[wataru]

I fixed up my friend's slot-loading iMac, updating her OS 9 to the max and giving her the latest versions of various things. I served the files from my iBook G4 running Tiger, connecting to the iBook from the iMac side through the Chooser. Everything went fine, until...

Now whenever a browser on the iMac tries to access the internet, it wants to connect to my computer through Apple FileSharing. If my iBook is on the network, it will prompt me to log onto it. If the iBook isn't on the network, the iMac will hang until it times out. Once past that stage, whether it mounts my iBook's HD or not, the internet works fine.

Some clues: In IE, if I continue to "Cancel" every request to mount the share, it will prompt me 1) at launch, 2) when opening the IE preferences window, and 3) when I click on the File Helpers section of the prefs.

This leads me to believe that perhaps the Internet Config settings decided to set some of the apps on my iBook as the default helpers for certain filetypes. However, throwing away all of /System Folder/Preferences and rebooting didn't fix things, which puzzles me. Also, none of the listings in IE or in the Internet control panel actually specify applications on the iBook.

Any idea why this is happening? The iMac is basically useless for internet stuff unless my iBook happens to be around.

[©öñFü$íóÑ]

it would really help if we knew how your network is set up...... Are you just using a cross-over cable between your iMac and PowerBook? Or do they both connect to a router.

Maybe it has something to do with AppleTalk? In Mac OS 9, you should probably double check the Chooser and maybe specify "Ethernet" in the TCP/IP control panel for accessing the internet on the iMac.

[wataru]

The iMac was in a remote part of the house, so the first time I did this it was receiving internet over ethernet, as served from my iBook (which was in turn connected to a wireless network). The problem occurred later with my friend's PowerBook serving internet to the iMac, and both the PowerBook (OS X 10.4) and iBook connected to the wireless network.

AppleTalk was set to Ethernet on the iMac, and was not enabled on either laptop. "Ethernet" was already specified in the TCP/IP control panel on the iMac.

I don't see how the topology of the network would explain why the iMac wants to talk to my iBook (seemingly) when it loads Internet Config.