Wireless network problem

[MacManX]

I asked this quite a while ago, but no one seems to know what's wrong. I'll try again. Here goes:

I have a network of Macs at home, both wired and wireless. When one of the laptops have been in sleep mode, it takes forever to 'find' the network. Why?
Sometimes you can see the symbols of the other computers in Finder (shown as generic PC's) - in some cases they won't show at all. If you hit cmd-K, nothing happens.
It can take up to 30 minutes before you can access other computers on the network. This is unacceptable. One laptop is a MacBook Pro with Mac OS X 10.6 and the other one is a MacBook Air with Mac OS X 10.7
Please help! I need this fixed!

It would be interesting to know if you guys can access other computers immediately after sleep mode or if you have to wait, like I have to.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

I asked this quite a while ago, but no one seems to know what's wrong. I'll try again. Here goes:

I have a network of Macs at home, both wired and wireless. When one of the laptops have been in sleep mode, it takes forever to 'find' the network. Why?
Sometimes you can see the symbols of the other computers in Finder (shown as generic PC's) - in some cases they won't show at all. If you hit cmd-K, nothing happens.
It can take up to 30 minutes before you can access other computers on the network. This is unacceptable. One laptop is a MacBook Pro with Mac OS X 10.6 and the other one is a MacBook Air with Mac OS X 10.7
Please help! I need this fixed!

It would be interesting to know if you guys can access other computers immediately after sleep mode or if you have to wait, like I have to.

I connect my Mac to the Internet via Ethernet. My PC laptops get this problem too - I restart my router and that solves the problem and then the Internet becomes blazing fast.

Try restarting your router by unplugging it and leaving it for about a minute. Then plug it back in and wait for it to fully start again and test out your connections.

 

[MacManX]

I connect my Mac to the Internet via Ethernet. My PC laptops get this problem too - I restart my router and that solves the problem and then the Internet becomes blazing fast.

Try restarting your router by unplugging it and leaving it for about a minute. Then plug it back in and wait for it to fully start again and test out your connections.

This has no effect, I'm afraid. I do have immediate internet access, that is not the problem. I can access internet, but not the other computers on my network.
20 - 30 minutes after start up I can see and access the other computers on the network... THAT'S my problem.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

This has no effect, I'm afraid. I do have immediate internet access, that is not the problem. I can access internet, but not the other computers on my network.
20 - 30 minutes after start up I can see and access the other computers on the network... THAT'S my problem.

And this problem affects all of them? There likely has to be something wrong with the network itself. You can try contacting your service provider as I am not great at diagnosing network issues.

 

[MacManX]

And this problem affects all of them? There likely has to be something wrong with the network itself. You can try contacting your service provider as I am not great at diagnosing network issues.

Yes, all laptops are affected. Also my son's Mac Book.
The network is my own, so there's no service provider to ask... I use a Cisco wireless access point connected to a D-Link router. The D-Link router is connected to a D-Link Net Defend Firewall which is connected to the internet. Pretty basic.

I work with Windows networks and I do VPN tunnels and such every day, so I think I have a pretty good understanding how networks work - but this problem is beyond me...

 

[BrianBaughn]

Which device is controlling DHCP?

 

[MacManX]

Which device is controlling DHCP?

DHCP is distributed by the D-Link DFL-200 Firewall

 

[BrianBaughn]

I suppose you could start eliminating devices which might pinpoint a trouble spot in the setup.

BTW, what do you mean when you say there's "no service provider"?

 

[r0k]

Yes, all laptops are affected. Also my son's Mac Book.
The network is my own, so there's no service provider to ask... I use a Cisco wireless access point connected to a D-Link router. The D-Link router is connected to a D-Link Net Defend Firewall which is connected to the internet. Pretty basic.

I work with Windows networks and I do VPN tunnels and such every day, so I think I have a pretty good understanding how networks work - but this problem is beyond me...

I had a mysterious problem like this after I added a D-Link wifi access point. I thought the D-Link was offering conflicting DHCP leases so I switched off but the problem persisted. It turns out it was caused by an 8 port gigabit switch. I reset the switch and the problem went away. I have since replaced my 3 8 port switches with one 24 port switch.

There are still 2 5 port switches at opposite corners of the house for devices that do better wired than wifi (like streaming video).

5-port-switch<=30 foot run==>24 port-switch<=50 foot run==>5 port-switch
                                     |
                                      \<===>aebs<==>cable-modem

My router is an airport extreme (3rd or 4th gen). The wireless has been slow so I'm thinking of switching it off (except for the guest network) and adding a second d-link access point. The wifi speeds I get on the d-link are 5x or more faster than the aebs and I find myself "forgetting" the aebs network so I can keep using the d-link even when I'm closer to the aebs.

 

[MacManX]

I suppose you could start eliminating devices which might pinpoint a trouble spot in the setup.

BTW, what do you mean when you say there's "no service provider"?

I have tried disconnecting the cables to the two Mac Mini's and one iMac that are connected to my network. No difference. There are no other devices connected to the network.

Regarding Service Provider there are two kinds; ISP (Internet Service Provider) and NSP (Network Service Provider).
There is no problem with internet access what so ever. The problem is purely internal and the same problem occurs even if the connection to the fiber cable (to the ISP) has been disconnected.
There is no NSP since this is my private network in my house.

I did make a small error in my first post. There is no router between the Firewall (D-Link DFL-200) and the Liksys access point. The DFL-200 is both router and firewall and is also the DHCP.

----------

I had a mysterious problem like this after I added a D-Link wifi access point. I thought the D-Link was offering conflicting DHCP leases so I switched off but the problem persisted. It turns out it was caused by an 8 port gigabit switch. I reset the switch and the problem went away. I have since replaced my 3 8 port switches with one 24 port switch.

There are still 2 5 port switches at opposite corners of the house for devices that do better wired than wifi (like streaming video).

5-port-switch<=30 foot run==>24 port-switch<=50 foot run==>5 port-switch
                                     |
                                      \<===>aebs<==>cable-modem

My router is an airport extreme (3rd or 4th gen). The wireless has been slow so I'm thinking of switching it off (except for the guest network) and adding a second d-link access point. The wifi speeds I get on the d-link are 5x or more faster than the aebs and I find myself "forgetting" the aebs network so I can keep using the d-link even when I'm closer to the aebs.

There is a 4 port Netgear switch between the DFL-200 and the Mac Minis/iMac.
Disconnecting this cable has no effect at all. The same problem is still there.
I'm considering replacing the Cisco Linksys for an access point from D-Link.

 

[BrianBaughn]

What I mean by eliminating devices is remove networking gear that is in the path between devices. If you set up a simple network with one router and connect the computers to that, does the problem still exist?

You sound like you knew what you were doing when you set this all up so I have to assume that you only have one device (of many that are able to) controlling the network.

 

[MacManX]

What I mean by eliminating devices is remove networking gear that is in the path between devices. If you set up a simple network with one router and connect the computers to that, does the problem still exist?

You sound like you knew what you were doing when you set this all up so I have to assume that you only have one device (of many that are able to) controlling the network.

With just the router and computers, of course it works since this problem only affects WiFi computers.
Like I said before, with only firewall/router and WiFi access point and two laptops - the problem will occur...