Wireless help for my iBook

September 28, 2004 5:38 PM

Wireless Help! iBook related. (more inside)

I just got a new iBook, and while my wireless internet works fine everywhere else, when I'm using my school's wireless network, I can't get MSN to connect. It seems like it doesn't even know it's online. At home, I've got no problems connecting, and at my freinds house I'm fine, it's only at the school. All my PC using friends seem to be able to connect to MSN fine. My nerd-tron freind suggests that maybe it has something to do with 'Ports'. This word means nothing to me. Lil' Help?

posted by hughbot to computers & internet (4 comments total)

What did your school's tech support have to say about the matter?
posted by ikkyu2 at 6:12 PM on September 28, 2004

What exactly happens when you "can't get MSN to connect"? What application are you using, and what error message do you get, if any? If you open Console (/Applications/Utilities/Console) and then attempt to connect, is anything new added to console.log or system.log?

Are your PC-using friends making their MSN connection via the wireless network, or could they be using a wired connection to do that?

You might try *briefly* disabling the iBook's software firewall (System Preferences > Sharing > Firewall > Stop) and re-trying, to eliminate any possibility that it's responsible.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 8:35 PM on September 28, 2004

Clarification: are your friends using the exact same wireless network (same location, same SSID), while getting different results than you? Because their ability to connect elsewhere has no bearing here. Many schools (and workplaces) impose their own access restrictions, which will affect you while you're using their network.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 8:52 PM on September 28, 2004

I'm not sure about the console stuff, since I'm not at school right now, but I'll check.

Right now I'm simply using MSN Messenger, and it does the little "signing-in" for about five seconds and then tells me it "can't connect or I may not be connected to the internet."

The wireless PC using people around me can connect fine, because I've sat next to them in class, and watched them do it.
posted by hughbot at 4:01 AM on September 29, 2004