Win 7 machine connects to wifi, macbook will not

[cray]

I have a windows 7 laptop that jumps right on my wireless router.

My new unibody Macbook will not. I have the correct pass word for the
wireless network, but it just keeps searching. I have checked and doubled
checked everything that I could think of.

Could a weak signal cause this?

If so, what is best way to boost wifi signal from linksys router?

 

[sjinsjca]

How strong a signal does the Windows laptop indicate?

My wife's piece-of-crap Sony laptop is, paradoxically, the king of WiFi reception here. It can connect robustly where our several Mac laptops cannot. I blame the Macs' metal bodies vs. the cheesy plastic of that crashy freezy junky virus-magnet of a Vaio. So it's possible it's a signal issue in your case.

I ended up installing a booster. Tried several, found only one that worked. Linksys makes one that's a piece of complete crap. The one I ended up purchasing is perched up on top of a cabinet; I'll get at it to figure out the brand/model if it turns out signal strength is your issue. It's worked well to give us strong, fast WiFi where our router (an awesome D-Link DIR-655) can't reach due to multiple intervening walls.

But first, tell us more about the problem.

o Is your WiFi SSID broadcast?

o If not, delete any reference to it that you've created, and have the Mac search again. It should find it, allow you to select it, then it should ask for a password. Does it do so?

 

[DeepIn2U]

Also double check Indus prefs the mac is set to dhcp to auto grab an ip. By chance check the location maybe changing it from the mac's menu bar.

Also connect to the router via you wires laptop using the default gateway and check that MAC Filtering is not enabled cause if it is then our Mac's NIC is not on the list and you'll never connect.

If all else fails you can reset the Router and set it up from scratch, soft reset it to make sure settings take hold.

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

If you're down to 1 bar, it can be difficult to initiate the connection, but if you go closer to the router and start the connection you'll be able to move away and still use the signal in my experience.

What kind of encryption scheme are you using? WPA/WPA2 is better in my experience at longer distances than WEP due to the lower network overhead (WEP is horribly insecure as well).

 

[cray]

Thanks for all the suggestions. As time permits today I will try them.

Signal strength on the HP laptop is 3-5 bars depending on location.

The Macbook is 1-3 bars depending on location. It will not connect with
internet unless it is 3 bars. 2 bars and it drops the connection very easy.

The network is running WEP security. I will try the WPA and see if it
changes.

The SSID is broadcast. I will try to erase all the settings and let the Macbook
rediscover the network.

 

[patrixl]

What's the channel for the WIFI network?

My gf's Japanese Macbook would have trouble connecting to my Time capsule hwen it was set to "automatic" (it actually automatically set it to 1, always). Once I set it manually to 5 6 or 7, she'd connect great to it (as well as it would stop interfering with my wireless broadband). Something to check...