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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Airport network loses ID

Delaware - Sep 28, 2006 - 4:57 pm

Network problem No. 1:
The setup:
A 2WIRE HW1000 DSL router is directly connected to a Windows PC downstairs. My G4 Mac speaks to the DSL router via Airport
(I don’t have an Airport Base Station, just the card, so Airport Admin Utility and Setup Assistant are useless.)
The problem:
Connecting to the internet was fine until I upgraded from 10.2.8 to 10.4.7. Now, every time the computer starts up or if it has been asleep, Airport loses its network recognition. It reads “None of your trusted networks can be found, would you like to join an open wireless network named ‘default’?” It recognizes our neighbors' wireless networks, but never remembers our 2WIRE address. Each time I have to re-enter it under "Other". Then I select 40/128 bit hexidecimal WEP and enter the number in brackets on the DSL router. I tried adding this info to keychains but maybe I didn’t use the right language because it didn’t fix the problem. I tried locking Preferences but they are always unlocked after start-up. I looked on the 2WIRE website for upgrades, but they only apply to USB connection. I considered getting a phoneline adapter and nixing Airport but I read in another forum that 2WIRE adaptors don't work with OS 10.4
P.S. Your website won't allow me to enter my system details: G4 AGP 100 400 mghz 960 RAM

Delaware - Sep 29, 2006 - 5:40 am

More info:
My Airport card originally installed with Airport 3.3. It was upgraded automatically when I installed OSX 10.4. I read in some other Mac forums that this same problem—Airport losing its connection after sleep—was caused by various levels of upgrades from 3.3. But how to fix it with my setup?

Because I don’t have Airport Extreme or Base Station, most of the Airport Admin utility is greyed out. When I try to select a base station and enter the IP address and password for the 2WIRE I get an error message.

jackr - Sep 29, 2006 - 6:32 am

Here's a test: go to the Networks System Preferences, and enable the AirPort's "status in menu bar." Now, when you're seeing that pop-up about no trusted networks, watch the status indicator, see if it actually connects to your 2Wire.

I have found that it takes a bit longer for my 10.4.7 MacBook Pro to spot my 2Wire than my neighbor's Linksys. I think this is because I have a WPA password and his is unsecured(!). I do get that alert after sleep, but I also do get automatic reconnect going on behind it--so I just grumble and cancel it, and I'm fine.

Delaware - Sep 29, 2006 - 9:44 am

Okay, I went into Network Prefs and looked at Airport Network Status, the 2WIRE address was listed at the top of preferred networks. None of my neighbors' networks are listed there. I didn't see any status indicator to watch when Airport was turned off or on, as if I could see something "happen." Then I went into Options and unchecked "Ask before joining an open network," (which sounded cautious to me) and checked "Keep looking for recent networks," (which sounded like roaming to me) That didn't change anything in the Network Prefs pane, but when I went to the pull down menu under the Airport symbol on the Desktop header, there was my 2WIRE ! So thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
However, Airport still loses its internet connection after going to sleep and I have to re-enter the info manually as I described earlier.