Wireless Connection Frustration

[ukmaestro]

I have recently bought a 2ghz c2d macbook and am having absolutely no luck connecting onto our existing wireless network. Airport picks it up but after trying to connect comes up with the message 'An error occured trying to connect to 'name of network''. I have contacted Apple and have changed various settings but Airport is normally so simlpe as to just be able to connect onto existing networks. This particular one works fine with our Windows PC.

We were using a WEP password on the network which I wondered might complicate the mac but I took the Macbook to a friend who has the same router without any encryption and it would not connect to that. I have had success connecting onto a Belkin MIMO router but that was not a consistent connection, sometimes showing the 'error' message and sometimes connecting on succesfully. Can anyone shine some light on this problem and what does it mean is the problem when it comes up with the 'error' message?


I am using a D-Link DSL-G604T/UK ADSL modem router and am with Virgin Broadband.

 

[thewhitehart]

Are you running 10.4.8? I just had to roll my intel mac back to 10.4.7 because airport is a disaster on intel macs running 10.4.8.

 

[aj98]

I have recently bought a 2ghz c2d macbook and am having absolutely no luck connecting onto our existing wireless network. Airport picks it up but after trying to connect comes up with the message 'An error occured trying to connect to 'name of network''. I have contacted Apple and have changed various settings but Airport is normally so simlpe as to just be able to connect onto existing networks. This particular one works fine with our Windows PC.

We were using a WEP password on the network which I wondered might complicate the mac but I took the Macbook to a friend who has the same router without any encryption and it would not connect to that. I have had success connecting onto a Belkin MIMO router but that was not a consistent connection, sometimes showing the 'error' message and sometimes connecting on succesfully. Can anyone shine some light on this problem and what does it mean is the problem when it comes up with the 'error' message?


I am using a D-Link DSL-G604T/UK ADSL modem router and am with Virgin Broadband.

Presuming you have set security on the router, verify the router has the correct MAC address for the airport card, (and that MAC address is allowed to connect.)

I've made that error before - configuired the router to allow internal ethernet cards MAC address instead of the airport MAC address.

 

[Lixivial]

You say you're running WEP.

Is it by chance a hex key? If so, have you tried prepending the key with a $ or a 0x?

 

[scott523]

Are you running 10.4.8? I just had to roll my intel mac back to 10.4.7 because airport is a disaster on intel macs running 10.4.8.

Whoa how do you roll back to 10.4.7? I'm trying to do that too.

Just a little heads up to the OP. There is no solution to this and Apple is claiming that it's the router manufacturer's problem. I've been having wireless problems at my university which I assume uses cheap access points from Symbol (why didn't they go with Cisco...). With that said, the Linksys at home works like a charm (so do the routers at the Apple Store) so there's no point in complaining to the Geniuses (done that twice, no luck).

 

[thewhitehart]

To be honest, the roll back was a pain in the neck, because you have to do an archive and install to make it "clean". I had to use my imac disks to archive and install 10.4.4, with the option of preserving my home folders and settings. The install took a little less than two hours, but I needed at least another two hours to make sure everything was okay. I needed to reinstall my printer drivers, and reinstall two third party system preference panes - flip4mac and growl. Then I had to reset some user profile photos. Then came the combo update from 10.4.4 to 10.4.7 - you have to go to support.apple.com to get it, because if you try and automatically get it through Software Update you'll only be offered the latest combo - the 10.4.8 combo, which as we know is totally useless. Then came the little updates for quicktime and front row, etc. It kind of screwed up my bluetooth mouse preferences, as I can't modify the name of my mouse, even though I reinstalled it. Yet perhaps it's because it's a bluetooth mighty mouse, and I don't think they came out until 10.4.8, but I'm not sure. All in all it was about 300 mbs of updates, and quite a few resets. It took at least 4 hours in total, but airport seems to be working properly now, so it's worth it.

 

[aj98]

You say you're running WEP.

Is it by chance a hex key? If so, have you tried prepending the key with a $ or a 0x?

Oh yea, that reminds me - if its WEP 40 bit, the key *must* be either 5 or 13 characters. Anything else, and the connection attempt will fail.

 

[ukmaestro]

if the WEP password entered is wrong then is the message it will come up with the 'error' message? or would it say that the password was wrong. Are some routers more compatible than others? I don't know how old this D-Link one is but could it be more compatible for, say, 10.3.x and before, more than 10.4.x? Its a brand new macbook so the system disks come with 10.4.8 so i guess it would be impossible to try and push it back to 10.4.7.

Also, if the router is working with successfully with a PC wirelessly - then could the router be more 'in-tune' with a Windows framework? I'll try and have a look at the MAC addresses - but if Airport is just set to automatic then shouldn't it just pick it all up automatically?

 

[miniConvert]

If it wont even work properly with unencrypted networks then get it returned ASAP. If I were you I'd tell them it's faulty and demand a full refund, and then start over with a new purchase.

When things go wrong some time down the line, well, that's what warranties are for. If it's faulty from brand new (and it sounds faulty to me) then don't dilly dally - return it!

My first ever Mac, an Intel Mac mini, had Airport problems. They classed it as DOA and collected it from me (I'd ordered online) giving me a full refund. It was BTO. Then I just spec'd up a new one.