[BigCanoe]

Hi, I just got a PowerBook 12" 1GHZ with Airport Extreme. I am trying to hook it up to my wireless network at home. I have one PC on the network wireless already.

When I try and view pages, check mail, etc. it fails on the PowerBook, its like the signal is there and strong, but no data passes through.

It is a BEFW11S4 the 802.11b one, and I have downloaded the latest firmware.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[pimephalis]

Originally posted by BigCanoe:
Hi, I just got a PowerBook 12" 1GHZ with Airport Extreme. I am trying to hook it up to my wireless network at home. I have one PC on the network wireless already.

When I try and view pages, check mail, etc. it fails on the PowerBook, its like the signal is there and strong, but no data passes through.

It is a BEFW11S4 the 802.11b one, and I have downloaded the latest firmware.

Any ideas?

Thanks

A couple of ideas:

Are your network settings on the Mac correct? Have you got an IP address in the 192.168.1.X space (the default for this router)? Do you have the router set as your gateway (192.168.1.1)? Can you ping the other computer on your Local Area Network (the PC)?

From the Mac, open a terminal and try to ping the router (type 'ping 192.168.1.1'). Can your Powerbook hit the router? If so, try to ping www.macnn.com. If you can ping the router, but not www.macnn.com, then try pinging 216.22.45.53 (Macnn's ip address). If you can see that, but not www.macnn.com, then the problem is with your nameservers.

Does your router have WEP enabled? Does it have MAC address filtering enabled? If the answer to either of these is yes, then you may have to change the router's configuration or make sure that you've got the right WEP key registered with your airport card.

Just some thoughts. If you try these things, please report back on each one so we can help narrow down the problem.

[Mrjinglesusa]

I have a very similar setup (same router, Pc running XP, and 14" iBook). Check your Internet options in System Preferences and make sure TCP/IP is set to obtain IP using DHCP. If it is, your router settings are not correct. My iBook worked out of the box using Airport with the same router (factory settings). Make sure "Wireless" enabled in router preferences. Use your browser on PC to go to 192.168.1.1 and leave name blank and use admin as pass. Check that wireless is enabled. Hope this helps.

[BigCanoe]

Ok, when I try and ping the router I get HOST NOT FOUND or nothing, it just sits there. I cannot access the router via 192.168.1.1 in Safari either. The signal strength is strong, full bars so its not a distance thing.

Under network settings-Airport
Location:Automatic
Show:AirPort
AirportID: some number
By default, join: Automatic

under TCP/IP
Configure IPv4: Using DHCP
IP Address: 192.168.1.100
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.1.1
DNS: blank
Search: blank
IPv6 Address: some number

Under AppleTak
Unchecked

Under Proxies
Nothing set, but Use Passive is checked

Any way to test this with my wired network cable installed or do I need to remove it to test Airport?

Do I need to run Applications/Utilities/Airport Setup Assistant?

Sorry for being so clueless...

When I plug a network cable in, everything works fine.

[car1son]

Check Network Preferences,
Under network settings-Airport
Location:Automatic
Show:Network Port Configurations...

Click and drag the Airport entry in the list to the top of the list (it should be checked.) E.g. like
this

Sometimes the Mac continues to try to use ports other than the airport. (You can temporarily uncheck every port except the airport - just rememeber you've disabled them when you plug in or dial next.)

[pimephalis]

It's also possible that you or someone else has enable MAC address filtering on the linksys router. If that's the case, then your powerbook would be blocked from accessing the LAN based on your airport's MAC address.

To check this, you need to go to the router config, and then add your airport card's MAC address filter.

This is a little hard to talk through in the forum. I'll be home later today, and you can probably convince me to spend about 30 minutes in iChat helping you through this, if you wish. I'm 'pimephalis' (surprise, surprise).

[BigCanoe]

Thats very kind of you, I will look for you later!

[BigCanoe]

More information...

There is another network in my neighborhood named Linksys, and I connected to it from my laptop, and it works fine. So that leads me to believe its my router settings?

[BigCanoe]

Could it be because my machine has Airport Extreme (802.11g) and my router supports 802.11b?

[pimephalis]

Yes, given your description, it does sound like your router settings would be at fault if the airport card works elsewhere.

As for the wireless G vs. B, I understand that the G cards and routers are completely backwards compatible, so that shouldn't be an issue.

[BigCanoe]

It works! I did a search on the internet, and I found the solution. Under the wireless settings I needed to set the TXT RATE to 1-2 MB...that was it, I would never have figured it out. Thanks for the help here guys!