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Error Joining AirPort Network

DaBuzz

DaBuzz

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 11, 2004
83
0
San Francisco, CA
I've posted this to the Apple forums, but haven't gotten any response.

I have a AirPort Extreme base station, with WPA enabled. Occasionally my connection drops, and my Mac does one of 3 things:
It shows the AirPort network (as well as my neighbor's), but when I select it it says "There was an error joining network AirPort"
It shows no available networks;
It will reconnect (rarely).

It's not my Mac - Apple replaced it for me (PowerBook 17 Rev B). I am running OS X 10.3.3, with the latest AirPort software and firmware. It also did this when I had an 802.11g Netgear router.

Has any one else experienced this, and can offer advice?

Thanks.
 
I get this many times a week. It's the base station. Unplug it, then plug it right back in. It's a pain but it's the only way I've found to deal with it.
 
DaBuzz said:
I've posted this to the Apple forums, but haven't gotten any response.

I have a AirPort Extreme base station, with WPA enabled. Occasionally my connection drops, and my Mac does one of 3 things:
It shows the AirPort network (as well as my neighbor's), but when I select it it says "There was an error joining network AirPort"
It shows no available networks;
It will reconnect (rarely).

It's not my Mac - Apple replaced it for me (PowerBook 17 Rev B). I am running OS X 10.3.3, with the latest AirPort software and firmware. It also did this when I had an 802.11g Netgear router.

Has any one else experienced this, and can offer advice?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Plain and simple, airport base station sux. There is always a problem with it. especially if you decide to use it with pcs as well.
My advice sell airport on ebay and, get a Dlink router. I know how to deal with dlinks I deal with them alot. They are quite good too and fully support macs (officially). Cheers.
 
Hate to break it to you, but I've got a D-Link router/modem/wifi and occasionally get exactly the same problem. Restarting the router seems to solve the problem. This seems to indicate that either these base stations are flakey/dropping out their wifi signal, or: the problem is client-side.

It *might* be a keychain issue. Since cleaning up my keychain, I've had a lot less trouble (although, off the top of my head, it seems that it hasn't solved the problem 100%).

R.
 
It sometimes happens to me but when it does I just select Other from the Airport tab, type name and password and it comes back again
 
This has happened to me when the Airport gets out of range.

You are probably configured this way as well, but I have it configured to only join a specific network, which is of course my network. What I typically do when this happens is; when I know I in range again, I turn airport off on the Macintosh, using the Airport menu from upper right of screen, then turn it right back on, I have never had to re-enter the password or reboot the AEBS, just toggle the airport off and on using the menu on the Mac.

Give it a try.
 
Just wanted to add, it usually works the first time, but sometimes I have had to toggle the airport off and on two or three times to get it to join the network again. I still find this to be easier then going to the AEBS and rebooting it.
 
Rezet said:
Plain and simple, airport base station sux. There is always a problem with it. especially if you decide to use it with pcs as well.
My advice sell airport on ebay and, get a Dlink router. I know how to deal with dlinks I deal with them alot. They are quite good too and fully support macs (officially). Cheers.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with my NetGear router, so I don't think it is the base station.
 
dudeami said:
This has happened to me when the Airport gets out of range.

You are probably configured this way as well, but I have it configured to only join a specific network, which is of course my network. What I typically do when this happens is; when I know I in range again, I turn airport off on the Macintosh, using the Airport menu from upper right of screen, then turn it right back on, I have never had to re-enter the password or reboot the AEBS, just toggle the airport off and on using the menu on the Mac.

Give it a try.
Click to expand...

Well..the Base Station is about a foot away from my PowerBook. :) I'm not a WiFi expert, but could that really be an issue so close to the Mac?

Should I place the Base Station on an elevated place, since the antenna on the PowerBook is on the LCD screen?
 
Horrortaxi said:
I get this many times a week. It's the base station. Unplug it, then plug it right back in. It's a pain but it's the only way I've found to deal with it.
Click to expand...

Have you used any third-party routers with the same problem? Or has it just been with the Apple Base Station?
 
wifi not there yet...

As i was loading this post, my connection got dropped. I never have to reset the router, but I do have to rejoin much closer to it. I have a D-Link router, but as I was doing research before purchasing it, I came to realize that it seems to happen to all of them. D-Link's range is excellent, which sold me.
 
DaBuzz said:
Have you used any third-party routers with the same problem? Or has it just been with the Apple Base Station?
Click to expand...
All my experience is with Apple routers so I really can't say. I read about it on the boards at Apple and the problem was reported more in base stations with a modem. It was still observed in other units, but not nearly as much. This has been my experience too. The base with modem at home cuts out daily and the one at work (no modem) cuts out maybe once a week.
 
jsj said:
As i was loading this post, my connection got dropped. I never have to reset the router, but I do have to rejoin much closer to it. I have a D-Link router, but as I was doing research before purchasing it, I came to realize that it seems to happen to all of them. D-Link's range is excellent, which sold me.
Click to expand...

Again, since the Base Station is about a foot away from my PowerBook, somehow I don't think its the range...

But does anyone think that adding an external antenna or moving the Base Station to a different location (elevated, for example) would hep matters?
 
Since you are so close, adding an antenna shouldn't really matter. The base station should be unobstructed, so elevating it or clearing space (if cluttered) might help. I think concrete walls can also cause interference. How is the signal strength in internet connect?
 
DaBuzz said:
But does anyone think that adding an external antenna or moving the Base Station to a different location (elevated, for example) would hep matters?
Click to expand...

External antenna? So you do have the one with a modem? Figures.

There was a theory on the Apple boards that it was a heat issue. Try turning down your transmitter strength. After I took mine down to 25% I my signal got dropped a lot less.
 
jsj said:
Since you are so close, adding an antenna shouldn't really matter. The base station should be unobstructed, so elevating it or clearing space (if cluttered) might help. I think concrete walls can also cause interference. How is the signal strength in internet connect?
Click to expand...

When it is connected, it is at full strength.
 
i had this problem awhile ago with my airport extreme. The way i fixed it 100% was updating the firmware to the newest version it took awhile to do but when i finished it was great no problems since
 
i personally use an AEBS though and I only have that problem around once a month or when i screw up some settings and a simple unplug fixes the problems. Maybe its the way you set things up, or maybe its your comp. *shrug*
 
I had this intermittantly as well, complicated by a neighbor's unsecured Linksys wireless network that shows up in my list half the time.

I also had my base station sitting on a workdesk between my desktop monitor (used along with the PBs display) and a fax/phone, near a laser printer. I moved the base station and mounted it on a wall near nothing electrical or electronic... no more difficulties.
 
I've just had a similar problem....

....resolved for me by Apple Support. Apparently if you are connecting via a router, you can get conflicts with AirPort Extreme, which is itself a router (this is what they told me, don't flame me if it doesn't make sense).

The solution was as follows:

Hard-drive>Admin>Utilities>AirPort Admin Utility>Configure (enter password)>Show All Settings>Network>(uncheck Distribute IP Addresses box)>Update.

Worked for me -- give it a try.
 
I have my laptop sitting right next to my desktop and the desktop can not connect but the laptop can. i think it is something to do with the hardware or software b/c the only way i can fix it is to reboot. Did microsoft write the driver? Turning airport off then on does not work. Rebooting router does not work. only rebooting....
 
trainguy77 said:
i had this problem awhile ago with my airport extreme. The way i fixed it 100% was updating the firmware to the newest version it took awhile to do but when i finished it was great no problems since
Click to expand...

What version firmware do you have it at?
 
i have firmware v 5.1.3 this is the newest i could put on my base station without upgrading to 10.3 to do this update i had to be running 10.2.8
 
Mustafa said:
....resolved for me by Apple Support. Apparently if you are connecting via a router, you can get conflicts with AirPort Extreme, which is itself a router (this is what they told me, don't flame me if it doesn't make sense).

The solution was as follows:

Hard-drive>Admin>Utilities>AirPort Admin Utility>Configure (enter password)>Show All Settings>Network>(uncheck Distribute IP Addresses box)>Update.

Worked for me -- give it a try.
Click to expand...

That is the fix Apple gave you? I'll try it...but you're right, it makes no sense.

So how do your network client(s) get an IP address? If you have a single Mac, does it just automatically pick one up?
 
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