[kawaiNiki]

Help! I'm a new mac user, and i've been trying to connect to the internet via Airport at home.

Ever time i try to connect I get a message that "Airport is connected to the network. Airport has a self-assigned IP address and may not be able to coneect to the internet."

I've tried a bunch of things but nothing is working! :S

[ghporter]

The issue here is that the AirPort Base Station is not correctly connected to your Internet connection. Whatever modem you have, the base station isn't properly plugged into it, so the base can't obtain an IP address to connect with. This is a different view of the problem you might have at some other time when your computer reports it has a self assigned IP; the cause is the same-it cannot get an address when it expects to.

Can you tell us what your equipment is-not just your computer, but your broadband modem (and what kind of Internet connection-DSL or cable-you have), what AirPort device you have, and so on? That would help.

And WELCOME!

[kawaiNiki]

ok here's some more info

I have a D-link Router hooked up to a cable modem. I also have a PC connected to the router and four other PC's connected wirelessly.

I'm trying to hook up my mac (ibook G4) and i keep getting the error message posted above. I understand what you are saying about not being able to obtain a proper IP address, but if it's not connected properly i dont' understand why the other PC's would be able to connect to the internet.

Anyways, i'm not sure what other information you need. Just let me know

[indigoimac]

Try to configure it manully and type in ur dns server addresses.

[ghporter]

I second indigoimac's suggestion. In the Network tab of System Preferences, select the AirPort card and enter a valid IP address. Look at the setup for the router to find out what range it assigns-it'll be something like 192.168.0.X, but the "X" is important; don't use a number in the range the DHCP server assigns, typically from 100 to 199. You'll also have to find out what DNS server addresses the router picke up from your ISP and enter them in the Network tab as well.

As I didn't know about the wireless PCs, I couldn't ask the following quetion before: What kind of security are you using? If it's WEP, I think this is the primary problem. Entering a WEP password/key in a Mac takes a little (very little) bit of extra effort. Since everyone else in the wireless networking business builds their drivers to expect the key to be entered as hex and Apple doesn't, you have to tell the AirPort card your entry is hex. You can do this with a checkbox in the Admin Utility, or by simply starting the entry with a "$" (without the quotes of course).