Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Enthusiast Zone > Networking > New service so no no wireless!

New service so no no wireless!
Thread Tools
bbales
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: suburban Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 11, 2010, 03:27 PM
 
We switched to Comcast today (God I hope this ends up being worth it...) and while I have Internet, it's ONLY while directly plugged into my imac. Wireless network is gone.

The guy did not speak English well at all, which severely impacted communications. He was quite bothered by my existing setup, which included an old AEBS (purchased 2003), which I kept for the old laptop, a router, which had served to split the signal so an old Windows machine could use it, plus I think my iMac, even though it's wireless, might have been connected to that, PLUS a Time Capsule, which is used for the faster laptops. OK< maybe it wasn't pretty but it worked!

Now, the wireless doesn't work. I don't even know what the guy did.

Question -- does it make sense to keep the old AEBS, for the rare occasions someone uses the slow laptop? Does anyone have any advice for me as to how to set this up? The TC is currently flashing amber, (it was green earlier when the guy was here, then it switched to flashing amber, which is where it's stayed all afternoon). Reset, maybe? I do know one of the issues was that I didn't have TC turned on in my system preferences, but turning that on hasn't helped the amber situation.

Frustrated ...
     
ibook_steve
Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Jose, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 11, 2010, 07:24 PM
 
Whoa.

Here's a good way to set up your network (ethernet cables between devices):

cable modem -> TC (set up as wifi router to create an 802.11n network) -> old AEBS (set up as wifi router to create b/g network for older devices)

The AEBS is set up as a client to the TC with DHCP serving turned off on the AEBS otherwise you get errors of having two DHCP servers on the network.

Everything gets set up using Airport Utility in your Utilities folder. System Preferences are only for setting up the TC for Time Machine.

If this doesn't make sense and you do not know how to get this working, read through the Airport Utility help and come back to us with questions.

Steve
Celebrating 10 years and 4000 posts on MacNN!
     
bbales  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: suburban Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 12, 2010, 08:44 AM
 
Thanks. I will work on this later. The one thing I'm unsure of, just from reading through this, do I use WAN or LAN? Some of this stuff I just don't know. And I'm going to assume I turn off the DHCP via airport utility. (I just wish it still all worked... And then I think what a lucky person I am to have my chief aggravation at the moment be that I don't have a wireless network.)
     
Simon
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 12, 2010, 08:52 AM
 
Originally Posted by bbales View Post
The one thing I'm unsure of, just from reading through this, do I use WAN or LAN?
WAN = wide area network
LAN = local area network

The WAN is basically the outside internet. Everything upstream of your cable modem. The LAN is what you run at home. Everything downstream of your DHCP/NAT server.

And I'm going to assume I turn off the DHCP via airport utility.
Yes.

Internet > Internet Connection > Connection Sharing

Chose "Off (Bridge Mode)" on the AEBS. That way it will receive an IP from your TC that's acting as a DHCP/NAT server. It will do nothing else but route wireless 802.11b/g clients through to its wired connection to the TC. It will remain transparent which is what you want. The TC will be in charge of handing out IPs.
     
bbales  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: suburban Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 12, 2010, 03:08 PM
 
OK, I've done some playing around, to no avail. I'm looking through all this again.
I added the TC AFTER the slower-speed network was hooked up. So I kept the existing router in place. (Hey, it worked and I wasn't about to mess around with it.)

However, since it now does not work, it's probably time to start over. The TC is a router, but I was not using it as one. So, I can ditch the router all together, right? (My existing DLink one, I mean.

If I understand you correctly, I'm going to connect the TC and the cable modem (not getting a green light, by the way, when hooked that way -- it just stays amber). Then I connect the AEBS via ethernet to the TC, in bridge mode.

I'd be content at this point with starting with the TC and modem, but it simply won't go green that way. Should I maybe reset the TC and see if that works? This should be easy (or at least easier) and it's not. The computer sees the network. It sees my wireless devices. The airport is functioning. The only thing it's NOT doing is getting the Internet, unless I hook my iMac directly to the modem via ethernet cable.

Sorry to be dumb. I'm trying, really I am. And I read the "how to set up an airport network" from Apple, too. Obviously I'm still doing something wrong or still have a setting that's not quite right.
     
bbales  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: suburban Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 12, 2010, 03:37 PM
 
I found a manual for the modem online and looked at it. (Of course, no Mac directions...) But in any case, it says for a direct connection to your computer use the supplied cable. (The guy must have done that.) But if it's going to a hub or router, you should use a crossover cable. Hmmm -- I'd thought at this point they were kind of all the same. Maybe not. And on an Apple site, someone who had TC set-up issues was told to reset the TC to factory settings and start over (and to connect the computer directly to the TC for setup as well.)

You know when this is done, it will seem brainless. It just isn't right now. Thanks again.
     
ibook_steve
Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Jose, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 12, 2010, 06:44 PM
 
Don't worry about the cable or the cable modem. You don't need to do anything with the cable modem. And the cable can be either straight through or crossover. The TC can negotiate either.

You never mentioned another router in the picture. Just get rid of the DLink. You don't need it with the other equipment you have.

The amber light indicates that the TC is not currently set up correctly to connect to the Internet.

If you're willing to start from scratch, reset the TC (pinhole reset) and follow the instructions here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1178.

And you should read this, especially chapter 3: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/..._Early2009.pdf

And of course the manuals for whichever devices you have will be useful: Apple - Support - Manuals

Sorry to give you a little homework, but if you want to get this working and set up the way you want, you should understand the basics of wired and wireless home networking. If you have any questions about what you read or see, just let us know.

Steve
Celebrating 10 years and 4000 posts on MacNN!
     
Cold Warrior
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Polwaristan
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 12, 2010, 06:46 PM
 
You need to power off your cable modem -- unplug it -- for a couple minutes. Cable providers usually authorize service based off of MAC address; hot-swapping devices will not often work.

So power off your cable modem, let it sit for a couple minutes, then power on the directly-connected device (router, computer, whatever) and wait for it to boot up. Now power on your cable modem, wait a few minutes and you should get the green lights.
     
bbales  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: suburban Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 13, 2010, 08:00 AM
 
thanks again for the replies. Steve -- I get a green light on the TC when I have a cable going from the old router to the TC, but not otherwise.

And I don't mind the the homework so much -- while I am annoyed that things don't work I also have learned quite a bit in the past 36 hours, and that's generally a plus! (My children, on the other hand, are very annoyed. And I had to work last night so I couldn't even begin to work on this.)

More efforts to take place today...
     
bbales  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: suburban Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 15, 2010, 07:39 AM
 
OK, much research etc., later, still no green light. In order to have a hard-wired connection to my desktop I have it set up like this: modem to WAN port on the TC; TC to computer.

I have Internet on the desktop but the wireless network does not work. Still have the flashing amber light on the TC. Airport utility sees the TC, but reports there's a problem.

Have tried resetting, have tried unplugging both for 30 minutes. Nothing.

It does occur to me that this TC was extremely difficult to set up when I got it several years ago. (That included the weird setup with an extra router, etc., in the middle.) Could it simply be the TC doesn't work properly? I find this aggravating, in that with the weird setup it DID work, but maybe it's somewhat flaky/bad and the addition of Comcast (which a little research shows me indicates there are many people out there with problems with TCs and Comcast) set it over the edge.

I'm quite tempted to buy a new Apple base station (forget the whole hard drive thing) and see if that solves my problems.

Does anyone have any other solutions? THe only thing I haven't tried is turning off the computer in addition to turning off everything else and repowering up. Other than that, I think I've tried all the various resettings.
     
bbales  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: suburban Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 15, 2010, 08:22 AM
 
An update -- for whatever reason, Airport Utility no longer even sees the TC. It did last night. Not sure what happened in the meantime. Good grief...

It does see my old AEBS though, which is plugged in, in terms of electricity, but has no cables in it at the moment.
     
bbales  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: suburban Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 15, 2010, 10:41 AM
 
I'm up and running! I'm still not exactly sure what I did and how I did it. I investigated every setting and I think one of the airport ones in network preferences was wrong. Then I did one more reset of the TC, which by some miracle turned green, for the first time in days (maybe that faulty setting?), reset the cable modem and voila! And such a more elegant setup, with no router in the way.

At some point I may add back in the AEBS, but I am going to check first to see what wireless speed my one daughter's Windows laptop uses. If she's the faster speed, there's no need.

Thanks for all the help. I learned a lot, despite the massive frustration.
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:11 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,