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help with airport & internet connection? connection works, but no browser...

C

cq1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 8, 2008
6
0
Hi, all.

I have posted a few other times here and really appreciated all the advice/help I've received. I am once again calling on you for a bit of assistance! I am in India for a summer internship, working in a small NGO in a small city in the state of Rajasthan. We have had a few problems with the internet, but just got it working again. The office has wireless internet. I have an iBook G3 that I purchased used before I left the U.S. to bring with me. It has an airport connection.

The airport on my laptop detects and connects to the office's wireless - the connection is strong, and I finally got the password. So - I theoretically have a good wireless connection. However, I still can't get any browser (Safari or Firefox) or other internet-dependent applicaton (like iChat or iTunes podcast downloads) to work. Any suggestions?

This has been a difficult process; the staff speaks very little English, I speak no Hindi, and they have never used a mac computer. There are a couple of PCs in the office that are able to access the net just fine, though the same problem was happening yesterday with one of the PCs - the wireless connection was working fine, but the browser wouldn't work. The office assistant was somehow able to fix it, but I can't figure out what he did.

Any suggestions/tips would be greatly appreciated. I am not at all a tech-minded person, and dealing with all of this in India has just added to the complication! It is such a tease to have my airport network getting a connection, but no way to read my email or do my research online.

Thanks in advance.
 
It sure sounds like a security problem. The internet is the internet whether one is using a PC or a Mac, and, browsers pretty much work the same way.

Some things to check:

Make sure you're using the correct wireless log on password and procedure. There are various levels of secure wireless and each is a bit more complex as the signal is made more secure. Since I have no idea of which wireless encryption scheme they're using, I can't help you with that. A question to ask is: Is your G3 able to use the latest encryption schemes? I know my MacBook is but it's a recent purchase.

Second thing to look for is - do you have a firewall turned on? If so, check the settings to make sure your browser can "pass" through it.

Good luck and regards.
 
I have run into something that maybe similar at my work. Occasionally I think that I have connected to one of our wireless networks, the little airport icon shows a strong connection, etc and when I try to do anything i can't actually get an connection to the internet. When I check my ip address i have a self assigned 169.x.x.x address. Usually just switching to anyother network/shutting off my airport and then reconnecting and re-authenticating is enough to fix it. It would depend on the type of security you have on your wireless connection. I only seem to have this minor issue with WPA, and like I said just disconnecting and reconnect/reauthenticating solves this.
 
GroovyLinuxGuy said:
I have run into something that maybe similar at my work. Occasionally I think that I have connected to one of our wireless networks, the little airport icon shows a strong connection, etc and when I try to do anything i can't actually get an connection to the internet. When I check my ip address i have a self assigned 169.x.x.x address. Usually just switching to anyother network/shutting off my airport and then reconnecting and re-authenticating is enough to fix it. It would depend on the type of security you have on your wireless connection. I only seem to have this minor issue with WPA, and like I said just disconnecting and reconnect/reauthenticating solves this.
Click to expand...

Good info here. This may, however, only be a temporary fix. I would highly recommend running a free wireless security scan on your computer. It finds potential wireless network security and Internet security vulnerabilities across your entire network. If, for example, there is a intruder getting on to your network, you're in luck because every computer has its own "MAC address."

Once you know the MAC address of the intruder, you can use the MAC address filtering feature on your router to block out the intruder.

See your router's manual or user guide for instructions on manually configuring MAC Address Filtering. The router's manual or user guide is found on the CD which came with the router and can also be downloaded from the router maker's support website.

If you have a supported router, you may also want to try a free download of Network Magic, allowing you to easily engage the "Network Lock" feature, located under "Tools" then "Wireless protection".

I also recommend enabling and configuring either WEP or WPA security on your router. See your router's manual or user guide for instructions on configuring WEP or WPA encryption on your router.

Hope this helps.
 
I had the same problem with my ibook a few weeks ago signal but no browser (I could even connect to other computers on the network!). Solved it by setting up a manual static ip address, works with no problem now.
If you can, try that
 
thanks for the tips.

I have no clue where to start with encryption technology/language...

I think it may have something to do with the firewall & IP address. I am having such a hard time communicating about this with the admin staff, though. If I have access to a shared PC that has a good wireless connection, is there something I can look at on the PC to see if it matches my mac?

I've tried the disconnect/reconnect thing many times, adn the rebooting, hoping for magic, but nothing works. As far as the wireless security scans, etc. they aren't much help -- I can't download the programs if I can't access the net, and I have been asked to keep my downloading to a minimum.

Thanks again.
 
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