2 parter here...and I'll preface by saying I could ask my dad but we're in a bit of a tiff right now and so that ain't gonna happen.

Please keep in mind that the only time I've ever set up a wireless anything was with my father on the phone and the information went in one ear and out the other as soon as it was implemented.

question 1: My friend has DSL and recently purchased a new laptop computer with the wireless card in it. Along with the new computer she bought a router in order to make use of her wireless. (Also note that she does NOT have a PC, just the laptop) Now I tried setting shit up, and I thought I got it working, but last night it was running slow as shit and then not at all, and then when ipconfiged to find out the IP address, it gave me an actual AT&T ip instead of the routers IP which is what I thought you were supposed to get, right? How the fuck do I go about setting it up? Do I need to start by plugging in the ethernet to the laptop or is that irrelevant to the process?
-Let's start there-

and question 2 is kind of about the same thing, except here at my place, I have a cable modem which has a router that enables both MY PC and my roommates laptop. OK, fine, things work great. But now I have a MacBook that I want to connect to my router as well but not only do I not know how to pull up a simple DOS window to ping or do an ipconfig to even see what if anything it's connected to, but I'm totally lost on exactly what I'm trying to connect to...the wireless network, or the internet? It seems those two things are independent of each other and I'm confused.

Any help is greatly appreciated

6/14/2006 8:06:57 PM

Well, as far as the mac goes, when you try to surf, does it let you? May not need to troubleshoot if there is no trouble.

I don't believe that it should make any difference whether or not it is plugged in to a port or connected wirelessly, basically at that point you are using the router's switch function anyway.

Try surfing to the router and just try to see whats going on. Many of the regular type use 192.168.1.1 and look for a status window and see what happens. You might try to release and renew the IP through the router and see if that clears things up.

Look around the router screen for a section that lists connected computers and see if you can see any connected systems.

[Edited on June 14, 2006 at 8:41 PM. Reason : more info]

6/14/2006 8:35:30 PM

OK....as for the mac.... I don't even know how to look for help on the internet because I don't know what I'm looking for. I don't have an Airport Base station...and there's nothing I plug in to the mac in order to make use of the internet because supposedly I can just use the wireless card inside of it (which I assume is called an Airport card or something) and my regular old router which is currently connected to my PC...?

6/15/2006 5:41:12 PM

1) It sounds like you need to enable DHCP on the router. This will assign the laptop an 'internal' IP that is not from AT&T. The router instructions should tell you how to do that.

2) In OS X, you can get info about your network setup in a number of ways. Look in Applications>Utilities, with the Network Utility, you can see your network configuration, do pings, etc. You can also do this through the terminal if you want a command line interface (similar to DOS). Just use System Preferences>Network to make changes on the Macbook if needed.

6/15/2006 5:58:53 PM

ok, well I opened up the network utlitity and I tried pinging 4.2.2.1 which I'm not real sure what that does, but it's supposed to tell you something, and currently, it won't ping anything.

and in the 'info' tab, the IP address it's giving me (and apparently I have 4 different network interfaces, whatever that means) is one belonging to Icann so I'm assuming it's some sort of default address? The other IPs for the other 3 networks belong to the Marine Corp in Mississippi or some shit...so obviously, I'm not connected anywhere but how in the name of all that is holy do I connect>?LK :AW JKR"BLKAJSF

6/15/2006 6:28:18 PM

See what the IP address is on another computer connected to your router. Your macbook should be in the same subnet (192.168.x.x is probably it unless someone changed it).

In system preferences, select whatever interface you are using, and make sure "Configure IPv4" is set to "Using DHCP". You can renew the lease too.

See if you can ping another computer connected to your router, and vice versa.

6/15/2006 6:42:49 PM

Yeah, the macbook's IP is def NOT 192.168.x.x where as my PC's ip, IS.

Now I'm also confused as to which network to use...Airport? Built In ethernet? Ethernet adaptor???

6/15/2006 6:53:29 PM

Airport = wireless
Built in Ethernet = the port that an ethernet cable can plug into on the side of the notebook

Either one will work, it depends on which one you want to use. If you have an extra cable you might to try that method first to verify that it works without having to deal with any potential SSID/WEP/WPA security stuff associated with wireless.

6/15/2006 9:45:21 PM

ok...found a spare ethernet wire...plugged it in...and it's working. So I can get to the net via 'Built-in Ethernet' and the IP address is 192.168.x.x so that's a start as you said, right? My Airport says now (as it did before) that it IS connected to what I assume to my wireless network, but it says it doesn't have an ip address and can't connect to the internet...????? so now how to I troubleshoot the wireless settings?

6/15/2006 10:54:30 PM

i thought that macs were supposed to be user friendly and easy and all that shit

what is the deal?

6/15/2006 10:57:12 PM

well I'm quite sure it's something I did wrong somewhere along the line. For instance, I currently have ginormous iMac on the floor of my room cause I have no place to set it up....so in 2 months, when I finally find a place to put it, I'm sure I'll be missing something

6/15/2006 10:59:42 PM

I have a Macbook Pro and it works perfectly with wired or wireless...

Chances are there is a setting or two on the router that you need to change. You should just follow the router manufacturers instructions for configuring it. Might want to just reset it (usually with a small button on the back) to the factory settings and go from there if you think the configuration is beyond repair.

Basically you just need to make sure the wireless radio is turned on, DHCP is enabled (which it is based on the wired connections), and any security settings you want to use.

In my experience with OS X, Macs will detect and connect to wireless networks with little or no problem.

6/16/2006 12:01:18 AM

i'm pretty suprised people are willing to attempt to help after you said that you could very easily get the help on your own but you won't b/c of a tiff

interesting

6/16/2006 12:19:22 AM

yeah Omar, I could, but besides being in a tif with my dad, he has very little patience especially when it comes to computer stuff. But I guess there are just some people in this world who are nice enough to help someone regardless.

6/16/2006 1:07:29 AM

Still having problems? Ill be up for another 10min or so if you want to shoot me an IM/PM I'll try and walk you through it. bedtime, good luck

PS, looks like I might be on the WC for bizness in a couple of weeks, you gonna put on some clean sheets for me?

[Edited on June 16, 2006 at 1:24 AM. Reason : .]

6/16/2006 1:13:28 AM

OMG I figured it out holy shit. Turns out the password was completely wrong...I went on my PC, connected to my router and realized that the nonsense numbers under 'KEY' was the password I needed.

Thank you to all...I was about to give up.

Now I can post on tdub from my bed!!!!!


^ah yeah baby....

[Edited on June 16, 2006 at 1:43 AM. Reason : ]

6/16/2006 1:42:31 AM

haaaaaaaaaahahahhahahha i'm sorry but the explaination on how you fixed it is fucking hilarious

Quote :

"I went on my PC, connected to my router and realized that the nonsense numbers under 'KEY' was the password I needed."

OMG IT WORKED!!!??1

[Edited on June 16, 2006 at 2:07 AM. Reason : .]

6/16/2006 2:06:32 AM

well how the hell was I supposed to know that the password being asked for on my mac, was known as the 'KEY 1' input box, on the 'Wireless' tab. Because there's a whole other section that has a 'user name' and 'password' input box so I assumed that's what the mac was asking for.

6/16/2006 2:35:31 AM