connected to wireless network but not to internet?

[jackc]

This has happened a few times - I will be connected to my regular wireless network via my cable/internet service (AirPort will show it as connected with enough bars)*, but I won't be able to connect to the internet or check my email. When it happened before, it would all of a sudden start working again after a while, so it doesn't seem like some setting has changed.

Any idea what might be going on? Any way to troubleshoot this if it happens again?

*the router is connected to a PC in another room

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

It could be anything ... Ranging from a software hiccup in the router to a dropped link on the WAN side of the cable modem.

If it's self-correcting, it's usually not your fault.

 

[EricNau]

Call your cable company to see if they are experiencing outages in your area.

If not, you could try power cycling your modem and router (pull power plug, wait 30 seconds, plug back in).

 

[mkrishnan]

As far as your explanation of what happened, what you should know is that your internet connection is a multi part system:

Computer <-> Router <-> Modem <-> WAN (cable/whatever)

The "bars" only means that the leftmost connection is working (Computer to router). Think about it this way. A hub/router/switch can give you a LAN (locally connect your several computers) without even having a WAN. So the bars means that the computer can see the router. But they DO NOT imply *anything* about whether the router can get an IP address out of the modem or whether the modem is able to talk to the WAN.

So that's why you can see bars, but have the kinds of problems discussed above, like a down server at the cable company....

 

[Navintar]

You should try to connect your computer directly to the modem and troubleshoot from there.

If you can't use internet with proper direct connection, it should be that the modem is not getting WAN.

 

[jackrobinson]

It seems to me that your Laptop-to-Router connection is working.

Look at the lights on your modem to see if the appropriate ones are turned on, (RDY, SYNC, ONLINE, SEND, ENET are some of the various lights found on modems,not all though).

Trying pinging a website or something.

 

[Xander562]

yes this happens to me quite often, (usually when i shut down/restart back into OSX from Windows) which is quite annoying because windows never seems to have a problem. What i usually do is run the network diagnostics thing it reccommends when it cnt connect to the internet, that usually gets it to connect to the internet.
or
i turn the airport off, on, then connect to my network again, that works as well.

it's never been working THEN gone out. once it works, it usualy stays working (untill i shutdown/restart).

 

[annk]

I am currently struggling with this same issue. It only happens when I haven't been home for a while, and no computer has been attempting to connect to Internet. It used to self-correct, but a few months ago, it happened again. My ISP said they only saw a good line going into my house, and insisted it was my router. I then purchased a new router, and all was good.

But now it's happened again, last night. My modem works fine - I'm connected to it now (wired connection). The router (D-Link) SEEMS to work fine, and Airport status tells me I'm connected to my network and the Internet (but I'm most certainly not connected to Internet, I can't access mail or the web).

I've tried everything - shutting down/restarting the modem, turning the router on and off, resetting the modem, restarting Mail and Camino, restarting the computer...nothing works. My ISP says all is well from their end.

PLEASE, if anyone can suggest WHY my modem is not sending the right signals to my router, or why the router is receiving the right signals but not sending them on to the laptop, say so. I can't buy a new router everytime this happens, and it is truly inconvenient, considering my set-up at home, to have to be plugged in to get access. Right now I'm in a corner, on the floor...

 

[mkrishnan]

Ann, start with the specifics of the following:

Model number of router
Brand / model of modem
Service provider

 

[annk]

Ann, start with the specifics of the following:

Model number of router
Brand / model of modem
Service provider

D-Link DI-524, 802.11g-2.4 GHz Wireless Router

ZyXEL prestige 600 series modem

Tele2 (http://www.tele2.no)

In the last half hour, I've consistantly been able to connect directly through the modem. When connected to the router via wire, I've been able to configure the router, and for a very few minutes, I was able to connect to the net via a wired connection to the router. Shortly thereafter, however, the wired connection to the router gave me no joy, and I had to go back to connecting directly to the modem. And no, there was no apparent thing happening to end the short-lived wired connection via router.

What I don't understand, is how Airport tells me I'm connected to my wireless network and the net, when I'm not. When I run diagnostics for airport, all goes well till the last two check points - ISP and Internet.

 

[psychspirit]

This happened to me too

This happens sometimes to my powerbook. It's always either the modem or the router. It's either I lost connection to my ISP and have to restart my modem OR I have to reboot my router. Sometimes I have to wait a long time for it to connect...

 

[annk]

This happens sometimes to my powerbook. It's always either the modem or the router. It's either I lost connection to my ISP and have to restart my modem OR I have to reboot my router. Sometimes I have to wait a long time for it to connect...

Neither restarting the modem nor rebooting the router have worked in this case. And it's been 24 hours now...

 

[mkrishnan]

Ann, I think there are two major possibilities, but they're both a little hard to explain and I'm not sure how to give you the instructions to fix them.

1) One possibility is that this has to do with timeouts of the "lease" or connection the modem gives the router. I had this issue with Yahoo/SBC DSL and a Netgear router. The router would mysteriously stop working after working for a minute or two, or else it would not work if the computer was asleep for a few hours and then restarted. In the router settings, the solution involved a setting which said something like "if I am idle for more than xxx minutes, give up my lease/connection." This setting also had a "keep me connected all the time" sort of option. When I switched to the latter option, my issue was resolved.

2) The other one is that some modems have the ability to operate in two modes. One is called bridging, and the other is usually called routing or something like that. The problem is that the router must be set up differently for the two modes, and sometimes one of the modes doesn't really work. This is an issue with DSL much more often than Cable modems (which is why I asked you for those details). You should have received some kind of username and password from Tele2. The easiest way to tell which config your router is set up for is that, if your router is set up for a bridging modem, then you have put your name and password into your router's config, and if it is set up for the other method, then you have not (and may have put it into the DSL modem).

If #2 is the culprit, then you have to follow two steps:

- You have to figure out which mode your modem is set up for, first, and make sure that your router is also set up for the same mode. If you can't find the instructions for accessing the modem, then plug a computer directly to the modem, open system preferences -> Network -> Ethernet adaptor -> TCP/IP and copy down the IP address under "Router" and then point a web browser to that IP address, and you should get the config screen for your modem in the browser.

- Once you know that your router is set up for the same mode as your modem, then if you are still having problems, set the modem to the other of the two modes and also re-configure the router accordingly.

Hope that helps? It's complicated, and we can help you through it piece by piece as you go.

 

[annk]

Ann, I think there are two major possibilities, but they're both a little hard to explain and I'm not sure how to give you the instructions to fix them.

1) One possibility is that this has to do with timeouts of the "lease" or connection the modem gives the router. I had this issue with Yahoo/SBC DSL and a Netgear router. The router would mysteriously stop working after working for a minute or two, or else it would not work if the computer was asleep for a few hours and then restarted. In the router settings, the solution involved a setting which said something like "if I am idle for more than xxx minutes, give up my lease/connection." This setting also had a "keep me connected all the time" sort of option. When I switched to the latter option, my issue was resolved.

2) The other one is that some modems have the ability to operate in two modes. One is called bridging, and the other is usually called routing or something like that. The problem is that the router must be set up differently for the two modes, and sometimes one of the modes doesn't really work. This is an issue with DSL much more often than Cable modems (which is why I asked you for those details). You should have received some kind of username and password from Tele2. The easiest way to tell which config your router is set up for is that, if your router is set up for a bridging modem, then you have put your name and password into your router's config, and if it is set up for the other method, then you have not (and may have put it into the DSL modem).

If #2 is the culprit, then you have to follow two steps:

- You have to figure out which mode your modem is set up for, first, and make sure that your router is also set up for the same mode. If you can't find the instructions for accessing the modem, then plug a computer directly to the modem, open system preferences -> Network -> Ethernet adaptor -> TCP/IP and copy down the IP address under "Router" and then point a web browser to that IP address, and you should get the config screen for your modem in the browser.

- Once you know that your router is set up for the same mode as your modem, then if you are still having problems, set the modem to the other of the two modes and also re-configure the router accordingly.

Hope that helps? It's complicated, and we can help you through it piece by piece as you go.

THANK YOU so much, I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate that you took the time to write that. This gives me something concrete to go on, and I will try all this today. I do know how to access the configuation for my router, I've been in there to put in a password and disable SSID broadcasting (I've also tried to limit access to the MAC addresses of the house's computers, but don't know if I really managed), and I know that I at no time had to imput the username or password given me by Tele2, in order to make the router work. I'll see if I can find that option in the config panel.

I hope I find an option to disable giving up my connection, I'll try that first.

 

[annk]

Ok, this is how far I've come.

I use 192.168.0.1 to log on to my router.

In the config module, I can choose a time frame for the lease. I can't choose unlimited, or any period of time greater than one week:



I don't know whether or not I can choose static IP addresses for our three computers, or how to do so if I can.

I don't know if I need to input the DHCP client name(s).

I have never previously needed to input my user name and password in order to get online, neither via airport or via wire, so I'm assuming that means my modem is set up for routing, not bridging. But I don't understand how to make sure my router is set up in the same way.

In the system prefs, I can click on Renew lease. This will sometime make a number appear there where no number was before, but doesn't seem to make a difference as far as whether or not I can get online:



Has any of this made any sense??

 

[annk]

Ok, it looks like I fixed it.

Forgive the double posting, but it would've been confusing for these two posts to be combined.

I found a place in the router config where it said that DHCP was not connected. This was concerning WAN only. I clicked on the "connect" button, and shouts of joy came from my 14-yr-old son's room

Here's a pic of where I found this:



So, have I understood this correctly?

1 The problem is that my router will only keep a connection lease for one week. If we're gone for longer than that, this will happen again.

2 The problem above is because the router assigns random IP addresses to the computers on the network. If I were able to make the router give each computer a static IP address, this would not be a problem.

3 If I don't change anything and just live with the situation, I can always go into the router configuration each time it happens, and just have the DHCP reconnect under WAN in the attachment above.

??????

 

[mkrishnan]

Mmmm, I'm not 100% sure. Your router should automatically renew DHCP when the lease expires. It might be that with the previous setting, it was renewing DHCP too often and...erm... annoying the DSL modem?

And you should not need to assign static IP addresses.

What I would do is give it a few days and see if things improve. If they do, then it was the first line of reasoning that was your problem, and you should be fine. If you come back after the week, what the router should do is get a new DHCP lease from the DSL modem, which should just be a few seconds (<10) of extra pause when you try to connect and nothing more.

 

[annk]

Mmmm, I'm not 100% sure. Your router should automatically renew DHCP when the lease expires. It might be that with the previous setting, it was renewing DHCP too often and...erm... annoying the DSL modem?

And you should not need to assign static IP addresses.

What I would do is give it a few days and see if things improve. If they do, then it was the first line of reasoning that was your problem, and you should be fine. If you come back after the week, what the router should do is get a new DHCP lease from the DSL modem, which should just be a few seconds (<10) of extra pause when you try to connect and nothing more.

I agree, the router should automatically renew DHCP when the lease expires. It would seem that that hasn't been happening, at least when we're away for more than one week. Unplugging the modem and plugging it in again worked sometimes, but not the last two times. This time, resetting the router and unplugging/plugging in the modem again didn't work. The only thing that SEEMS to have done anything, is to click on connect in the config module, in the place I show by screenshot.

I guess I'll bookmark this thread, and save all my screenshots from this ordeal. All in all, I've spent 6 hours at it this time, and I'd like to be able to resolve the issue faster next time.

But again - THANK YOU, mkrishnan, for your fast, patient and detailed help!!

 

[lcarroll]

Connect to Wireless Internet but no Internet Access

My iBook shows that it is connected to my wireless network but I am not able to get onto the Internet. My work laptop, which is a Dell, is able to connect with no problem. I am not able to get on the Internet even when I connect my laptop directly to the modem. I don't believe it's a problem with the internet connection, though, b/c I am able to access it with another laptop. I'm not sure the advice posted above applies to my situation since I am able to connect with another computer. Any advice?

 

[John Doe 57]

1. Download OnyX (a free maintenance utility).

2. Open OnyX and Click Cancel on these two Alert Panels:
-Cancel the S.M.A.R.T. Box
-Cancel the Startup Volume Box

3. Enter your Password

4. Click on the Cleaning Tab

5. In each tab, execute the command. Check all the boxes in each tab. When its finished in that tab, it will ask you to reboot. Say NO. Go on to the next tab and repeat until all tabs are done. THEN REBOOT.