[ergyu]

Hello. I'm posting this hoping to get some answers to help out a couple of my room mates. I use a PC so Macs are for the most part foreign to me, and they are both computer illiterate. Here it goes:

We have 4 computers, 1 router and 1 cable modem. 2 of them are macs, 2 are pcs. When we first moved into our house everything worked fine on autodetect save one mac, which had to just be manually assigned an IP address. For some reason my room mate decided to unplug everything when it wasn't working one day, and now it hasn't been the same since. The PCs work fine, but both Macs can't connect to the internet. They can ping the router and the other 2 pcs perfectly fine, but no matter if it's an automatic or manual connection, they cannot get to the web. I've given them both different addresses, tried resetting the modem, tried them just plugged into the router with no PCs; everything I can think of.

If I have one plugged straight into the modem, it works, but otherwise no dice.

One of them is a new G5 Imac and the other is a Dual G4. They both were working fine before the unplug incident.

We've also noticed that since this both computers have been taking an incredibly long time to load unless you uncheck the ethernet and internal modem boxes under the Port Configurations menu.

Can anyone help us? Both of them have recently installed some of the same programs as well, such as CS2 that I know contact the internet intermitantly. Could this be causing a problem?

Thanks for any help anyone has!

[John Strung]

Try putting the LAN IP address of your router in the Domain Name Server box in the TCP/IP prefs of the Macs.

[ergyu]

OK I tried that and it didn't give me a connection, but it did solve the problem of starting up extremely slow I think. I'll have to try it on the G4 as well and see what happens. Could there be some settings I need to change on the router? The ISP mentioned something about that to my room mate, though I don't know what it was exactly. Thanks so far!

[John Strung]

What brand and model router is it? Can the PC's connect to the internet?

[ergyu]

Its a Linksys 4 port router model BEFSR41.

The PCs can connect to the internet.

[John Strung]

Originally Posted by ergyu

Its a Linksys 4 port router model BEFSR41.

The PCs can connect to the internet.

Try settting the Macs to a fixed IP address as follows:

Mac #1:
Connect Manually
IP address = 192.168.1.2
Gateway or router = 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask = 255.255.255.0
Domain Name Server = 192.168.1.1

Set Mac #2 with the same settings except IP address = 192.168.1.3

[ergyu]

Originally Posted by John Strung

Try settting the Macs to a fixed IP address as follows:

Mac #1:
Connect Manually
IP address = 192.168.1.2
Gateway or router = 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask = 255.255.255.0
Domain Name Server = 192.168.1.1

Set Mac #2 with the same settings except IP address = 192.168.1.3

Damn, tried that already too.

Thanks though...

[John Strung]

Do you have PPPoE turned OFF in your Mac Network Prefs? If not, turn it off and try the settings above again.

When you use the fixed IP settings as in my post above:

1. Do the link lights on the Linksys light for the ports you have the Macs plugged in to?

2. Can you reach http://192.168.1.1

3. Can you reach http://64.233.161.99

?

[ergyu]

PPPoe is turned off. The lights blink like there is activity, and I can ping all the computers and router from each one of the macs, but can't access the internet still. This is really frustrating us, I don't understand. Thanks for your continued help....

[ghporter]

I believe your problem is that the Macs don't have the right DNS server address. Without a good DNS server address, the computer CANNOT do anything on the Internet. The quick and dirty cheat here is to peek at what the PCs have for their DNS server address and enter that in your Macs. I'll bet a whole quarter that this will get you online.

It still really REALLY puzzles me that your Macs can't get addresses through DHCP. By using DHCP (automatic IP addresses), you get everything you need in terms of settings along with the IP, so this would not ba an issue. After you manually enter the DNS address and find out that the Macs do work, I want a shot at getting your Macs working under DHCP. I have an idea or two...

[John Strung]

I think GH is right and this is a DNS problem. That is why I asked you to try the second link in my last post. If you can get to that link (which is the IP address for Google), then your problem is a DNS problem.

In an earlier post you said you had tried a static IP address, but did you enter the numbers EXACTLY as in my previous post, including putting 192.168.1.1 in Domain Name Server box?

[ergyu]

I tried using the same DNS server settings as the pc's before, and just tried it again to no avail. I cannot access google via that IP address either. Is there some other DNS server address I might be able to try instead? There are 3 listed for my computer, so I just put them all in there.

[John Strung]

Look carefully at the back of the LinkSys and make sure nothing is plugged into the port marked "uplink".

[ergyu]

Originally Posted by John Strung

Look carefully at the back of the LinkSys and make sure nothing is plugged into the port marked "uplink".

Check. Everything is ok back there.

[f1000]

What happens if you hook up just the two Macs to the router using DHCP?