Help required from Mac people

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:34 am

So my hubby, fed up with windows requested that I go get him a Macbook. So I did this morning. Now it seems relatively straight forward, but how do I allow him to connect to our Linksys wireless network. I have secured - but the SSID broadcast is enabled, so he can see it. When he attempts to connect to it, it asks for a password. I gave him the linksys passphrase in our router setup but it didn't work. Is that because I have limited the access to certain MAC addresses? If so, how do I find out what the MAC address is so that I can add it to list of allowed MAC addresses?

millster · Post by **millster** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:37 am

The associated MAC address should show up in the Linksys' MAC access table but may not. The MAC address in the Mac OS is in your Network preference pane for each of the interfaces. It's called Hardware Address. Also, depending on the age of your Linksys, you MAY have to enter the passkey as HEX characters but that's pretty rare.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:45 am

Okay we found the MAC address and I added it to the allowed list. He still can't connect. Hm... I may have to open it up until I figure it out.

millster · Post by **millster** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:50 am

Are you using an ASCII string for your WEP key? Try converting that to the HEX chars and entering that. I've had to do that in the past to get Macs working on Linky routers.http://centricle.com/tools/ascii-hex/

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:51 am

Okay I opened the network so that it was no longer secured. However he is still getting an error when attempting to connect.... I don't think its the network. I think its on his end.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:52 am

Quote, originally posted by millster Â»Are you using an ASCII string for your WEP key? Try converting that to the HEX chars and entering that. I've had to do that in the past to get Macs working on Linky routers.http://centricle.com/tools/ascii-hex/Its hex - I have no ASCII option in my linksys setup.

millster · Post by **millster** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:54 am

Ugh... this is why I don't like Linksys anymore.Are you on the latest firmware?

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:59 am

probably not. I have a D-Link in the basement I can try and configure that on the network instead after lunch...

tnpartsguy · Post by **tnpartsguy** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:21 am

I think you have to put an "*" in front of the string.....or is it a "$" It's been a while since I set mine up....it's one of those special symbols........

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:22 am

Well I'm not sure how I did it, but I got him connected. And I didn't have to disable the wireless security to do it! I think maybe the MAC address was incorrect in my list.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:47 am

So how do you maximize the applications on a Mac?

ArcsVibe · Post by **ArcsVibe** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:06 am

try this site, it might help you out!http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_Beginner's_GuideLet me know, my tech here told me about it!!!

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:08 am

Quote, originally posted by ArcsVibe Â»try this site, it might help you out!http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_Beginner's_GuideLet me know, my tech here told me about it!!!Perfect! Thanks. I'll pass this on to the hubby.

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:15 am

Quote, originally posted by millster Â»Ugh... this is why I don't like Linksys anymore.Are you on the latest firmware?Hey, there's nothing wrong with Linksys! Well..most of the time.. Some of their stuff has been less than par..Anyway, to the OP, glad you got it working! MAC filters can be a pain if you're off by a digit or so.

coldmm803 · Post by **coldmm803** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:20 am

i cant help it, ewwww its a mac.but i must say i'm tired of windows too but engineering programs that i need for school require windows...spare hard drive...format...wheres that copy of linux

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:25 am

Quote, originally posted by coldmm803 Â»i cant help it, ewwww its a mac.This was my reaction before I played with my brother's 20 inch iMac. Oh my God that was sweet. I think if we ever get rid of the desktop upstairs, it will be replaced with an iMac. Funny, as I look around my living room (which really isn't that big), I see 3 laptops sitting here, and only 2 of us live here. Guess the kitties get one.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 6:30 am

So the mac has been working perfectly on the internet connection until tonight. All the other computers are working fine on the wireless network but not the Mac as of about 30 minutes ago. When I go into the router settings and look at the mac filtering to see which mac addresses are currently accessing the router, it shows the Mac mac address, but its IP now shows as 0.0.0.0... what happened to its IP and how to we fix it? Any ideas?

Petrucci914 · Post by **Petrucci914** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:51 am

Seems like the issue you had before involved a WEP/WPA issue. After setting up a WPA2 on your router then you should be able to enter that after it finds your network and you'll be fine. If you have broadcast shut off then you won't see the network and you'll have to do everything manually. Make sure you have interference robustness enabled. That will prevent you from losing your connection due to cordless phones and microwaves. Also make sure you go to Software Update and download all the firmware updates and such. I have wireless set up on my iMac all the time and it is flawless. Then again, I never ever ever use Linksys........Netgear always.

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:41 am

blah its so hard to do this over the net...much easier in person. Is the router in A/g/n wireless mode? or a mix mode? what channel, some times going to channel 11 or 1 is easier to connect to.What security are you using again? wpa or wep? I know you have mac addy filtering on.. is the mac seeing the ssid?

tnpartsguy · Post by **tnpartsguy** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:22 pm

Ok, now I need help too and don't want to start a new thread. I bought one of the new Airport Extremes. Got it set up, works great. Then I tried to connect my MyBook Western Digital USB HDD. Reformatted it to Mac OS Extended. Finally got it to connect last night. Came home today, and the power had been off...cannot get the HDD to connect. Period. I can see it on the network, but it won't let me log into it. Any clues?

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:19 pm

first thing that comes to mind is the permissions need to be repaired... using disk utility on that hdd.Ok...so the extreme airport router i assume? can have a hdd plugged into it and be shared? you get home and the hdd is off? if thats the case, sounds like it needs a verify and permissions repair run from disk utility on that drive.

tnpartsguy · Post by **tnpartsguy** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:08 pm

Quote, originally posted by northvibe Â»first thing that comes to mind is the permissions need to be repaired... using disk utility on that hdd.Ok...so the extreme airport router i assume? can have a hdd plugged into it and be shared? you get home and the hdd is off? if thats the case, sounds like it needs a verify and permissions repair run from disk utility on that drive.Yes, AP Xtreme router. THe HDD plugged into it can be shared (by macs, not Win) The HDD wasn't powered off, just disconnected. It had lost power during the day when the power company turned the power off to finish a repair to a pole in my yard that got hit by a drunk Saturday night. Can't run the disk utility until I can connect to the drive, unless I unhook it and move it back over to the mac mini.

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:44 am

yup you'll prolly have to plug it directly into a mac to run the disk if it isnt mounting properly to the APx

tnpartsguy · Post by **tnpartsguy** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 1:23 pm

I'm sending the Xteme back, it won't keep it's configuration, and it keeps dropping the internet connection.The new problem I've discovered....I have (2) 500 gig WD Premium My Book HDD's. They only show 298.1 gig. Any ideas?

Petrucci914 · Post by **Petrucci914** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 1:27 pm

It shows up that way on your Mac? or PC too? What format is it in? Is it just one partition? I know that FAT32 only allowed a single partition under 137GB.

tnpartsguy · Post by **tnpartsguy** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:44 am

On the mac only. Drive #1 is still formatted in MS-DOS, Drive #2 is formatted in MAC OS-Extended. They both show up at exactly 298.1 gig.P.S. maybe we need a new forum, "Computer and Internet help-desk"?

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:22 pm

Quote, originally posted by northvibe Â»blah its so hard to do this over the net...much easier in person. Is the router in A/g/n wireless mode? or a mix mode? what channel, some times going to channel 11 or 1 is easier to connect to.What security are you using again? wpa or wep? I know you have mac addy filtering on.. is the mac seeing the ssid?Okay so what I ended up doing, as I have two routers (a Linksys wireless B and a D-Link Wireless G that was bought but never set up) is that I took down the Linksys and set up the D-Link. I managed to get it all set up perfectly except I cannot disable SSID broadcast as the desktop upstairs will not connect to it. I had this same problem with the linksys so I'm not surprised by it. Mac filtering is on and this time the Macbook can connect. I notice my wireless connection hasn't dropped since i switched routers too which is nice. It was dropping every half hour or so on the linksys.

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:00 pm

I bet that linksys one is windows os based....I wont buy a linksys ever again unless it has linux os on it. Because of these reasons of dropped internet, network connections and I wonder now if they dont really like airport cards glad you got it working though

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:04 pm

Quote, originally posted by tnpartsguy Â»On the mac only. Drive #1 is still formatted in MS-DOS, Drive #2 is formatted in MAC OS-Extended. They both show up at exactly 298.1 gig.P.S. maybe we need a new forum, "Computer and Internet help-desk"?Hmm is there data on them? If you share them between both mac and windows, format them as NTFS. Then both can read them and they can be formatted with out partitioning. hmmm my 500gb formated to 465gb so you should be right around there. I say if there is no data or you can transfer it off, format the drives with ntfs or mac os ext. to see what it formats too. Remember to check to see if there is more than 1 partition incase that one is stealing your room.

Petrucci914 · Post by **Petrucci914** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:45 pm

When you disable the SSID broadcast you have to go and manually enter in the settings to connect to it. When your machines detects a network, it is detecting the SSID. So disabling the broadcast is good if you don't want people to know your network exists so it increases the security. I generally keep mine broadcasting but I enable all of the WPA2 security and change the default setup password. That should suffice for you. But just remember if you disable the SSID broadcast you have to manually enter in your settings on the machine to connect to it.

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:16 am

theres some nice programs on mac, windows and linux that can find wireless networks even without the SSID broadcasted.....i just dont know the names of good free ones.. i can check though, but my iphone has "stumbler" and my IBM laptop just finds them

tnpartsguy · Post by **tnpartsguy** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:05 am

My entire iTunes library is on the MS-Dos formatted one, the 2nd one is blank at this time, and OS-X extended format...should I hook it to a PC and reformat? I was going to use it for more iTunes stuff....

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 3:16 am

Yes if you use the itunes drive on mac and "pc" plug it to a pc back up your itunes music/video etc. stuff then format that drive as NTFS in the computer management in XP or get the NTFS driver for mac (free) and do it with disk utility.

Help required from Mac people

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