Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

thunderous_funker · Jun 27, 2003, 05:13 PM

My art dept. is running on OS X now (3 machines) and I must confess I'm way behind in learning enough about OS X to offer them consistent support. I know, I'm an ass.

Trouble: lost network connection.

When I check the Network System Prefs, it had reverted to USB Bluetoosh adapter. When I change it to Ethernet, I do not have the option for DHCP (choices are manual, PPP, AOL dialup).

Even if I configure the IP settings manually, and click "apply now". nothing hapeens. I close system prefs and it' prompts me to click "apply now", which I do. When i reopen system prefs, none of the changes are saved, it has reverted to Bluetooth.

The bluetoosh adapter is even removed and I still have no option for DHCP and still cannot save changes to the settings.

Help!?!

I fought for getting Macs for our artists, now I'm on the hook for helping them out and I'm stumped.

Xeo · Jun 27, 2003, 06:01 PM

The "Built-in Ethernet" should not have PPP or AOL dialup as options. That's what the "Internal Modem" settings have. Also, in OS X, as long as the network option shows up in the popup, it is active. Apps use the top-most connection first, then tries the next down, then the next, etc. until it finds a valid connection to the 'Net. So you do not need to worry if Bluetooth keeps "showing up". It's just the top most option and not necessarily what will be used for a connection.

Go into "Network Port Configurations" and tell us what you see there. Is there anything unchecked? What are your options there? You can try to go to "New..." and see if you can choose the Ethernet. If you can, the current "Ethernet" might be a misnamed modem configuration, which is what I suspect.

thunderous_funker · Jun 27, 2003, 06:08 PM

Originally posted by Xeo:
The "Built-in Ethernet" should not have PPP or AOL dialup as options. That's what the "Internal Modem" settings have. Also, in OS X, as long as the network option shows up in the popup, it is active. Apps use the top-most connection first, then tries the next down, then the next, etc. until it finds a valid connection to the 'Net. So you do not need to worry if Bluetooth keeps "showing up". It's just the top most option and not necessarily what will be used for a connection.

Go into "Network Port Configurations" and tell us what you see there. Is there anything unchecked? What are your options there? You can try to go to "New..." and see if you can choose the Ethernet. If you can, the current "Ethernet" might be a misnamed modem configuration, which is what I suspect.

Yeah, I deleted the other devices from "port configurations" just for simplicity sake while troubleshooting. Everything reverts as soon as you close the panel and re-open it. Very odd.

I tried creating a new location, but the options were still limited.

As I was investigating it further on Apple's Support page, the artist apparently lost the faith and initiated a reinstall of the system.

The thing that unsettled me most is that no settings would save. Even if ports were misnamed, I don't understand why it wouldn't save any changes. Very very odd.

Xeo · Jun 27, 2003, 06:38 PM

Originally posted by thunderous_funker:
The thing that unsettled me most is that no settings would save. Even if ports were misnamed, I don't understand why it wouldn't save any changes. Very very odd.

Well, if you mean by "they wouldn't save" that when you deleted the port configurations they would show up again, yeah, that sounds wrong. However, if you're talking about using the popup to switch to a different port (bluetooth to ethernet, for example), then that's not really making a change. Both of those are active and you are only choosing which one you want to configure. So when quitting System Prefs and relaunching, it will always show the first one again.

thunderous_funker · Jun 27, 2003, 06:45 PM

Originally posted by Xeo:
Well, if you mean by "they wouldn't save" that when you deleted the port configurations they would show up again, yeah, that sounds wrong. However, if you're talking about using the popup to switch to a different port (bluetooth to ethernet, for example), then that's not really making a change. Both of those are active and you are only choosing which one you want to configure. So when quitting System Prefs and relaunching, it will always show the first one again.

No. I would enter IP config manually, choose to save changes, close system prefs, open it again and all the changes were wiped out.

Not just a manual IP config either. Any changes. I'd close, click on "apply now". Re-open and everything was reset like I hadn't done anything.

Weird. He's reinstalling so it's moot now. Thanks anyway.

Weird.

sbjordal · Jun 28, 2003, 08:51 AM

Originally posted by thunderous_funker:
My art dept. is running on OS X now (3 machines) and I must confess I'm way behind in learning enough about OS X to offer them consistent support. I know, I'm an ass.

Trouble: lost network connection.

When I check the Network System Prefs, it had reverted to USB Bluetoosh adapter. When I change it to Ethernet, I do not have the option for DHCP (choices are manual, PPP, AOL dialup).

Even if I configure the IP settings manually, and click "apply now". nothing hapeens. I close system prefs and it' prompts me to click "apply now", which I do. When i reopen system prefs, none of the changes are saved, it has reverted to Bluetooth.

The bluetoosh adapter is even removed and I still have no option for DHCP and still cannot save changes to the settings.

Help!?!

I fought for getting Macs for our artists, now I'm on the hook for helping them out and I'm stumped.

Create a new user and see if the same things happens then. It could be something with that specific user account that's causing the problem.

suthercd · Jun 28, 2003, 01:04 PM

If they are a Normal User, the Capabilities that are set by an Admin account my be limited. This information is accessed from the Accounts preference pane.

HTH
Craig