[mgl]

Just switched from earthlink DSL to rogers cable modem. Airport worked fine on earthlink. I can't seem to get both computers online with rogers. I checked their site and there's no prohibition against home networking, in fact, they tell you how to do it for PCs in vague terms. I had rogers cable modem working on my iBook. Then configured the base station and my iMac was able to use it. But my iBook can't get to the internet via airport now. Both are running 10.2 (iBook 10.2.1, iMac 10.2.2). The base station is using 4.0.7.

when I look at network prefs, the settings are identical but the "Using DHCP" values are very different. The succesful iMac has:
IP address: 24.100.42.73
router: 24.100.42.1

while the unsuccessful iBook has:
IP address: 10.0.1.2
router: 10.0.1.1

The iBook is able to print to a shared USB printer connected to the iMac, so I know it's able to use the Airport network successfully, but why can't it access the Internet?

Thanks,

Mike

[Atef's corpse]

you should power off your cable modem.
now run the airport setup utility and it will configure for cable modem.

it is important to power off your cable modem, then connect the base station, then power on cable modem, then configure base station.

[mgl]

Originally posted by Atef's corpse:
you should power off your cable modem.
now run the airport setup utility and it will configure for cable modem.

it is important to power off your cable modem, then connect the base station, then power on cable modem, then configure base station.

Thanks. I followed your instructions to the letter.

1. Had connection working directly on iBook. Disconnected. Powered down cablem modem and airport.

2. Powered on cable modem. Plugged into airport.

3. Powered up cable modem.

4. iMac is now on the internet, iBook is not. I just can't get both on it at once. Roger's site implies that they don't charge extra for multiple computers using a connection, but is there some way they could tell that my airport network is serving two computers? Their site could be wrong and they might not allow this?

[Atef's corpse]

make sure you leave the cable modem off for at least several minutes. before powering it back on, connect it to the base station then power on.

I doubt it'll help, but just to be sure....

[John Strung]

It sounds to me like you have the Airport set to Bridge mode. You want turn NAT on and turn on the DHCP server. Both Macs should get 10.x.x.x IP's if your Airport set up is right.

[mgl]

Originally posted by John Strung:
It sounds to me like you have the Airport set to Bridge mode. You want turn NAT on and turn on the DHCP server. Both Macs should get 10.x.x.x IP's if your Airport set up is right.

I'm not sure what Bridge mode is, but these are my base station options:

- Enable SNMP access on WAN: yes
- Enable configuration on WAN: yes
- Create a closed network: no
- Enable interference robustness: no
- Enable encryption (using WEP): yes
- Connect using: Ethernet
- Configure: Using DHCP
- DNS servers: 10.0.1.1
- Distribute IP addresses: yes
- Share a single IP address (using DHCP and NAT): yes
- Enable PPP Dial-in: no

Thanks for your help.

[John Strung]

Those setting look to me like they should work, although I am no Airport expert.

Are both the iBook and the iMac connected to the Airport wirelessly? If so, they should both get IP addresses in the 10.x.x.x range.

[CyberGreg]

Originally posted by mgl:
I'm not sure what Bridge mode is, but these are my base station options:

- Enable SNMP access on WAN: yes
- Enable configuration on WAN: yes
- Create a closed network: no
- Enable interference robustness: no
- Enable encryption (using WEP): yes
- Connect using: Ethernet
- Configure: Using DHCP
- DNS servers: 10.0.1.1
- Distribute IP addresses: yes
- Share a single IP address (using DHCP and NAT): yes
- Enable PPP Dial-in: no

Thanks for your help.

- DNS servers: 10.0.1.1 You must set this to your ISP's DNS servers.

Also do you know if your cable modem is looking for your "mac" address in your iMac? If so, you'll have to call your ISP and ask them to reset your account and keep your Airport hooked up.

Good luck

[ghporter]

I've seen many posts on this forum that indicate that Rogers Cable doesn't like AirPort devices. That is to say they'll work with just about any other piece of equipment, including various home network devices, but refuse to work with an AirPort Base Station. This is probably done by reading the hardware address of the device connected to the cable modem-the address range used by the AirPort Base Station is different from the range used by the network cards supplied with Macs.

One solution that has worked well is to buy an inexpensive gateway router that supports "MAC Address Cloning," and "clone" the address of whatever network card was originally connected to the modem, say your iMac's.

[rbh]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
I've seen many posts on this forum that indicate that Rogers Cable doesn't like AirPort devices. That is to say they'll work with just about any other piece of equipment, including various home network devices, but refuse to work with an AirPort Base Station. This is probably done by reading the hardware address of the device connected to the cable modem-the address range used by the AirPort Base Station is different from the range used by the network cards supplied with Macs.

One solution that has worked well is to buy an inexpensive gateway router that supports "MAC Address Cloning," and "clone" the address of whatever network card was originally connected to the modem, say your iMac's.

I've had this problem for months on a Shaw system modem in Canada.(however, in another location on Shaw I successfully connected two machines for a year) I've tried just about everything. One friend suggested that it sounds like a DHCP "contention" problem between DHCP on the modem and DHCP on the airport. I don't know if this is plausible. It sounds like a possiblity to me, but I don't know enough about DHCP to know. However, if the modem establishes DHCP addresses that would seem to be essential. But for two machines to use the line it also seems essential to me that the airport assign addresses.

Could the problem be something like this?

Byron

[006]

We have this same problem with our Cable Provider here in the UK (Telewest). The problem is with the modem binding itself to one MAC address (your iMac). We solved it usually by calling the provider and getting them to remotely refresh / clear the RAM in the modem that holds the MAC address.. Only sometimes will switching it off clear it.

I have successfully configured it on 2 occasions doing the following:

1 - If you have a "new" AP Base Station, connect your cable modem directly (not via any hub or gateway) to the WAN port.
2 - Connect the wired-mac(s) to the LAN port (this CAN encourporate a hub / switch)
3 - Power up your cable modem and base station
4 - Configure your base station to connect to the internet using DCHP over Ethernet.
5 - Configure all macs (or PCs for that matter) to use DCHP and their chosen network device (airport or ethernet).
6 - If there is still no connection on the macs, check the Admin Utility to see if the base station has an external IP (not 192.168.x.x - which it would give itself if there was no IP given by the DHCP).
7 - If there is no external IP, call your ISP and get them to refresh your MAC address.
8 - If there IS an external IP address but still no connection, check that the Airport is broadcasting DHCP and NAT (bridge mode should be on by default).

If you have an old base station (and more than one mac), you do exactly the same, only plug your modem into a router (that broadcasts the DHCP and NAT for you) and configure the base station as a peer (disable DHCP broadcast and NAT). in this situation, your layout should be as follows:

Modem ---- Router ---- (HUB / SWITCH) -- Airport + Ethernet Macs

Hope this helps!

[mgl]

Originally posted by John Strung:
Are both the iBook and the iMac connected to the Airport wirelessly? If so, they should both get IP addresses in the 10.x.x.x range.

Yes. One wasn't getting an IP address in that range, but it turned out that I was stupid and connected the cable modem to the LAN port instead of the WAN port. Once I swapped the cable, they both got good IP addresses. And the iMac which had been getting an internet connection via the wireless connection, and which had had the wrong IP address, stopped working. The iBook didn't start working.

Originally posted by CyberGreg:
- DNS servers: 10.0.1.1 You must set this to your ISP's DNS servers.

Also do you know if your cable modem is looking for your "mac" address in your iMac? If so, you'll have to call your ISP and ask them to reset your account and keep your Airport hooked up.

I don't think it's the DNS servers since the iMac worked fine via Airport and the iBook worked fine via Ethernet.

I don't think the cable modem is tied to the ethernet MAC address because I've got the iBook to work via Ethernet, the iMac to work via Airport, and my Dell Latitude to work via Ethernet.

Originally posted by 006:
1 - If you have a "new" AP Base Station, connect your cable modem directly (not via any hub or gateway) to the WAN port.
....
8 - If there IS an external IP address but still no connection, check that the Airport is broadcasting DHCP and NAT (bridge mode should be on by default).

Excellent instructions, thanks. Reading this helped me notice that I had the cable modem plugged into the LAN port by mistake.

So after I got the cable plugged in correctly, nothing worked. Put it back the way it was before and the iMac would work. Connect the iBook via Ethernet directly and it would work. Connect the iMac via Ethernet directly and it wouldn't work. Turned off cable modem and airport base station several times and disconnected everything. Nothing worked.

Called Apple. Did a couple of soft resets to the base station with no luck. Had to connect it directly via ethernet after soft resets because scanning for the base station wouldn't find it until it was directly connection. Did a hard reset and my base station stopped working. Scanning for the base station now results in nothing found, whether the base station is connected via ethernet to the iBook or iMac or whether it's wireless. Apple decided that my base station had failed and want me to return it.

1. Any ideas on my base station?

2. Why will my iBook and Dell Latititude work on my cable modem directly, but my iMac won't? My iBook is running 10.2.1 and my iMac is running 10.2.2. Both have identical network settings. I turned off the cable modem in between attempts and let it rest to clear its memory. Ideas?

Thanks,

Mike

[CyberGreg]

Okay, let's start over....

After reading through the Rogers web site, it looks like all networked PC's would get a "real" IP address, one that is "routable". At least it looked that way from their picture showing this:

TV
|
cable/modem
|
Hub
|||-PC1
||-PC2
|-PC3

Okay, you get the picture... I also looked at their instructions for configuring TCP on Mac OSX, here's a snipit:

# Ensure that Using DHCP is selected in the Configure down menu.
# Input a 0 (zero) into the DHCP Client ID field.

What you need to do is manually configure your ABS, here's what you need to set:

1. WAN port - set it to DHCP (just like their instructions say). The ABS should then get a "real" IP address, once you connect it to your cable modem.
2. On your ABS, turn on DHCP and NAT
3. Set your Airport Mac's (iBook, iMac, whatever) to also use DHCP.

Your Mac's should then get a "10.1.1.x" IP address that the ABS will then translate out it's WAN port to the Internet.

I have a 1st gen ABS so I have no screen shots of where or how you need to do this configuration, sorry.

Good luck

[mgl]

Originally posted by CyberGreg:
What you need to do is manually configure your ABS, here's what you need to set:
.......
Good luck

Thank you, I'll try this as soon as I get my base station back from Apple.

[mgl]

Originally posted by mgl:
Thank you, I'll try this as soon as I get my base station back from Apple.

Got my replacement base station from Apple today. (The now old model, not the new Extreme model. :-) Worked like a charm, no problems. So I guess my old one really did get fried. So much grief and it was just a hardware problem.

Thanks for all your help.

Mike

[KeilwerthSX90R]

It seems that the problem has been solved so without jacking the thread, has anyone had success with Starpower / RCN cable service and airport? I even have a static IP address and still the Airport won't work.

Thanks,
Josh

[aaanorton]

Gonna need some more specifics...

[KeilwerthSX90R]

Sorry about the sparse information,

I have a non-extreme model base station with a LAN port. When I connect the cable modem directly to my computer it works fine. I can either use DHCP and the computer uses the same IP address every time (my static address) or I can manually enter my static IP address. Either way works fine.

When I try and use the Airport if I use DHCP then the Airport self-assigns the usual IP address rather than the one from my ISP. Also, if I enter in the static IP information then it still won't connect. The light is on indicating data transfer on my modem, my computer get the properly assigned dynamic IP address from the Airport but I cannot get on the internet.

I hope this is enough info.

Thanks,
Josh

[aaanorton]

Obviously, you've turned Airport on? I only ask, cuz it sure sounds like you should be connecting. How many bars of signal strength are you getting?

[KeilwerthSX90R]

I'm definetly connected to the Airport. The computer I'm using to configure the Airport is about a foot away, I'm getting full signal and the computer is getting a IP address that is 10.0.1.2, something in the range that the Airport usually gives out. The problem is between the Airport and cable modem. I don't understand why the cable modem won't give the Airport the IP address using DHCP. Maybe it has something to do with my ISP trying to block routers. Is there some way to test the computer --> base station connection and the airport --> modem connection individually?

I'm hoping someone on the board has tried the same setup with Starpower or RCN.

Thanks,
Josh

[aaanorton]

Sorry, I misread your previous post. If you're not getting connected through the ABS at all, recheck the Airport admin utility. If all is proper there (I'm not familiar with this s/w as I use an Asante router), contact your ISP and tell them you got a new computer and need to update the MAC address they have on file. The MAC address allows ISPs to allow only certain actual machines to be connected, it is a physical hardware address for your computer. Give them the MAC address of your ABS.

[KeilwerthSX90R]

I was thinking that it might be the MAC address but I am able to move the modem between two computers without a problem connecting. Are MAC addresses for routers in different ranges than MAC ranges for computers? I'll keep trying.

Thank you for your help,
Josh

[aaanorton]

Yeah, the ranges are all defined and distributed. In some rare cases, ISPs have blocked all MAC address of any Apple ABS. This was an attempt to curtail home LANs. Nice, huh?
OK, power everything down. Leave it all off for a couple minutes. Turn it all back on in this order: modem, ABS then computer. Let the modem acquire a signal before turning on the ABS (watch the lights). I have personally seen this fix what you have broken, so give it a try.
Good luck.

[rbh]

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Yeah, the ranges are all defined and distributed. In some rare cases, ISPs have blocked all MAC address of any Apple ABS. This was an attempt to curtail home LANs. Nice, huh?
OK, power everything down. Leave it all off for a couple minutes. Turn it all back on in this order: modem, ABS then computer. Let the modem acquire a signal before turning on the ABS (watch the lights). I have personally seen this fix what you have broken, so give it a try.
Good luck.

This thread is getting long and may have gone stale, but I'm interested in the problem. Seems like a lot of people find it hard to connect several machines. I have for sure. I posted earlier on this thread and in others. And I still haven't solved my configuration. I've got an old ABS and two powerbooks--one 10.2 and one 9.1. I've got a Shaw cable modem. I can connect one machine but the other only "appears" to connect in that it shows a signal and an IP address in the correct range, but it won't connect to the Internet. Seems as though it's getting to the ABS but no further. I called the cable people and they have no problems with two machines connecting and don't block it.

Thanks

[aaanorton]

Do you have MAC address filtering activated on the ABS? If so, you need to specify the MAC address of the Airport card installed in the comp, not that of the comp itself. Make sense?
Good luck.