Networking 101

[Soundhound]

This is probably a dumb question: my apologies. I've got an imac in our back house (converted garge/studio) which houses all the music, served up to all the other macs in the house via the airport express, which is in the front house, as that's where the internet comes into the house. It all worked fine, except the imac in the back house kept falling off the network. I suspect it was interference etc. regardless i decided to get the netgear devices, called Powerline HD adapters, which allow you to use the house ac wiring to connect thjrough ethernet.

I've been running a home airport network forever and know nothing about ethernet, setting it up etc. I've got the airport connected by ethernet cable to the neatgear box, which is plugged into the ac in that room, and the imac in the back house connected by ethernet cable to the netgear box, plugged into the ac in that room.

What I can't find is how to choose ethernet rather than Airport for the iMac to connect to the airport???

The airport will still be talking to all the other macs in the house wirelessly, and sending music out to all of them as well. I don't want to touch the airport network, as that will still be operating. Do I have to set up an ethernet netowrk or something?

thanks!!

 

[jodelli]

System Preferences>Network will bring up a window with a Built In Ethernet heading showing green if the connection is good. Airport will show up on this page too.
Highlight the Built In Ethernet connection and hit the configure button.

Use Automatic. At the Configure IPv4 setting bring up Using DHCP, unless of course you have your own manual settings that you want to use.

edit: I'm talking about the iMac settings; don't change anything on the other machines.

 

[Soundhound]

Thanks Jodelli.

I went to System Prefs>Network and both Built in Ethernewt and airport show green. Airport also says 'connected', while Built-in Ethernet says 'Self-Assigned IP'. At Configure 'Using DHCP' is already chosen. Is there a way to switch from airport to ethernet?

System Preferences>Network will bring up a window with a Built In Ethernet heading showing green if the connection is good. Airport will show up on this page too.
Highlight the Built In Ethernet connection and hit the configure button.

Use Automatic. At the Configure IPv4 setting bring up Using DHCP, unless of course you have your own manual settings that you want to use.

edit: I'm talking about the iMac settings; don't change anything on the other machines.

 

[richard.mac]

leave your ethernet cable unplugged and make sure Airport is turned on. OS X will automatically connect the next network connection which is Airport and automatically get a IP if DHCP is selected.

you can also change the order that the network connects by clicking on the gear in Network preferences and choosing "Set service order".

 

[Soundhound]

Whoops. Now I see that it says 'Built-In Ethernet has a self-assigned IP address and may not be able to connect'.

What does that mean? Is there a way to resolve it? Whatever it is?

Thanks Jodelli.

I went to System Prefs>Network and both Built in Ethernewt and airport show green. Airport also says 'connected', while Built-in Ethernet says 'Self-Assigned IP'. At Configure 'Using DHCP' is already chosen. Is there a way to switch from airport to ethernet?

 

[DoFoT9]

OP.

im guessing that if your imac has a "self assigned IP" then it isnt picking up the connections between the airport and the ac box.

you will have to configure the ac box that connects directly into the airport (via ethernet) to pick up an IP address via DHCP. this will enable the ac box at the imac to pick up an IP, allowing your imac to pick up an IP, allowing you to access the network.

 

[DoFoT9]

Whoops. Now I see that it says 'Built-In Ethernet has a self-assigned IP address and may not be able to connect'.

What does that mean? Is there a way to resolve it? Whatever it is?

self assigned Ip just means it cannot find anything else to grab an IP from.

 

[Soundhound]

Arg. I was afraid something like this would come up. I have no idea what any of this means...

self assigned Ip just means it cannot find anything else to grab an IP from.

 

[DoFoT9]

Arg. I was afraid something like this would come up. I have no idea what any of this means...

just means that it cant read/verify anything from the Airport.

i would take a stab at suggesting that your ac router device hasn't been given an IP address from the airport.

 

[Soundhound]

An idea of how I might be able to get it to do that? I already tried turning off the airport and the ac deivce, and then turning them back on in sequence...

just means that it cant read/verify anything from the Airport.

i would take a stab at suggesting that your ac router device hasn't been given an IP address from the airport.

 

[DoFoT9]

An idea of how I might be able to get it to do that? I already tried turning off the airport and the ac deivce, and then turning them back on in sequence...

are you able to remote into the ac device via IP address in safari? or any other way?

basically, can you get into the settings of the ac device somehow? once u get there u will be able to change settings that will enable you to set it up inline with your AP

 

[Soundhound]

i haven't found a way of doing that. the directions are very simple and straightforward. Plug and play, basically...

are you able to remote into the ac device via IP address in safari? or any other way?

basically, can you get into the settings of the ac device somehow? once u get there u will be able to change settings that will enable you to set it up inline with your AP

 

[DoFoT9]

i haven't found a way of doing that. the directions are very simple and straightforward. Plug and play, basically...

well if thats the case then maybe your airport has disabled the ethernet port on it?? if you go into the application "airport utility" and then the "internet" tab it should enable you to set the settings for the speed and functionality.

if that is set to on, im kind of stumped. i will try to look for a manual off the products site for you and get back if i find anything obvious

EDIT: from further research. it doesnt look like it should be that hard to set it up. there are some intense setup guides which have a PC only utility to set it up and blaablaa, seems like it should 'just work' on a mac though.

 

[Willis]

Ok.. let me clear something up... Your Airport is connected to the Netgear which uses the house electrical wiring. Then the iMac is also plugged into a Netgear adapter where its located?

If so, then you need to tell the Netgear box connected to the Airport to gets its IP from there and then relay to the other box.

I've not used these products so just going by what makes sense.

I have a similar issue in my house because its fairly large, we have an AEBS(b/g) and bought and Airport express to expand the range. Basically the AEx just acts like a relay

 

[Soundhound]

I went into Airport Utlity and looked in the Internet tab. It's set to Connect using: Ethernet.

But I'm guessing that's the setting for how the airport connects to the internet, not how it then sends the internet around the house, which is wirelessly. I think.

I'm looking for a way to turn on (or off) the the ethernet ports, without affecting the wireless functionality, but haven't found that yet. Looking. Looking. Thanks so much for the help, really appreicate it... I'm not seeing anything about the ports, still looking....

well if thats the case then maybe your airport has disabled the ethernet port on it?? if you go into the application "airport utility" and then the "internet" tab it should enable you to set the settings for the speed and functionality.

if that is set to on, im kind of stumped. i will try to look for a manual off the products site for you and get back if i find anything obvious

EDIT: from further research. it doesnt look like it should be that hard to set it up. there are some intense setup guides which have a PC only utility to set it up and blaablaa, seems like it should 'just work' on a mac though.

 

[DoFoT9]

I went into Airport Utlity and looked in the Internet tab. It's set to Connect using: Ethernet.

But I'm guessing that's the setting for how the airport connects to the internet, not how it then sends the internet around the house, which is wirelessly. I think.

I'm looking for a way to turn on (or off) the the ethernet ports, without affecting the wireless functionality, but haven't found that yet. Looking. Looking. Thanks so much for the help, really appreicate it... I'm not seeing anything about the ports, still looking....

you need to have a look at the WAN port. (see pics below). see what that is set to, most likely default.

 

[Soundhound]

Ok, yes I checked, and it is set to Automatic (Default). Should I set it to something else?

you need to have a look at the WAN port. (see pics below). see what that is set to, most likely default.

 

[Soundhound]

Say DoFoT9, should I change that setting from Automatic?? thanks!

 

[DoFoT9]

Say DoFoT9, should I change that setting from Automatic?? thanks!

oh sorry for the late reply!!!

mybad.

being on automatic should be fine. you could change it to a different speed if you wish but it wouldnt do anything. the main thing is that its turned on, because that means it will be giving away things.

ok heres a question, are you sure that your airport is set to giving out DHCP IP addresses?? or does your modem give out addresses?? (i know that my modem acts as a router and gives out IP addresses to everything else on my network).

 

[Soundhound]

Sorry to be such an ignoramus, but... how do I see whether it's doing that?

oh sorry for the late reply!!!

mybad.

being on automatic should be fine. you could change it to a different speed if you wish but it wouldnt do anything. the main thing is that its turned on, because that means it will be giving away things.

ok heres a question, are you sure that your airport is set to giving out DHCP IP addresses?? or does your modem give out addresses?? (i know that my modem acts as a router and gives out IP addresses to everything else on my network).

 

[DoFoT9]

Sorry to be such an ignoramus, but... how do I see whether it's doing that?

if you look on the pictures that i supplied above, you will see that mine has

Configure IPv4 Using: DHCP
All the addresses below that cannot be changed, so therefore its fully DHCP.
However, notice that the DNS server and router address is 10.0.0.138? that is my modems address and my airport is getting an IP from that, which is rather annoying because it has to be the crappy common IP from the router.

uumm just post a picture of the same page that i supplied above if you wish. you can take a picture by hitting + Shift + 4, pressing the space bar and then clicking on the window you want to take a picture of.

 

[Soundhound]

Thanks so much! Here's the picture:

if you look on the pictures that i supplied above, you will see that mine has

Configure IPv4 Using: DHCP
All the addresses below that cannot be changed, so therefore its fully DHCP.
However, notice that the DNS server and router address is 10.0.0.138? that is my modems address and my airport is getting an IP from that, which is rather annoying because it has to be the crappy common IP from the router.

uumm just post a picture of the same page that i supplied above if you wish. you can take a picture by hitting + Shift + 4, pressing the space bar and then clicking on the window you want to take a picture of.

 

[DoFoT9]

Thanks so much! Here's the picture:

ok that looks perfectly fine to me. im just hoping that an issue isnt arising that the two parts of the house are connected by a different power source/line. i have no idea about electrical house setups but from what i have read it should just be a plug and play type system....


hhmmm

reading the manual: just make sure that the power light is green, and see if the ethernet light is flashing or something on both of them. if they arent then that will narrow down the problem a little.

if you have access to a PC/virtual PC then install the PC software that comes with it because it allows you to set up extra stuff blaablaa