iMac Airport playing up, any ideas?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yv
  • Start date Start date
Yv

Yv

TPer Emerita
Messages
25,725
Name
Yvonne, pronounced Eve...
Edit My Images
Yes
:bang: ok thi sone is driving me mad. Yesterday morning the internet on my imac was sluggish so I checked the windows machines, same thing, so didn't worry about it. Later in the day, went back to it, all windows machines working superquick, iMac not working at all! Spent half an hour ebooting the modem router, the imac, turning the Airport on and off, checking the router settings, etc etc...nothing. Sometimes it would connect to router, take the IP it was given and just have no internet, others it wouldn't even accept the IP the router was handing out.

So, being a windows being at heart, I tried the usual stuff, like the reboots already mentioned, re-inserting the WEP password in the settings, turning the firewall off and so on, all to no avail. In the end I gave up, went off and made some coffee and toast, dealt with a few phone calls, came back 20 minutes later and blow me, all working. Was fine again all night :thinking:

I should point out, the whole time this was happening, the various windows laptops around the house had a perfect connection, both wirelessly to the modem router and from there out into cyberspace.

Anyway, here I am today, same problem all over again :bang: I obviously have a functioning modem router, or I wouldnt be telling you this, but my imac is sitting there sneering at it and refusing to use it! The only thing I haven't tried is using the ethernet connection, simply because I haven't got a long enough cable or the time to move the machine nearer the router today, but I am wondering if anyone else has any ideas of recognizes what is happening in th emeantime?

so to summarise, I am using an iMac with Snow Leopard OS, the modem router is the Thomson version that comes with O2 internet connection. As far as I know, no settings or anything changed before yesterdays problems, though I am not sure there wasn't a software update in the last few days...there were several windows ones so I lost track a bit. :shrug: The router can see that the mac is there on its WLAN ports though strangely cannot seem to detect a computer name... :thinking: :shrug:


Any help or pointers appreciated as its driving me nuts atm! If it was a windows machine, I would be reinstalling drivers at this point nd if that failed, removing the hardware and trying a refit or new, but its a mac and I am totally stumped and [hopefully] missing something obvious.
 
Yv

I had the same issue when i first got mine it was up and down like a whores draws, in the end I went the route that you are looking at and I just used a cable.

I think my problem was the proximity if the BT Homehub to the Imac.

Since using cable it is super quick all the time.... well as quick as connection allows me to be as I am in the sticks and best connection speed I get is around 4meg

Nigel
 
:lol: I am inside the M25 and the quickest I get is 3, simply because of distance and line noise! I think I shall move in with you Nige!

However, that was the other thing I was going to mention, not sure how you can tell what sort of signal the Airport is getting, but when it does connect to the wireless bit at least, all 4 bars are lit on the icon, if that makes sense? Also I am currently running on my cheapo Dell lappy sitting on desk next to mac and that is getting a 'signal strength excellent' for the wifi.... the router is in the room next door and up until yesterday never had a problem with the mac connecting to it.
 
Yep that makes sense....

Not sure why it should change, you have not moved the microwave next to the route and leaving it running all day.....

I would say best bet would be to get a cable plug it in then forget about it.

I leave my airport on as I stream stuff from the mac to the macbook when upstairs... (Airport on the mac)

Afraid thats me out of ideas but I am sure some other mac users with more knowledge than me will be along soon.

Nigel
 
Yv,

I had this too. Got an Imac in an upstairs bedroom / office, and Router about 30 feet away downstairs - so a cable was out.

Solution - bought an airport express for about £80, and configured it to join the network (sky router) and put it next to the Imac, joined it up via a cable. Worked immediately and was so good I bought a 5 port switch, hooked that to the airport express and the mac, 2 pc's and a laptop into the switch - runs like a dream. All i need now is a decent web connection speed.

HTH

Fezman
 
ooh one other thing - have you any cordless phones near the devices? If so move them or switch them of to test the wifi connection - one of mine caused a problem previously
 
thanks fezman. IN answer to the phone thing, no, not atm. We do have cordless phones, based in other rooms, but not here or by the router and again, all have been working happily together until yesterday.

If I need to, can I disable the inbuilt Airport and buy an external usb adapter? Is that what the Express is?
 
Yvonne,

Try moving the iMac near to the router. If this stops it happening it could be down to the iMac being interfered with by another device. If this is the case try selecting a different channel for your network. It is possible that someone nearby is using the same channel and their router is nearer the iMac, this would also explain why it works at some times and not others.
 
cowasaki said:
Yvonne,

Try moving the iMac near to the router. If this stops it happening it could be down to the iMac being interfered with by another device. If this is the case try selecting a different channel for your network. It is possible that someone nearby is using the same channel and their router is nearer the iMac, this would also explain why it works at some times and not others.
Click to expand...

Thanks darren, sorry, should have said that one of the things I tried yesterday was changing the channel, but made no difference. Also just for info, detached house and neither neighbour could have a router closer, physically speaking, though I realise the vagaries of such a connection means that physical distance can be misleading :shrug:

However, will be trying stuff like moving machine tomorrow, as well as testing with a cable, but the ridiculous thing of course is that when it does suddenly decide its going to connect, as it has now done and I am posting from it, it does so brilliantly, so wont be able to do any further 'tests' until it fails again, iykwim :shrug:
 
I had this happen to me once, and the way I solved it was to connect through ethernet first and then do a check for the wireless, when the ethernet was plugged in it picked it up and i unconnected it and from then on it worked fine

It was as if it was deliberately not connecting even though it knew there was no reason to but when I showed it the cable and it thought, hmmm I guess I can't pretend there is no connection now, damn!
 
I have the same problem with my iMac. MacBook Pro doesn't have any any problems.

Solved the problem by moving the Modem/Router near the computer and connected via cable. no drops at all.

Have been onto Apple about this and despite all their help, Which primarily concerned itself with deleting all networks ( All 3 of them) from my Keychain. Still have the problem.

Sometime it runs for hours no problem other times it drops after 5 minutes.

I found that if you go to System Preferences, Network. Then click on the advanced tab. Click on the TCP/IP tab and select "Renew DCHP Lease". You can minimise the tab and if the network drops you can simply reopen the tab and repeat the procedure.

Additionally you may like to check for signal strength and co-channel interference. Go to the Apple icon and select About this Mac and chose "More Info". In the info pane Go to Network and choose Airport. You'll see a list of networks, plus the channel they are on and the signal strength. . May help.

Going to get a cheap corded phone tomorrow and turn off the cordless, just to see if it's the phone that's causing the problem
 
thanks again guys and Joe, sounds like I am not the only one that sometimes feels like this machine is getting a bit too snotty for its own good :lol:

John, yup, that basically sums up the troubles I am having, so will let you know how I get on too. Just find it really frustrating that its been absolutely fine since November and now it starts playing up for no apparent reason. :bang:
 
:lol: Sorry John, only just saw that last comment.


Anyway, got up this morning, all still connected and working, of course, on the day I have time later to play around. Off on a nice long drive across town shortly so will see if its still behaving when I get back this afternoon. :thumbs:

Thanks aagin for help and suggestions so far guys. This Mac thing is a whole new world which every once in a while suddenly feels very unfamilair :(
 
I did have the same problem a while back & purchased a programme called Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner that optimized (amonst other great things) my internet connection settings. Run it weekly now & the problem has stopped. Worth the purchase of $7 as it does so much to keep the Mac up to speed.
 
Cocktail I think does the same thing, plus a few extra bits
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top