MacBook Internet Connection Problem

theheyes

theheyes

theheyes

Soldato
Joined
17 Jan 2007
Posts
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Location
Manchester
Alright guys, I need some fresh ideas for a problem I've got.

A friend of mine has a MacBook. She bought it in January new so she's running 10.5.2 and I assume the draft n wireless hardware is in there. The ISP is tiscali but more importantly the wireless router shes using is a Linksys WAG354G.

When she first got it home it connected fine. A couple of weeks ago however the MacBook lost the wifi signal and since then has not been able to connect to the router. I haven't been able to work out whether shes been messing with anything but that's by the by now because I've reinstalled OSX and also reset the router to factory settings. It's still not working.

I've connected to the router using an ethernet cable and that works fine. When I try to connect via Airport the linksys doesn't always show up in the connection list, and when it does you click "connect", wait a few moments, and it throws a message back saying "connection timed out".

I've tried WPA2, WEP and turning the encryption off altogether - still no luck. I've even tried a long WEP key and the $ sign in front of the key to see if that works.

Unfortunately I've not been able to see if the MacBook connects to another wifi network as there aren't any unsecured ones in range. However, my iPhone connected first time to her linksys router so that seems to be working fine.

All I can think is that it must be a software quirk/bug. Does anyone have any ideas or things I can try that I've missed? Thanks in advance.

If I can't solve it we're going to have to take it back to the Apple store and play dumb I think. :(

edit - I've just realised that I think its a software problem yet I've posted in the hardware forum. tbh, it could be either so it can stay here. :)
 
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I can't comment on the linksys routers, as I've never used them, but with the netgear DG834gv2 I had a similar problem..

As you have, I went through every conceivable setting possible and it transpired I just hadnt set up the mac address of the macbook as 'allowed'! :D

Perhaps faulty hardware?? Have you tried the machine with another network?
 
Will_3rd said:
Are both devices fully up to date with firmware/software?
Click to expand...

The MacBook, yes, I did that myself. The router... probably not I didn't think about that. It has worked previously though. I will have a look on the Linksys site. Thanks. :)

IRT itsallaboutyou. I know, I thought maybe someone had previously configured it for MAC addresses but I checked and reset the router anyway so I can safely say it's not some rogue setting. :D

I've not tried using it on a different network as all the ones in range were secure and it was far too late at night to start war driving around the estate lol. I've told her to take it to uni and try there but she's off for easter now.

Thanks for the replies and if anyone else has even a long shot idea please post. :)
 
theheyes said:
The MacBook, yes, I did that myself. The router... probably not I didn't think about that. It has worked previously though. I will have a look on the Linksys site. Thanks. :)

IRT itsallaboutyou. I know, I thought maybe someone had previously configured it for MAC addresses but I checked and reset the router anyway so I can safely say it's not some rogue setting. :D

I've not tried using it on a different network as all the ones in range were secure and it was far too late at night to start war driving around the estate lol. I've told her to take it to uni and try there but she's off for easter now.

Thanks for the replies and if anyone else has even a long shot idea please post. :)
Click to expand...

Heh! Think that seems to be the most logical idea! Good luck.. but from my 'limited' knowledge, it sounds like it could be a hardware issue!? :)

and lol at war driving! :D
 
Get iStumbler from here and see if there are a lot of other networks in the area. Sometimes if they are in the same channel they conflict and it causes problems so try switching to an empty channel.
 
I have a similar problem with a NETGEAR router.

Dunno what it is, the wireless keeps on dropping on both an MB and MBP. It is intermittent, it is very strange. I have checked for other wireless networks, but there are none in range, although i do swap channels and sometimes that can fix it.

What to try is swapping the DHCP range on the router. I know it sounds a bit daft, but i have heard a similar problem to yours being fixed by changing the DHCP range so it is completely outwith the one it is on just now. eg if it is 150 - 200 change it to 100-149 so there is no chance of it getting the same IP again.
 
try manually setting the wireless security and protocol in the routers security and match it to what the macbook is expecting to use, also you might want to delete any old profiles a that remain from when it used to connect ok

also my macbook ALWAYS disconnects from my router no matter what settings i use :(
 
Thanks for the ideas guys. I will try iStumbler and change the channel - I haven't tried that yet. I will try the DHCP thing too. I tried manually setting the IP when I was there but I haven't gone that far out of the range.

I've had a similar problem with my own router, but switching the router off/on fixes it every time. This is just really baking my noodle. :confused:

As always, any other ideas are more than welcome. I'm gonna make a list of things to try for when I next see her.
 
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