Airport Express (new) at Dorm

[iRabbit]

I posted this in the iMac forum too... not sure where it should go, but I desperately need help...

My daughter is in college. Getting the AppleTV connected to WiFi has proven to be a challenge.

The actual setup is with a 2nd generation Airport Express and iMac running Airport Utility 6. and I'm pulling my hair out - it does not work!

Internet Sharing is on, from WiFi to Ethernet.

Airport plugged into wall. Connect to iMac through network cable. We've tried both connecting to the WAN port and LAN port.

We've tried in bridge mode and in DHCP/NAT mode.

We've followed instructions to connect it, click on "Ethernet" (in other devices dropdown/button) and set it for Bridge Mode. We tried this through both ports. We tried with and without security set up. If I'm missing something, I don't know what...

We also tried changing the order of connections in Network Preferences... Ethernet 1st, WiFi 2nd, and then vice-versa.

Nothing works.

Has anyone successfully set this type of internet sharing up? The AppleTV is fairly useless without a WiFi connection, so I've got to get around this somehow. It worked beautiful from an older MacBook and older Airport Express...

(ps. no, there is not direct ethernet connection/port in her dorm room. And her dorm administrators were not helpful).

Please... help! Three hours working on this already this afternoon...

 

[Ledgem]

I'm having a hard time visualizing how everything is connected, and exactly how you want this to look in the end.

It sounds like the iMac is connected to the internet view wifi (presumably to the school's wifi network). You have it connected to the Airport Express via ethernet. The Apple TV is connected to the Airport Express via wifi, and you want to pass internet access to it that way. Is that correct?

If I have it right, why can't you just connect the Apple TV to the dorm wireless network?

Since you've successfully done this sort of setup before, you may want to start troubleshooting individual components. Do you know for a fact that the Apple TV, the Airport Express, the ethernet cable, and the ethernet port on the iMac are all working? If so, when you did this before, were you using Airport Utility version 6, or version 5? You can still download version 5 from Apple - you may want to try configuring with that and see if you meet with any success.

 

[iRabbit]

Yes, you have it right.

iMac connects via WiFi
Ethernet cable from iMac to Airport Express
and then Airport Express should be able to be set up to provide WiFi connectivity for AppleTV

Problem is, I can never get a green light on the Airport Express. It never gets a proper connection. We constantly get "No Internet" and "No DNS" errors in Airport Utility, and a blinking amber light.

I've thought maybe the cable is bad (even though it's brand new), so I'm going to bring one I know works with me when I go on Sunday. I haven't even been able to test the connection from AppleTV to Airport Express because I can't get the Airport Express to connect to the iMac correctly for the internet connection.

We're using the new AE and the latest Airport Utility. On Sunday I'm going to bring the old one and try version 5.6 if all else fails. I'm pretty sure the ethernet ports are working because I kept the network setting open and watched it connect.

Last but not least, this is like a hotel setup... she can't connect the AppleTV directly to the WiFi because it requires a browser-based login. It's typical in a college dorm.

Thanks for trying to help... we went through trying a few other things tonight and still can't get it to work. To make matters worse, I'm trying to help via FaceTime which is very frustrating. LOL

 

[iMarvin]

Try connecting the appletv via ethernet to the iMacs ethernet port and se if it works.

 

[marzer]

I posted this in the iMac forum too... not sure where it should go, but I desperately need help...

My daughter is in college. Getting the AppleTV connected to WiFi has proven to be a challenge.

The actual setup is with a 2nd generation Airport Express and iMac running Airport Utility 6. and I'm pulling my hair out - it does not work!

Internet Sharing is on, from WiFi to Ethernet.

Airport plugged into wall. Connect to iMac through network cable. We've tried both connecting to the WAN port and LAN port.

We've tried in bridge mode and in DHCP/NAT mode.

We've followed instructions to connect it, click on "Ethernet" (in other devices dropdown/button) and set it for Bridge Mode. We tried this through both ports. We tried with and without security set up. If I'm missing something, I don't know what...

We also tried changing the order of connections in Network Preferences... Ethernet 1st, WiFi 2nd, and then vice-versa.

Nothing works.

Has anyone successfully set this type of internet sharing up? The AppleTV is fairly useless without a WiFi connection, so I've got to get around this somehow. It worked beautiful from an older MacBook and older Airport Express...

(ps. no, there is not direct ethernet connection/port in her dorm room. And her dorm administrators were not helpful).

Please... help! Three hours working on this already this afternoon...

Sorry, but with the information you've given your setup shouldn't work. I'm assuming the "Internet Sharing is on, from WiFi to Ethernet." is on the iMac? since that's usually not an option on airport devices? This should not be enabled for what you are trying to do. Not sure what all the ethernet cabling is for, you should just try to connect everything wifi for simplicity sake. So let me try from scratch:

1) connect airport express to wall. set it to create a new wireless network and enable NAT/DHCP.
2) set imac to connect wirelessly to the airport express network (do not enable internet sharing on the iMac)
3) set the apple tv to connect wirelessly to the airport express network

 

[Team Timm]

You could always call over to the staff of the dorm/apartment where she is living. There might be something you need to run/a certificate to install to use wifi? I'm not sure, but it doesn't hurt to try.

 

[Richdmoore]

I have done the ethernet to wifi connection a few times in hotels, although I will admit not for awhile. One thing I noticed is that sometimes while sharing my connection, I still had to log in on each device, despite having already logged in on the computer I was using to share.

To troubleshoot, I would connect the campus wifi to the Mac and share it to the Ethernet, and then I would hook up the Ethernet to another 2nd Mac, and see if you need to also log that computer in as well. If that is the case, I think you are pretty much sunk without help from the college's it dept to "whitelist" the Apple TV as an always allowed device that can bypass the web page check.

If your connection works without a login, replace the 2nd Mac with the airport express in bridge mode, and use the 2nd Mac to connect via the new airport express wifi network and see if you can still get on the Internet that way.

My guess is that despite the internet sharing, whatever security (using MAC filtering maybe?) they are using is still requiring your devices to accept a web page first, which both the airport express and Apple TV are unable to do due to a lack of web browser.

 

[iRabbit]

Got it working...

I got it working today.

I brought the old airport express with me. Installed Airport Utility 5.6 onto her computer (with a common work-around for installing it on Mountain Lion).

Set it up using manual settings. Connection from Ethernet. Bridge mode. Got a green light, but no internet. Reset my daughter's college WiFi signal (WiFi on her iMac off for a minute, then back on) and it works!

And AppleTV is connecting and working finally! Hurray!

Why I couldn't get this working with the new Airport Express I'll never know...