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Got a 17" PB and have a few questions

D

DND82

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 23, 2003
69
0
Hello to all. Just today I got myself a 17"PB, so far it going OK, but I have a couple questions.

Airport tends to go out after sometime. I know its not my router, since other computers still work. I figured out that turning airport off and on again fixes it, but I don't want to do it every half hour or so. any ideas?

Also my function keys are defaulted to there secondary functions. Things such as volume control are adjusted just by hitting the F5 key. Shouldn't it be fn+F5?

thanks,

Dane
 
Re: Got a 17" PB and have a few questions

Originally posted by DND82
Hello to all. Just today I got myself a 17"PB, so far it going OK, but I have a couple questions.

Airport tends to go out after sometime. I know its not my router, since other computers still work. I figured out that turning airport off and on again fixes it, but I don't want to do it every half hour or so. any ideas?

Also my function keys are defaulted to there secondary functions. Things such as volume control are adjusted just by hitting the F5 key. Shouldn't it be fn+F5?

thanks,

Dane
Click to expand...
I would check and make sure the antenna is firmly plugged into the Airport card.

And yes, your function keys do default to the 'secondary functions' (brightness, backlight, etc.). To use the "F" features, you have to hit Fn+F#.
 
Re: Got a 17" PB and have a few questions

Originally posted by DND82
Hello to all. Just today I got myself a 17"PB, so far it going OK, but I have a couple questions
Click to expand...

Yeah sure - you just wanted to gloat!! :D

keyboard is right. sorry don't know about the airport prob. Maybe get something to monitor the ip address of the base station and your pc. Network monitor can monitor one at a time.

also, try keeping a continuous ping (thru network monitor). and keep an eye on values and see if it doesn't drop. tho it almost sounds software if you have to stop and restart airport. Run Repair Permissions!
 
Re: Re: Got a 17" PB and have a few questions

Originally posted by ChrisH3677
Yeah sure - you just wanted to gloat!! :D

keyboard is right. sorry don't know about the airport prob. Maybe get something to monitor the ip address of the base station and your pc. Network monitor can monitor one at a time.

also, try keeping a continuous ping (thru network monitor). and keep an eye on values and see if it doesn't drop. tho it almost sounds software if you have to stop and restart airport. Run Repair Permissions!
Click to expand...

who doesn't want to gloat.. :D

I tried the continuous ping and pinged my router. The 'ms' value did increase every 30 or 40 pings and some high values had 'DUP!' next to them. What does that mean?

Don't want to sound like a idiot but how do I repair permissions? :confused:

I should also mention that I am using a D-Link router. When I first started to setup the airport using DHCP. Airport would assign itself a IP address. I only got it to work by setting it up manually, with IP address, gateway, and DNS servers. Not sure if this is related to the drop out issues I'm having.

Thanks to all for any advice
 
The network problem sounds odd. But I do believe that it has to do with you setting it up manually.

If you use a manual IP that is within DHCP-range, you will probably end up having a conflict with another computer on your network. The best way to avoid it is to use DHCP.

Your D-Link router should have a DHCP-server built in. Check if it is enabled and set up properly. After it's cleared there, change your Airport settings to auto. It all should work perfectly. If you still get a 169.*** IP-address, you probably cant access the router. In that case you should check security settings on the router and if you use MAC-filter, make sure that you add your Airport ID to the trusted list.

And check in "software update" that you run the latest airport software

/ filipp
 
filipp,

The D-Link's DHCP was enabled and Airport was still assigning its own IP. I use MAC filtering and did add it to the list on router and still didn't work. Setting everything up manually seem to work but again after sometime Airport loses its link. What is strange is when I lose the link it says I'm still connected according Internet Connect's status and the Airport icon in the menu bar.

I did some digging in the system logs and saw when I had to turn Airport off and on again. here is it from the time it was up to it was down.

Jan 11 11:22:40 localhost kernel: AirPort: Link UP: "default" - 004005b17d7d - chan 6
Jan 11 11:22:42 localhost configd[119]: posting notification com.apple.system.config.network_change
Jan 11 11:22:42 localhost mach_init[2]: Server 204b in bootstrap d03 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/lookupd": exited as a result of signal 1 [pid 570]
Jan 11 11:22:42 localhost configd[119]: executing /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/Kicker.bundle/Contents/Resources/set-hostname
Jan 11 11:22:42 localhost lookupd[578]: lookupd (version 324) starting - Sun Jan 11 11:22:42 2004
Jan 11 11:22:42 localhost set-hostname[591]: setting hostname to Dane-Computer.local
Jan 11 11:23:40 localhost /Applications/Internet Connect.app/Contents/MacOS/Internet Connect: LaunchApplication(/System/Library/Components/CharacterPalette.component/Contents/SharedSupport/CharPaletteServer.app)
Jan 11 11:33:39 localhost kernel: ApplePMUUserClient::setProperties WakeOnACchange 0
Jan 11 11:33:44 localhost kernel: ApplePMUUserClient::setProperties WakeOnACchange 0
Jan 11 11:33:55 localhost mDNSResponder[196]: mDNSResponder Sleeping at 2176454
Jan 11 11:33:58 localhost kernel: AppleNMI mask NMI
Jan 11 12:22:27 localhost kernel: [HCIController][setPowerState] 0 (ignore=0)
Jan 11 12:22:27 localhost kernel: [HCIController][setPowerStateWL] 0
Jan 11 12:22:27 localhost kernel: [setPowerStateWL] setting up controller for power off.
Jan 11 12:22:27 localhost kernel: [HCIController][PerformPowerStateChange] 1->0
Jan 11 12:22:27 localhost kernel: [HCIController][CompletePowerStateChange]
Jan 11 12:22:27 localhost kernel: AirPort: Link DOWN

can't really put my finger on what might be causing it. guess I'll just get in contact with apple and see what they say.

thanks again for the help
 
Unfortunately, I'm not so good at unix, so I cannot help with this log file.

But you could try another thing. Connect your PB to the router over ethernet-cable. Your D-Link has 4 ethernet ports right?

Setup your ethernet to auto and see if you get an IP that way. If you do, the problem is within your Airport or WLAN on the router. If you dont get an IP, the problem lies in the DHCP-server. Make sure to use pc-hub cable for that (you can see if your router's port is active by it's LEDs).

Let us know your findings.
Good luck

/ filipp

Edit: Another thing: Since it drops contact after aprox. 30 minutes, one could guess it has something to do with leasing time of IP-addresses. Try and increasing it to, say, a couple of days. See if that helps.
 
filipp,

Just hooked up via ethernet and everything worked fine. Got IP address automatically and everthing else. Have to see if it will last though.

DHCP on the router is actually set for 1 week. I'm starting to think its an Airport problem.

thanks again,

Dane
 
Ok, Dane
I guess it's time for a call to Apple

Hope it works out for you, it's a fantastic peace of machinery. I've owned one since march and I still cannot get used to how beautiful it is.

/ f
 
filipp,

I decided to try the Airport setup from scratch. Removed my MAC address from my D-Link and put it back on and then Airport was working using DHCP! But it went back to its old nonsense again. So I figured it was the router. Then I saw the speed setting on the router was set to 'up to 22mbps'. The 22 setting is for d-link cards that could go up to 22mbps. So I set it to 11. Next thing I know Airport was working again and it still is.

now its time to enjoy this amazing machine.

well thanks to all for the help,

Dane
 
Sweet

Do you have many 11b cards on your network? 11g is so nice, I recommend you considering upgrading
 
I have IBM laptop which has a enhanced-b card from D-Link, thats why the router was 22mbps. I will upgrade to 11g, but I have to pay off this baby first. :)

-Dane
 
well done DND! Enjoy.

PS Repair Permissions is in Disk Utility (which is in Applications/Utilities folder)
Select the First Aid tab then your main HDD then Repair Permissions.

I find this fixes all sorts of strange behaviour. If you are installing often, you should run it often.
 
Thanks Chris.

I actually had another run in last night. Everything was working fine for quite a while. Then I put it to sleep and came back to it about a half hour later. From there I see airport is not even seeing my wireless network. :eek: Ofcourse the other laptop worked fine, so I rebooted the router and that didn't work. What was strange the network showed up in the airport menu and disappeared a couple times. I tried the interference robustness (sp) option and everything starting working again. Guess it was some sort of interference it was receiving. I know it wasn't the other computer because it wasn't even on when I took the PB out of sleep.

Well aside from that, I checked out the iTunes store and my jaw dropped! Amazing stuff.

thanks again,

Dane
 
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