; that's why it seemed so easy.

[LeeH]

Originally posted by widebody911
Wireless isn't just something you take take out of the box, plug in and go, unless you want everyone else in your neighborhood snarfing your connections.

I'll bet a donut your wife didn't connect to your network, but to some unsecured wireless access point in your vicinity; that's why it seemed so easy.

It's our network... we gave it a unique name and that's what it's showing on her G4.

[Moses]

Originally posted by LeeH
OK... I turned off the WEP and now the Ibook is connected to the network. But, now I'm getting an error message that says, "Safari can't open the page "http... web address.com" because it can't find the server "www.web address.com."

AirPort shows the proper network name and a good signal strength, but for some reason I still can't open a web page.

Go to "Open internet connect" Specify your network. You are detecting a wireless network, but "Internet Connect" is trying to use a wired port. I had the same problem.

After you get it working, go to preferences and ask your laptop to connect to the specified network on startup.

[LeeH]

It says it is connected to the right network. If I turn AirPort off and back on, it finds and connects to the network... but it still give me the same message when I try to access the web - that it can't find the server.

[jyl]

Lee, seems like time to isolate the problem a little more.

Connect the iBook directly to a port on the Linksys router, using an Ethernet cable. Use System Preferences | Network to confirm a green dot next to "Built-in Ethernet", then see if you can browse the web using the wired connection.

Also try using Internet Explorer instead of Safari, to access websites. Also, can any other application on her iBook access the Internet - for example, if she uses Mail, can she receive and send email? In other words, make sure it is not an application problem.

Basically, let's find out if the problem is, in fact, the wireless connection. Because it sounds like that part should be fine.

By the way, I know we're told that not using WEP is as bad as using the rhythm method. But I found that, at least up to 1 year ago, different vendors handled WEP in irritatingly different ways. I heard stories like "yeah, I eventually got WEP to work but I had to add a special character at the start of the password string, that wasn't documented anywhere". Since my access point is over 150 feet from the nearest neighbor, I decided to skip the WEP. I scan the MAC addresses on my router occasionally, and have never found anyone else's machine connected. I've also turned off file sharing on all my machines, so I don't really have a "network", just a bunch of devices using the same internet connection. My work laptop doesn't really need to talk to my TiVO box, does it?

[LeeH]

Well, it's working now. Can't say that I know why for sure. I reset the Linksys router and set it up again, and that didn't seem to do anything.

I did some searching and found where someone who had experienced the same problem. I followed his instructions and it worked. It involved using a cable to hook the iBook up to the router. Here's the page I used:

http://homepage.mac.com/car1son/initial_linksys_setup.html

I know we never hooked the G4 directly to the router before. When my wife is in a hotel with wireless service, she just turns it on and it works. Oh well. She'll be happy that it's working now... just wish I had a better handle on what went wrong and why this fixed it!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions!

[jyl]

Congratulations!

Now you need to rehearse the strong but gentle, commanding but humble, explanation you'll give to your wife. Something about how you used piercing logic and muscular tenacity to solve a tremendously difficult network problem.

Since you're a car guy, you already have practice in this genre of chest-thumping.

I remember one of my first dates with my wife. I had a Merkur XR4Ti with an aftermarket intercooler. The hose clamp to the intercooler tended to slip off, and I kept the necessary screwdriver in the glovebox. So we were on some L.A. road when the car suddenly shuddered and died. She looks at me, with alarm and concern. I confidently reach under the air dam, re-tighten the hose clamp, and casually toss the screwdriver back in the glove box as we zoom off. Ever since then, she's thought I actually know something about cars.

[Icemaster]

Cpuple of suggestions if you don't want to use WEP:

Set the settings on the wireless access point to only hand out as many IP's as you have computers; under the Advanced tab, Wireles tab, change the wireless network access to "Restrict Access" and plug in the MAC address of the network card from the Apple; on the Setup tab, set the broadcast SSID to disable.

This should help keep (most) folks from hijacking your bandwidth.

[LeeH]

I'm guessing that AirPort picks up the IP address when it's hooked up to the cable. All I told my wife was that I spent three hours messing with it and now it works.

I remember in high school a friend called me on a Saturday morning and said she and her mom were heading out of town and their car wouldn't start. Her dad was on business trip. I grabbed my tool box and headed over not really expecting to fix it. The first thing I did was pop the distributor cap off and there was the rotor in about 47 pieces. $10 + 20 minutes later they were on the road and I was a hero. I don't think I've ever fixed one that easily since.