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Strange iBook network problems

i experienced something similar to what you did. my problems started after i loaded 10.2.5 onto my g4. as you described, i couldn't load webpages. what's more, it _seemed_ to be my router (one of those 4-port linksys jobbies), 'cuz the router kept dropping the dsl connection. (but when i disconnected my two 10.2.5 machines from the router, it behaved better)

as it happened, i installed 10.2.5 just hours before 10.2.6 was released. since i couldn't get anything done w/ the internet, i put the jaguar install CD into the g4 and reinstalled the OS using the "archive and install" option (this left all my user prefs).

suddenly, i was able to connect reliably. i d/loaded 10.2.6 combo update (some 90 meg).

but then everything went south again 'cuz my ibook had 10.2.5 on it. after several tries, i remained connected long enough to get 10.2.6 on it (a 6 meg upgrade from 10.2.5).

my router was still acting dodgy, so i d/loaded the latest firmware and installed that. everything is working now.
 
Originally posted by physicsnerd
Have you tired checking the routing tables? There could be some wierd bug where it got the wrong IP in for the router, and isn't changing it. The check open up a terminal and type "netstat -r -n"

Also, do any of your PCs have two network cards in them? You might try turning on internet conection sharing and going out through a PC. Remember to use a crossover cable if connecting directly to a PC. If you can't go out using a PC as a router, then you'll at least isolate the problem to the ibook.

Also, do you have a HTTP Proxy that your going through? It could just be that the ISP changed the IP or port of it, and you have the old address still entered. Or, maybe they added one and the PCs autodected it while your mac didn't. To check go under System Preferences:Network:proxies:Web Proxy (HTTP)

Hope this helps,
Click to expand...

Here are the routing tables

Code: 
Destination        Gateway            Flags    Refs      Use  Netif Expire
default            192.168.0.4        UGSc        6        3    en1
127.0.0.1          127.0.0.1          UH          7     2151    lo0
169.254            link#6             UCS         0        0    en1
192.168.0/16       link#6             UCS         1        0    en1
192.168.0.4        0:6:25:92:8a:f1    UHLW        7        0    en1    998
192.168.0.8        127.0.0.1          UHS         0        1    lo0

What is 0:6:25:92:8a:f1 ?
The router is 192.168.0.4, the iBook is 192.168.0.8.

I have tried to use internet connection sharing on one of my PCs, but that doesn't seem to work when one of the connections is an 802.11b card.

None of my Windows or Linux boxes have a proxy set, but all work fine.
 
Originally posted by zimv20
i experienced something similar to what you did. my problems started after i loaded 10.2.5 onto my g4. as you described, i couldn't load webpages. what's more, it _seemed_ to be my router (one of those 4-port linksys jobbies), 'cuz the router kept dropping the dsl connection. (but when i disconnected my two 10.2.5 machines from the router, it behaved better)

as it happened, i installed 10.2.5 just hours before 10.2.6 was released. since i couldn't get anything done w/ the internet, i put the jaguar install CD into the g4 and reinstalled the OS using the "archive and install" option (this left all my user prefs).

suddenly, i was able to connect reliably. i d/loaded 10.2.6 combo update (some 90 meg).

but then everything went south again 'cuz my ibook had 10.2.5 on it. after several tries, i remained connected long enough to get 10.2.6 on it (a 6 meg upgrade from 10.2.5).

my router was still acting dodgy, so i d/loaded the latest firmware and installed that. everything is working now.
Click to expand...

As I have said in previous posts, I have updated to 10.2.6 and I have updated my router's firmware (mine is also a 4-port linksys jobbie, with wireless). Nothing has changed.
 
Originally posted by beeblebrox87

What is 0:6:25:92:8a:f1 ?
The router is 192.168.0.4, the iBook is 192.168.0.8.

I have tried to use internet connection sharing on one of my PCs, but that doesn't seem to work when one of the connections is an 802.11b card.

None of my Windows or Linux boxes have a proxy set, but all work fine. [/B]
Click to expand...

0:6:25:92:8a:f1 is the router's MAC (Media Access Control) address, it's just a number that identifies specific hardware on a network. All network cards/routers/ect have them programed in at the factory. The numbers are how the router figures out which computer goes to which IP.

I must say, i'm tottally stumped. I'll let you know if I think of anything.

physicsnerd

----------
"Even logic must give way to Physics" - Spock
 
Any random ideas that might jolt this thing enough to get it working again? How do I contact Apple without a phone? I really need help here.
 
well, as odd as this may sound, i once solved a problem where i could only get udp packets but no tcp packets by changing the ethernet cable. I have no explanation for that, and you must also have tried it already.

Another thing you might try to debug your connection is to check if your problem is at sending or receiving the packets, and even if its a problem when connecting to port 80.

Can you put a webserver on one of your other machines and check if you can connect to them?
 
Originally posted by colocolo
well, as odd as this may sound, i once solved a problem where i could only get udp packets but no tcp packets by changing the ethernet cable. I have no explanation for that, and you must also have tried it already.

Another thing you might try to debug your connection is to check if your problem is at sending or receiving the packets, and even if its a problem when connecting to port 80.

Can you put a webserver on one of your other machines and check if you can connect to them?
Click to expand...

Yes, I've used airport and several different ethernet cables to try and get this working.

I have tried, and I can connect to webservers on my LAN machines. I cannot connect to outside IM networks or other non-port-80 things that use TCP. Basically, it is in no way a port 80 problem.

I do not know if the iBook can receive TCP packets from the outside, and I am not sure how I could test that.
 
Ok, looks like I'll have to reinstall. Only problem with this: I can't find the OSX reinstall disks, they are no longer in the little apple envelope that all the disks came in. My internet connection has lately far too slow to download CD images in anything less than 10 days. Unless there is a way to do a reinstall without the reinstall disks, this is looking increasingly grim for the iBook.
 
To test if you are receiving TCP packets from outside your LAN, you can set up a webserver in the iBook, set the router to send all port 80 traffic to it, try to connect to the server from another computer, and see if the page loads. If the page doesn't load, then check your log to see if the requests were actually made.

You can then at least know if the problem is with incoming or outgoing packets; if it is incoming, it is probably a router problem, and if it is outgoing then the problem lies mainly on the iBook.

About the reinstall, I don't know of any way to solve your problem.. sorry.
 
Originally posted by colocolo
To test if you are receiving TCP packets from outside your LAN, you can set up a webserver in the iBook, set the router to send all port 80 traffic to it, try to connect to the server from another computer, and see if the page loads. If the page doesn't load, then check your log to see if the requests were actually made.
Click to expand...

I don't really have access to any external machines I could try to access it from. My ISP firewalls things nastily, so the only machines beyond my router that could access a webserver on the iBook would be others on this ISP.
 
OK, if nobody here has a solution, how can I email a human being at Apple? I bought this machine from an Apple reseller in November so I presume it must still be under warranty, although I did not sign up for Applecare. Does anybody know a way, then, that I can contact Apple without incurring an international phone bill?
 
is n t it possible the tcp protocoll is shut down as soon as it is no more needed? it seems to work fine just after getting a new ip. but then, as soon as there is a little pause it will not work anymore.
I really don t know much about network, but well, it could be that the problem, can ' t it ?
 
Originally posted by maradong
is n t it possible the tcp protocoll is shut down as soon as it is no more needed? it seems to work fine just after getting a new ip. but then, as soon as there is a little pause it will not work anymore.
I really don t know much about network, but well, it could be that the problem, can ' t it ?
Click to expand...

Yes, that does seem a possible cause of the problem, but doesn't really shed much light on how to fix it.

(Although actually, from what I've done it seems that a limited number of bytes can get through before things stop working. On a few occasions I have changed IP, not viewed anything, and found that I could still connect for a short time when I tried hours later.)
 
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