Airport Problem

[Lycanthrope]

OK, here's a weird one - this morning my internet connection on my Mac Pro was very slow - I assumed at first this was an ISP problem and switched my modem router on and off. Following this I couldn't get any connection at all but then saw that my iMac and Windoze laptop were connecting fine with a normal speed.

Rebootin the Mac Pro makes no difference, but here's the strange thing - I can't even see my network listed when I try to connect but I do see and can connect to other unsecured networks that happen to be within range.

The only thing I saw strange on the router log was a "Smurf" message, whether this was an attack or the repulsion of an attack was entirely unclear.

Before the problem I hadn't made any network changes for weeks - I only added another HDD yesterday. Since then I've fiddled with the settings but have seen no change.

Help!

 

[mkrishnan]

Is the Mac Pro configured to accept DHCP assignment or does it try to grab a specific IP address? Also, is there MAC filtering on the network? Also, what's a smurf message?

 

[Lycanthrope]

Is the Mac Pro configured to accept DHCP assignment or does it try to grab a specific IP address? Also, is there MAC filtering on the network? Also, what's a smurf message?

It was setup for auto DHCP, then I tried a manual setting = same result. MAC filtering is on and was on before too, the MAC address of the airport shows fine in the list. Of course I tried switching this off to ensure it wasn't the problem and there was no difference.

Smurf is a type of network attack giving a denial of service - I tried researching it but couldn't understand what the websites were saying, it was all gobbledigook

I tried switching on the personal file sharing to see if I could connect to the iMac directly and it tells me that the "Other Macintosh users can access you computer atafp://10.37.129.2/" - what kind of addess is that???

Update: I created a new virgin user, same result. I tried to connect to a ficticious SSID, same result. Basically it's as though my network doesn't exist as far as the MP is concerned.

 

[mkrishnan]

Strange! The AFP address is an intranet address (since it starts with a 10), but it's a very strange one. Usually intranet addresses starting with 10 would be something like 10.0.1.x, where the x is usually a small number with DHCP (large numbers for picked IPs or for the DMZ). So usually, you would only get up to five or six on a home network (for instance, on mine, I think I use 1 -- router, 2 -- DVR, 3 -- iMac, 4 -- iBook, and occasionally one or two more).

Just for kicks, I would try a couple more quick things:

(1) Since you opened the MP recently, open it up again and make sure you did not accidentally loosen the antenna harness for the wireless card or something like that.

(2) Try shutting everything -- all the computers, the modem, and the router -- down. Then power up in sequence, modem (if separate) first, then router, then Mac Pro. Wait about a minute in between power-ups to let each device initialize. See if doing that causes the Mac Pro to acquire a signal right away.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Strange! The AFP address is an intranet address (since it starts with a 10), but it's a very strange one. Usually intranet addresses starting with 10 would be something like 10.0.1.x, where the x is usually a small number with DHCP (large numbers for picked IPs or for the DMZ). So usually, you would only get up to five or six on a home network (for instance, on mine, I think I use 1 -- router, 2 -- DVR, 3 -- iMac, 4 -- iBook, and occasionally one or two more).

My router dishes out the generic 192.168.1.X addresses so it is very weird indeed!

Aiport card and wires coming off it look fine - I'll try a factory reset of the router/modem also.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Interesting...

Well, I borrowed a friends router and it's the same so that pretty much means it's a problem in the Mac.

Now, I was just falling asleep for the night when I thought to come and try booting into Windows (much to my wife's annoyance) and guess what, it works...

Strange, very strange... I suppose I'll have to do a reinstall if OSX tomorrow. At least I keep data and apps seperate - makes that a lot easier than an iMac for sure.

 

[Lycanthrope]

So, reinstalling OSX and copying across all my settings, apps etc. has solved the problem - very strange. I could understand some kind of change causing the airport to cease functioning altogether but to no longer see some routers but some others, that's weird...