Networking mystery

I have a Mac Pro, a G5 and a Windows PC networked. The incoming connection is from a cable modem provided by Charter Cable. The cable modem has a single port which goes out to a D-Link ethernet router.
It worked fine sometimes but other times the internet was slow as molasses -- even simple pages would take 15 to 30 seconds to load. Sometimes it was slow that Safari or Firefox would give up and say "Connection Lost"
Charter Cable technicians came out to look at it five times and had nothing to say. Finally one of them said "maybe your router is dropping packets." I did some research and found a cable modem router. It worked great at first. I needed more ports so I sent the cable modem router to the ethernet router. Worked great at first and then it started acting weird. Sometimes the internet is incredibly slow. Also, networking between the three computers worked fine sometimes and then the next time none of them could see each other. Sometimes the PC could see the Mac, sometimes not. Sometimes even the same day (after a restart) the Mac could see the PC, sometimes not. Same result whether restarting the the computers, the cable modem or all of them. (I power down everything, then start the cable modem, wait for it to reset, the start the ethernet hub, wait for it to reset and then restart the computer(s).
I have followed all directions for System Preferences set up on the Mac and sharing/connections on the PC. It works great sometimes so I don't think that is the problem.
I tried using only the cable modem DSL router (no ethernet hub) -- same result. Charter suggested bypassing the cable modem router. Now I have the cable modem (provided by Charter) going directly into the ethernet hub. After a restart, the internet is lighting fast --- for a minute or two. After the first one or two websites, it slows down again, sometimes to a complete stop.
I've tried it these combinations:
Cable modem alone, direct to the Mac Pro
Cable modem to cable modem/DSL router to computers
Cable modem to ethernet hub to the computers
Same results with all: the network and internet are lightning fast at first then slow down to an unusable speed.
What else can I try?

I tried again with only the Charter provided cable modem. I sent its single output directly to the Mac Pro. After restarting the modem, it works great -- the internet is even faster than I'm paying for: broadband tests range from 17 Mbs to 17.8 Mbs (I pay for 10 Mbs).
So clearly the problem is not the internet connection or the Cable Modem from Charter.

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Did you power down your modem prior to resetting the Express?
If not, do it now. Leave it connected to your Express while you power it down. Let it rest a moment or two, then power it back up. Once it restarts, determine if all your other devices are able to connect.

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Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator <<>>

It didn't happen at all yesterday (that I noticed), but yes, when it happens, I have rebooted the NE. I have also rebooted the Cable Modem and the Router during these spells. The firmware on my router has been the same for the last year or so (the last time they released an update. I don't have any visibility into updates on my modem, but it's the same cable modem I've been using for years. During these times where the SYS light is Green, all the other lights are their normal blue.
Given that this setup has been working fine for a couple of years, and, when the lights are all blue, it still works fine, I'm wondering if there has been a code update on the Network Extenders recently, by chance?

Mystery open network

I'm using an airport extreme as an access point with two windows computers. I set up only one network and made it secure. But windows is listing a second network, which is not secured, called Apple Network x2c986 (characters changed for security purposes). This open network is not listed in the airport utility. I'd like to know what it is and how to secure it.
My network is physically configured like this:
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AAE <-> WinXP laptop (ethernet)
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The secure network has wpa2-personal security, aes encryption and a security key. The Apple network has none of these. I can apply wpa2-personal security, aes encryption and the security key in the Windows securitiy properties window, but what am I securing and can doing so mess up my network?
Thanks for any help.
Ellen

But windows is listing a second network, which is not secured, called Apple Network x2c986
This is one of two things:
1) Another user near you has an Apple device that they have not set up yet. Normally, you would "see" the device in AirPort Utility if you connect to the network. Is that the case? Can you connect to this network? If yes, best to leave well enough alone. Someone is foolish enough to leave their network open and use default names for their network.
2) Apple routers use the Apple Network xxxxxx network name to set up the device using wireless. This might have been your AirPort device and the computer is "remembering" the old previous connection. If you try to connect to the this network, but nothing happens, then this is the default network that your device produced before you configured it.

Original airport card mysteriously stopped connecting to network

i have a powermac G4 tower and have been using the original airport card for about four months. Just recently it stopped connecting to the network at all. the bars are all gray on the menu bar and when i try to connect to any network in the drop down menu the popup window just says "there was an error connecting to the specified network" when I go to network diagnostics and try to connect it asks for a WEP pasword even though none of the networks require a password and network security is set to none in system preferences for the network. I've been able to get a connection back a couple times but it was only by restarting my computer and that hasn't worked for a couple days. Is my airport card broken or is there something wrong with the operating system? I've also talked to the tech support people for the wireless network I'm using and they had no clue how to help me.

I had trouble getting my Airport card online for the longest time. Finally, I ditched the Linksys wireless router I was trying to use, and switched to a D-Link. I still don't always get full signal, but I can get online 95% of the time.
Have no idea why it worked, but it definitely works better than the Linksys.
PMG4 (3.4), Silver Door, FW400 Mac OS X (10.3.9) Dual 1.25, 512 RAM, original Airport card

MYSTERY: 3 Macs in network: Cant connect all 3 at once !??

I have an Intel-based iMac 20" and two 2005 models G5 (a dual 2.0 and a dual 2.3) sharing the same DSL internet connection via 2 Ethernet hubs.
Each Mac is able to connect to the Internet - but not at the same time.
I can only have a max of 2 macs connected at any given time.
I can only connect with the two G5s or one G5 and the iMac at the same time.
Right now I cannot connect to anything with the dual 2.0 G5.
Even with direct cabing to the DSL modem and all other connections off.
I still havent figured out why one Mac can connnect, and another cant.
Perhaps the ISP (Internet service provider) has a limit to how many computers you can connnect to a network?
Or perhaps I have a setting on my machine(s) that limits the no of Macs I can connect?
I have restarted and reset the hubs, the modem...****, I even rebooted my dog. Nothing helps!
I am going bonkers over this, so please save me from the asylum.

What IP address do your Macs get when they're online?
If they're real-world IP addresses then, yes, this is a limit of how many connections your ISP provides.
If they're private-class addresses (like 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x) then you should be able to get more than two machines online.
I'm guessing the former. If that is the case then you need to get a NAT router that can take one of the IP addresses handed out by your ISP and share it amongst multiple client systems.

Which network to choose - Mysterious Apple networks

I´m using the Airport Express and it keeps dropping of the internet or jumping to different networks which then drops the connection to the web.
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Sorry again for not following..."connect the Express directly to the Mac"? But somehow I must establish a connection between the modem and the Airport Express.
This is how it´s now setup now:
Cable from wall to modem, from modem a cord to Airport Express, from Express wireless connection to computer.

Mysterious Network Outage

New iMac about two weeks ago although I don't think it's part of the problem. My home Airport wifi network has been in place for almost five years with no problems. Two Airport Expresses - one main and one "slave" connected to my stereo to play iTunes music.
About the time the iMac went in (replacing early iMac G5 without camera), the network started to act up. It would just stop working for no apparent reason, two or three times a day. If I launched Airport Admin Utility to try to troubleshoot, most of the time it could not detect either of the Airports when it scanned the network. (This was true if I ran Airport Admin Utility on the iMac or on my MacBook.) Sometimes if I turned off the Airport card on the iMac and turned it back on again it would fix things, but usually not. Most of the time, if the network was detected when I did that, it would ask for the network password, and then wouldn't accept the correct password when I'd enter it.
If I clicked the "show password" box on the login dialog, what I saw was puzzling: if the correct WEP password was "ABC" the password that showed was "3A3B3C." The password is the correct length - this is just an example. Don't know where the 3s are coming from, but it's always 3s and that always seems to be the cause of my not being able to get back up and running.
The fix, ultimately, is to unplug the main Airport Express, wait a second, and plug it back in and wait for it to restart and reconfigure. Once that's done, the other one comes back online and everything is fine until it all happens again.
I have completely reconfigured both Airport Expresses from their factory settings a couple of times. Everything works fine for a while and then it doesn't - all for no reason that I can point to. The guys at the Apple Store say that there shouldn't be any issue with the older Airport Expresses and the newer iMac/Mac OS, although I have noticed that when the network is out the iMac is "usually" asleep - but this isn't always true either.
Has anyone had any similar experiences? I'm not a network expert but I think I know enough to keep my little network running well enough to do what I need it to do, and this is thoroughly frustrating, especially not being able to "reboot" the routers with the Apple utility that's meant for just that purpose. If it can't see the devices, what's the problem?

Leopard in my opinion plays much nicer with WPA/WPA2 networks. WEP is insecure and you should upgrade your network security anyway. Try configuring your base stations with WPA/WPA2 passwords.

Mysteriously unable to connect to unprotected wifi network

I recently moved into a new apartment with a wifi network already in place, which I'm currently having trouble connecting to using my 2009 MacBook Pro 15" (OS X 10.6.8).
Everything worked fine for about a week and a half, but last weekend the connection gave out and I haven't been able to reconnect since. However, what's really baffling to me is that I can still connect with my phone, and my roommate can still connect with his phone and laptop as always. What's more, I've tried 3 or 4 other wireless networks at friends' apartments or at work and have been able to connect to all of them just fine.
The inconvenient part is that the network is shared with our upstairs neighbors, so I haven't really been able to troubleshoot the modem much other than asking them to restart it once, but I did take my laptop up into their apartment and still was unable to connect to the router, even while standing right over the modem.
My airport card is able to detect the network just fine (it shows as 3-4/5 bars), but when I try to connect it just times out. I should also mention that it's an open network, so there's no way it could be a password related issue.
So to summarize, this problem only affects my device, and only when I try to connect to my home network. Any Ideas?

Try the following:
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Network
Click on AirPort
Click Advanced at the lower right
Locate the name of the open network and click on it it highlight it, then click the - (minus) button at the bottom of the list to delete it
Do the same for any other networks that you no longer need
Click OK, then click Apply
Close the window
Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilitites > KeyChain Access
Click on the Kind filter at the top of the area on the right of the window
Look for any listing with the name of the open wireless network
If you find it, click on it to highlight it, then click Delete on your Mac
Close the KeyChain Access windows
Restart your Mac
Try to log on on
What happens?

Mystery Computer on Network

I have two computers and an iPhone on my network.
My MacBook and iPhone access the network wirelessly and my G5 is connected directly to the Time Machine.
MAC Address Access Control is enabled on the network.
Yet, on the MacBook, listed among the Shared items in the Sidebar is what appears to be a PC Server called mac000a95b05265c. The phantom PC does not appear among the shared items on the G5.
Does anyone have any ideas what could account for this?
Matt

UPDATE:
The phantom disappeared after updating the Time Machine's firmware to 7.4.1.
Matt

Killing Mysterious Computer-to-Computer Network

Hello,
I was helping a friend connect his Windows computer to a wireless network (Apple Extreme base station) and I happened to see on his system an UNSECURED computer-to-computer network in the name of an old PowerBook that I used to have. In working with several Macs at home, I have never seen any clue of such a configuration. I checked all the network and Airport settings that I can on my current MacBook Pro (Mac OS 10.6.4) and see no such configuration or broadcast with that name. Does anyone have a clue where I might locate and disable this network?
“Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” (Albert Einstein, 1941),
Dr. Z.

I am not sure from your post as whether its a wireless network you can see or a share. This 'problem' network stops when you restart your Mac, if its a share in the finder window have a look at this article to find out what shares you have on the Mac. You may have set one up when you had the Power Book.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1549
If its a wireless network coming from the MacBook Pro you could move the network preferences plist file and reset the network up on the MacBookPro

Imac no longer "sees" shared non-Mac devices on network

Hi everyone,
Here's a real puzzler (for me anyway). I have three Macs, two PCs and an Escient digital jukebox on the home network over standard router-based ethernet connections. The system has worked great especially since Leopard came out and automatically detected the non-Mac devices and added them to the shared category on Finder. Suddenly in the last couple of days I noticed that although the Mac devices are still on the shared network, the PC hard drives and the Escient jukebox has mysteriously disappeared. All of the devices work properly, and I have made no changes in my network recently.
Any thoughts on diagnosing the lost shared devices and restoring them? I tried Time Machine, but it acted also as if those devices never existed. Thanks for your help!

Hmm yes.. this is a strange one.
You could try this as it appears to work with a couple of tests I ran.
Open your Network Preferences pane from  > System Preferences.
Make a new location.
For which ever interface you are using, be it Wired (Built In Ethernet) or Wireless (AirPort), click the "Advanced" Button. Click on "WINS" and enter the workgroup name of your other Windows Devices (Default is usually WORKGROUP) into the Workgroup drop down menu.
You can also use the menu to see if your mac can see any other workgroups.
Click OK, Click apply and see if it worked.

My wireless network seems to 'reject' my iPad?

I have had my iPad 2 (not 3G) for sometime now and the wireless connectivity has traditionally been fine. However, for some reason, I can no longer connect my iPad 2 to my wireless network at home, to browse the internet, etc.
I cannot pinpoint when this happened exactly... I can connect my iPad 2 to other wireless networks no problem, say at a friend's house or even at a cafe, which tells me my iPad 2 seems to be working okay.
Recently I got a new cell phone and it connected no problem to my wireless network at home... it's an LG ShinePlus and set up and connection was flawless. This tells me essentially, that my home wireless network is also fine, too... my cell is also okay in other hotspots as well. Other devices on my home network also seem to be functioning just as they have always been, ex. Wii, wireless printer, iMac.
I've 'reset' the network settings on my iPad 2, rebooted my modem (from my internet/cable provider) and my router... both hardware reboot as well as logging onto the router to do a reboot this way. I've turned the Wi Fi settings switch on and off, and turned the iPad 2 completely off via it's on/off switch for a hard rebbot. iTunes is up-to-date... I'm on System 7 and it is up-to-date.
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Kgriba2011-
You've already tried everything I would.
I don't know if this will help, but it shouldn't hurt anything. On the iPad, go to Settings-Safari-Clear Cookies and Clear Cache.
One other thing to try is to reset/reboot the iPad. This is slightly different than the reboot you tried. Hold both the Home and Sleep buttons for several seconds until the Apple logo appears. Ignore the "Slide to power off" arrow. The iPad will restart after a couple of minutes. This kind of reset will not hurt anything and sometimes clears up mysterious problems.
Fred

Can't connect 2TB Time Capsule to my home network

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Airport Utility sees a device called "Jeff's iTunes Time Capsule," which I presume refers to my neighbor Jeff's equipment. But then it occurred to me that, if I'm not connected to a wireless network, how can my MacBook "see" my neighbor's stuff? The package did not appear to have been opened, although the power and Ethernet cables were unwrapped when I first took the device out of the box. The status light keeps flashing amber, by the way.
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Thanks, James. Turns out, I was right: Someone (Jeff?) had bought this machine, installed it, and returned it to the store. It was my dumb luck to choose this item from the many others sitting on the store shelf. Anyway, I called Apple Support. A tech named Joy walked me through a factory reset to get rid of the mysterious Jeff. Then I saw the dreaded message, "Hard drive needs repair." Apple then sent me a new TC. They shipped it out late Friday, and it arrived Monday! (I'm impressed!) I installed it and returned the defective machine. Now, my network works better than ever, and I really like my Time Machine. I give a special two thumbs up to Apple support and Joy!

Networking mystery

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