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TICKET ARCHIVE -> wifi connection

wemuse - Mar 29, 2006 - 11:13 am

I have a new 17 inch Mac laptop running OS 10.4. I seem to be able to connect to any wifi signal that has a name. But I am unable to conncet to any wifi signal that does not have a name, and that is identified by the manufacturers name, such as linksys or belkin. Why is this, and what can I do to enable me to connect to these kinds of signals? Many thanks. Bill

Ferdinand - Mar 29, 2006 - 1:07 pm

You cant connect to some wifi connections, but not because the name is from the company that made it. Tick "Use Interference Robustness" and check that that wifi signal requiers password or not.
-Ferdinand

wemuse - Mar 29, 2006 - 2:37 pm

OK, thank you. I am at work and do not have the laptop with me. When I go home, I will try what you suggest and then let you know if it worked. Bill

wemuse - Mar 30, 2006 - 2:32 pm

I did what you suggested, but when I ticked "Use interference robustness" nothing happened. I did not get a dialog box or anything. When I go to Network Preferences, I get the following message: "Airport is connected to the network Linksys. You are connected to the internet via airport." Then when I go to Diagnostics, there is a green light on Airport, Airport Settings and Network settings. There is a red light on ISP, Internet, and Server. I know that the Network that I am trying to connect to has a password, and I know the password. But I do not know how or where to input it. Do you have a hint for me? Thanks, Bill

Ferdinand - Mar 31, 2006 - 7:55 am

At the top of the screen in bar, where you can see the time, change the lanuguage etc. you should be able to see from bars, the indicate how strong the signal from the airport is. If you press it, it says Other... somewhere in the middle... if you press it, type in the exact name of the airport (small letters only), then choose WEP Password from the drop-down list. Type in the password and click "ok". Maybe that will help.
- Ferdinand

wemuse - Mar 31, 2006 - 10:07 am

Ferdinand, I tried this, but I got a message which says, "There was an error joining the Airport network "linksys". So it did not connect to the wifi. Too bad, but i am ready to try something else. Bill

Ferdinand - Mar 31, 2006 - 12:42 pm

The "There was an error joining the Airport network ......" comes up, if you try to connect to a signal, that you are not in touch with. In other words, you were maybe not close enough to the airport. If you were like just 10 meters away from it, then your Airport card isnt stuck in properly. Thats what happened to me too a few weeks ago. Question: Which Apple Laptop do you have? iBook, Powerbook, or Macbook Pro???

If you have an iBook, its really easy:
If you look on your keyboard, you will see two square buttons on your keyboard, that don't do anything. They are between ESC and F1, and the second one is (also at the top) between F11 and F12. Press those to small keys, and pull them towards you (they move up and down). Then lift the keys up. The whole keyboard should move up, so you can basically take it off (Just its stuck on with some small cables, be VERY CAREFUL while you do this, or the whole keyboard can break off!!!!!!!!!!). You will see a silver or white Airport card installed on the very left under your keyboard. If you see crumbles, hair etc, remove them. Blow them out. Check that all cables are tightly fixed around the card. Then close the keyboard again, and press the edge keys (-,=, enter, F12, shift on the right, arrow keys, right apple, space bar, left apple, ctrl, alt etc...

If you dont have an iBook, then I'm out of ideas... sorry. The only thing you can do is open Network Diagnostics and try it again. If its fixed (hurray!!!), if not I dont know what to do. Since I have an iBook, I know where the airport card is etc. but if you have the Macbook Pro or any laptop from the PowerBook series, I'm lost. If it doesnt work I will open this question, so maybe another tech can help you... or (last option) just call Apple Care. The first 90 days after buying a new Mac Apple care is free, and the first year repairing is free. From then on you would need to buy an Apple Protection Plan for 1,2, or 3 extra years of service.
- Ferdinand

wemuse - Mar 31, 2006 - 12:48 pm

Ferdinand, we are out of luck for the moment. It is a Powerbook G4, and I have had it for more than 90 days. Should I enter my question again for another tech? What do you suggest? Thanks for your efforts. Bill

Ferdinand - Mar 31, 2006 - 12:51 pm

Thats really bad. But i have one more question: When did this start? Was it all the time and you just realized now, or did it start after you installed a particular application? What did you do right before this started? It might be the fault of an Application, that is somehow changing permissions... Ferdinand

wemuse - Mar 31, 2006 - 2:07 pm

It did not start at any particular time, it was just always there. And it is not my laptop alone. Another person in the office also has a laptop like mine and he cannot connect with airport either. He has to use an ethernet connection. Both of us sit within ten feet of the linksys router and both of us get very strong signals from it. The baffling part is that I can connect easily to some wifi signals. I was at a friends house and I picked up two signals, one named norton and the other named linksys. I connected easily to norton but could not connect at all to linksys. I was also at a motel last week and there was a signal named Belkin pre-N. I could not connect to it either. So the problem seems to be that my laptop is configured to connect to some signals but not to others. I can understand that I might no be able to connect to a signal that has a password, but here at work I know the password and I still cannot connect. If you get any flashes of insight, I will happily try them out. Bill

Ferdinand - Mar 31, 2006 - 2:27 pm

I think I found the answer:
Go to System Preferences, then to Sharing.
The first eight options of nine that you can tick should be ticked. This is Personal File sharing, windows sharing, personal web sharing, remote login, FTP access, apple remote desktop, remote apple events and printer sharing. The last option (Xgrid) is optional, but is basically useless. Press the internet tab, and turn Internet sharing on.
Lets see if that works! Ferdinand

wemuse - Mar 31, 2006 - 3:03 pm

Ferdinand, everything was easy to do except when I got to the point where I was supposed to turn on the internet sharing. The warning message that appeared cautioned that it might interfere with the settings on other computers. I am in an office where I certainly do not want to cause any problems like that, so I have deferred the last step until I can try it somewhere where I will not disrupt the office. I may get to do it this weekend, but if I do not, then I will be out of town for ten days and I will have to try it when I return. That is too bad, but cannot be helped. Bill

Ferdinand - Apr 1, 2006 - 12:46 am

Thats fine- internet sharing isn't that important, but it would be good if you could try it sometime. But now I have a very good idea: With the macosx.com help program I will be able to see your screen and then I can see whats wrong- so its like if I was in front of it. You can see what i'm doing, and if you want to stop you can do so via the help program.
If you agree, download the program here:
http://www.macosx.com/downloads/Help1.0RC1-1.dmg.zip

Then copy the files to your Applications folder (or Desktop, wherever). Open the Help program, and enter you username and password at the Settings tab. Then, click on the Remote tab next to it, and click Start Screen Sharing. If all goes well, a hostname, port number and password will be displayed. Send me this information. I will then be able to connect to your computer directly. Everything I do you will see what I'm doing. I'm just not sure if we have to be at our laptops at the same time... But I am asking about this right now. Ferdinand

wemuse - Apr 1, 2006 - 9:18 am

OK by me, but we will have to wait until I return. Today I have other things to do and tomorrow I am leaving. I will be back on April 13 and can contact you then. Bill

Ferdinand - Apr 1, 2006 - 11:59 am

Bill, To say it short, I think linksys isnt a very good company with Apples, and other techs told me, that they had the same problem, they switched from linksys to Apple Airport Basestation and it worked well. Follow this link to get to the Apple Store page, where it tells you what an Apple Airport Base-station costs and more.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...lm=M8799LL%2FA

(copy-paste). I hope that we can fix the problem when you returned.
- Ferdinand

PS: Is this router/aiport Linksys in your office or at home?? If its in your office, then ask your IT Technician/Network Administrator. If this is all at home, look for the IP adress of your Linksys router. You can find it in the Preferences, in the box of your router and sometimes also at the bottom of the router. Type that IP adr ess in any browser (Safari would be the best one for this) and then you can check the settings of your router.

wemuse - Apr 1, 2006 - 1:54 pm

One last message, Ferdinand. It is true that my office has a Linksys router. However, I encounter many other Linksys routers at other locations. Obviously, I have no control of what other folks use for a router. I will look into the Apple Airport Base Station when I return, but if this helps at work, it will not help at other locations. Since the other 5 computers at work use ethernet, the Airport Base station would also have to accommodate these. I will review it and let you know. Bill