Very O/T

[Guest SD Sim]

So I want to spend the evening flying, but my wifes iMac is misbehaving, and when she has no joy, I have no joy. Here is the problem, please help me if you can. I have her computer, as well as my three PCs, connected to an SMC Barricade router. The other day she tried to log on, and the iMac can no longer find the router. If I connect directly to the iMac from the cable modem, it recognizes the ISP using DHCP without a hitch. I've ruled out all the hardware issues I can think of (swapped cables, ports on the router, etc.). The only thing I can remember happening was an automatic update from Apple right around the time this happened. I have tried everything I can think of, including manually configuring the connection for the routers IP address, subnet mask, etc. I even reinstalled OS X, but still no joy :'(. I have run Google searches, and checked the Apple support site, all to no avail. I'm hoping that I'm missing something very fundamental, and that this is just a reflection of the fact that I am now a full time PC user.I feel like making one of those commercials where I stand in front of the camera and describe how I thought Mac was the greatest platform, until I bought a PC and found out how easy computing could be :-lol.So any advice, or even moral support, that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

[brucek 38]

Give her one of your 3 PC's? That might work.Bruce.

[Guest Joshieca]

Does you ISP give you a static or a dynamic IP address?If its dynamic, go into your routers software and choose to release the IP address. (Should be accessed via a web browser)Unplug your cable/dsl modem for 10 mins. Plug it back in, press the reset button if it has one, and let it do its test thing.Go back into your routers software and choose to refresh the IP address. (This is WAN IP adress)Boot the Mac and if running OS X go into the System Preferences and check to make sure that the network is set up to use DHCP. SYS Pref/Network control panel - TCP/IP should be set to Using DHCP, check to make sure that the AIRPORT is turned off under the Aiport tab. Try to see if it can connect.If that doesn't work. Check to see if the router to see if its locking out any hardware address. Also check the routers website to see if there are any firmware updates for it. Since your Mac can connect directly to the modem its your router that is not letting your Mac in. It might be blocking the Mac's hardware address.Hope that helps.[div align=center][link:members.cox.net/fstimes/wetimage.html]Click Here For Weather Image of the Day!

[Guest SD Sim]

:-lol :-lol And disrupt a perfectly good flight simulation workstation? Surely you jest.

[Guest SD Sim]

Thanks for your response Josh. Here are my answers:Does you ISP give you a static or a dynamic IP address?DynamicIf its dynamic, go into your routers software and choose to release the IP address. (Should be accessed via a web browser) Unplug your cable/dsl modem for 10 mins. Plug it back in, press the reset button...This sends shivers up and down my spine. Getting everything to work so that I could use FS2k2 with WidevieW was quite an undertaking. My fear is that when finished with this, I will have a mountain of grief with my system. But I'm naive about home LANs, so I may have to eventually suck it up and do this. make sure that the network is set up to use DHCP. SYS Pref/Network control panel - TCP/IP should be set to Using DHCP, check to make sure that the AIRPORT is turned off under the Aiport tab. Try to see if it can connect. I'll check the ariport setting (I don't use it). The network control panel is set for DHCP. If that doesn't work. Check to see if the router to see if its locking out any hardware address. Also check the routers website to see if there are any firmware updates for it. Since your Mac can connect directly to the modem its your router that is not letting your Mac in. It might be blocking the Mac's hardware address.The thing that drives me nuts is that it worked great for months when it was connected to the router, then just like that, no network connection. The reason I reinstalled OS X was that I thought erasing the original installation would erase any updates that might have caused this problem. I'll have to take a closer look at the router set up tomorrow to see if it's blocking any hardware (first I'll have to figure out how to do this).Thank you for your suggestions, they're much appreciated.

[Guest]

Hi David,I *really* wish I could personally help you out here, but when it comes to Macs, I am pert near clueless. It sounds like you've got your router setup just fine for the PCs, so I can't offer you any advice that goes beyond that. While we do get the occational Mac in our PC shop for repair, I always hand them off to my partner. Thats a failing I'm going to have to rememdy now that I haven't been able to help someone I fully respect.I hope someone else here can help you get to the root of the problem!Take care,Elrondhttp://members.rogers.com/eelvish/Boycott-RIAA.gif]"A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle."[/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font://http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/B...cle."[/b][/font

[Guest]

David,You may have to supply the router's MAC address to the iMac. The OS upgrade may have wiped this information out or simply placed a new requirement that it be specified. The manual for the router should specify how you can obtain this value, using one of the PC's. Should then be a case of finding out how to feed this value to the iMac.Good luck,Doug Dawson

[Guest SD Sim]

Thank you Doug, you've given me a good idea that I can now pursue. I know how to access the MAC address, although I haven't a clue as to where to go on the iMac to check the settings at that end. This is my biggest gripe with Macs. They're so user friendly that all the good stuff is tucked away in little corners that seem to take forever to find. At least I was able to spend some time flying last night.I did forget to mention two things that are important. First, when the wife said "my internet isn't working", the first thing I did was to check the CAT-5 cable. It may have come unplugged from the router, but it was hard to be certain. Second, the connection lights on the router won't activate when I connect the Mac, but the ports are fine because they work with the PCs (and I have tried swapping cables). What baffles me is why the connection lights won't come on when I connect the Mac. The lights activate with the PCs, even when they're off. At first I thought the Ethernet port on the Mac had died. However, this theory was disproven when I was able to connect directly to the cable modem.Anyways, enough lolly-gagging. I'll sit down with the manual today and explore this a little further.

[Guest]

Here is a link from Apples support site. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106905Also you said that you reinstalled OSX, did you initialize the drive or install on top?You can contact me by email, if you still need help.Paulhttp://www.advdigitalmedia.com/sig.jpg

[brucek 38]

" Surely you jest"Hi,Yes, and that's bad of me. Sorry. But I do know what that's like, if your better half can't make her/his conputer run, the last thing you want to be caught at is simming! Been there...I have a network and router (DSL), unfortunately I've never had a Mac, so I don't know where to start :)I might pass this by our techs at work,some of them have macs.Bruce.

[Guest SD Sim]

Paul,Thanks, this was a good find. I did install the necessary software based on the KB article, but alas, the problem persists. I think I'm getting closer, however. See my follow up post titled "the plot thickens".