Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mac and wireless

Need help setting up AirPort on my Mac

Joseppi — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:52:14 -0800

I'm trying to set up an AirPort on my Mac and I'm having some issues. It's asking for OS X 10.4 and I'm running 10.5 but it still doesn't work. Any clue as to why this is happening? I'm trying to set up an AirPort on my Mac and I'm having some issues. When I try and install the software I get a message that says, "You cannot install AirPort on this volume. The version of Mac OS X on this volume is not supported." It's asking for volume 10.4 and I'm on 10.5. This is beyond frustrating as this is supposed to be such a simple process. Does anyone know what my issue might be?

What's the best wireless audio bridge / networked digital audio receiver that works on the Mac?

nitsuj — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:27:10 -0800

What's the best wireless audio bridge / networked digital audio receiver that works on the Mac? I'm looking for a simple hardware solution that will allow me to bridge my Macbook Pro's audio-out source to my home theater amplifier. Many products like the WMB54G and Sirocco either have no Mac support at all, or have very poor reviews and cost way too much.

The Airport Express seems decent if I only wanted to stream iTunes, but I'd also like to stream from other sources, like Spotify, which it won't support.

Is there a simple, under-$100 (or close to it) solution out there?

Help me watch the animals at home from a Mac cam

TochterAusElysium — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:19:16 -0800

What's a good wireless webcam for the Mac (OS 10.5.something) that works, without fuss, with the Orb software (ideally, for under $100)? I'd like to monitor what the pets at home do all day, while I'm at work. I discovered Orb, and found that it works great with my iMac's built-in camera. Problem is, that limits me to viewing a small section of hallway visible from my office desk (and hearing occasional barks in the rest of the house).

What I'd like is either a wireless webcam, or a wired cam that has a cord which will stretch out into the hall. The cord would have to be 8 to 10 feet long, though, so that seems unlikely (is it possible to string USB cables together?). I'd like to keep the cost under $100. I do know about the new BT-1 cam, and might end up with that if I can't find anything cheaper. Has anyone used it with Orb?

Recommendations from people who have actually used a specific wireless webcam with their Mac, and were able to plug it in and have it work without complicated setup, are very much welcomed. If you've just Googled "wireless webcam mac" - I've done that already, thanks. I've downloaded the Macam software and gotten it to work with a cheapo Logitech camera but Orb does not recognize it.

How can I tell if someone is trying to hop onto my wireless signal?

invisible ink — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:46:16 -0800

I have a MacBook Pro running OS 10.6.1, and an Airport Extreme Base Station. Is there a user-friendly way to see if someone is trying to use my internet connection or hack into my network? I live in a large apartment building, and am curious to see if anyone has tried to hop onto my wireless signal. Thanks in advance:-)

That's Bluetoothwang!

cmoj — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:48:28 -0800

Help me get a wireless/bluetooth keyboard and mouse that don't suck. I have MacBook Pro with 10.5.8. I have it hooked up to a home theater screen and want to be able to use either from anywhere in the room (no more than about 30 feet, almost always more like 15).

Theoretically, bluetooth should have plenty of range for this, but the Rocketfish bluetooth combo I have now ranges from annoying to unusable. It lags. I assume this partially has to do with varying interference. The scroll wheel on the mouse and the volume, etc. buttons on the keyboard don't work unless I use the bluetooth dongle it came with, but the connection gets randomly dropped when I use it. This happens anyway, but less often when they're connected directly.
I know the Rocketfish wasn't meant for use with the Mac.

What I want: The number one consideration is reliability and accuracy. I game only moderately, but it makes me flip out when I lose something because my mouse is acting wonky. After that, things like extra mouse buttons and volume/playback control on the keyboard are preferable, but not the top consideration.

I don't care if they come as a combo or not, and within reason I care about quality over price.

Apple Airport Extreme or Express?

invisible ink — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:13:34 -0800

What is the difference between an Apple Airport Express Base Station, and an Airport Extreme Base Station? I have a tiny 500-square foot apartment. All I want is to be able to surf the web wirelessly. Can I go with the cheaper Express Base Station? Why is one cheaper than the other (in other words, what can the Extreme do that the Express cannot)?

Help me connect!

scarylarry — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:02:01 -0800

Help me connect to my girlfriend's wireless network! My lovely girlfriend has a closed wireless network set up at her house (it requires a WPA2 Personal password to access and it's hidden from Airport's network scan). I have the network name and the password, and I've joined through Airport. I get full bars, but no actual internet connectivity whatsoever.

Neither my girlfriend nor I are particularly computer-savvy. We're not sure if maybe she needs to give my computer special permission from hers, or what. I don't know if this matters, but we both use Macbook Pros--she's running Leopard and I'm running Tiger.

Thanks so much.

2 Macs 1 HD

Aya — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:00:45 -0800

How can I connect 2 Macs to 1 HardDrive So I recently bought a new Macbook Pro and I would like to be able to have wireless access to the files in the external 200gbs usb hard drive connected to my old iMac G5.

Macbook wireless signal appearing and disappearing at random, wtf is going on?

Happy Dave — Sat, 09 May 2009 02:16:40 -0800

Mac, wireless, bizarre behaviour. I share a wireless connection with other people, and every two or three days the connection on my Macbook does this very odd thing. Okay, so this is a bit of an odd one, with some strange wrinkles that may or may not matter. Here's the deal:

- I live in a small, close-knit community in South London. One of the guys here used to work for a local council as a flash developer, so his flat is wired for corporate grade broadband. Being the all-around great guy he is, he's daisy-chained a load of wireless routers together through the shared loft space of the building we live in, and for the princely sum of £20 a year, I get 8Mb (or better sometimes) broadband. I know, right?

- The router that I use, No 3, has had it's fair share of problems. It kept crashing or disappearing from our router lists (there are a good half dozen routers, some belonging to the communal system, some to individual flats). The guy who runs the system replaced this router with a new one, and gave us a USB stick with the new WPA key on it.

- I entered this WPA key on my Macbook, my wife's iBook G4 and my xBox 360. Both the iBook and the 360 now connect fine, rock solid connection with no problems.

- Here's where it gets weird. Everything worked fine on my Macbook for a few days, then one day I closed it to go and do something else. When I came back, I was still apparently connected, but couldn't get any pages to open. Then I noticed the wireless signal would appear, full bars, for 3 or 4 seconds, then disappear (no bars or one bar then no bars) for 5 or 6 seconds, then reappear. Pinging google.com or any other site through Terminal got a 'no internet connection' message.

- Here's where it get weirder. I've tried a bunch of things to fix this intermittent and incredibly irritating problem:
* Removing Router3 from my list in the Network Preference pane, then re-adding it
* Deleting my 'login' keychain to remove the WPA key, then re-adding it
* Trashing the preference file for Internet Connection

Sometimes, after doing all of these things and restarting, I'll get a strong connection back (usually 4 bars). Sometimes, it won't work. And sometimes, it seems not to work, but I close the laptop in annoyance and, when I come back to it the next morning, it's working fine.

This is driving me up the wall. I can't restart the router because I don't have physical or wireless access to it, and the fact that all the other internet-connected things in my house are working fine with it points to that not being the problem. I think I maybe have a corrupt or unneccessary keychain file somewhere that is pointing to the old WPA key for the previous router (there's a WPA key for Router3 in the 'System' keychain that I can't delete or otherwise remove).

What on earth is going on here?

Why does my Airport connection drop every evening at the same time?

meerkatty — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:41:43 -0800

Every night this week my Macbook has stopped connecting to my Airport. Why? How can I fix this? Original Airport base station, circa 2002. Macbook.

Never had a problem with this equipment and have been using this same Airport in this same apartment for seven years. Now this week my connection to the Airport stops working around the same time every evening but resumes working a few hours later. Not an internet problem as I can connect via cable.

What's going on? And you should talk to me like I'm complete idiot. I can work computers by plugging them in and that's about it.

Wireless keyboard for G4 Mini?

caution live frogs — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:44:18 -0800

Trying to find a keybaord / mouse combo for a G4 Mac Mini (no IR, no bluetooth) that will work in a living room PC without costing me an arm and a leg. Recommendations? Short story: Wife will be having the baby in the near future (due on three weeks!). Computer is downstairs in the basement. I'm in the process of refurbishing a 1st-generation G4 Mac Mini which I plan to connect to our LCD TV for her to use as a computer, for web / email access, to keep her from having to drag the kid up and down the stairs just to get online.

Mini was a freebie, needed a new HD (done). Leopard installed, runs fine, TV has an RGB input for use as a monitor, and I've already dropped a Cat5 cable into our living room so the thing will be wired into our home network.

Basically my little Mother's Day present is all set except for the input devices - I need a keyboard and mouse combo that will work in our living room. She'll likely be sitting about 8-9 feet from the Mini.

I'm leaning towards the Microsoft Laser Wireless for Mac keyboard. Had also considered the Kensington Ci70.

Both are about in the price range I'd be happy with, and I do prefer Microsoft's mouse shapes over Kensington, but (a) the MS setup has some poor reviews for range and connectivity from some people, and (b) the Kensington layout is PC-specific with an Apple key tacked on in the bottom corner. I'd prefer a native Apple layout.

Searching for keyboards online has given me hundreds of PC keyboard combos that work on a Mac but aren't native layout, and every time I find something that might work it turns out to want Bluetooth. (Yes, I could get a BT dongle, and I might eventually, but for now I just want something that works out of the box!)

Any help? I'm trying to keep this a surprise...

Banned at work. Unban please.

nevercalm — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 12:59:33 -0800

I mistakenly ran p2p software on my laptop while connected to my company's wireless. Now my laptop is prevented from connecting. I'd like to unban it again. So I don't use computers where I work, but we have wireless in the building and I used to bring my laptop in and use their signal. A week or so ago, I was downloading something from a friend, then closed the laptop.

The next morning, I went to work and opened the laptop, forgetting that I had the app running. After 5 minutes or so, I discovered I was blocked.

I'd never intentionally download anything at work. But I do write and blog from work and now cannot. How have they banned my computer? Do they see a MAC address, or have they put a cookie on the harddrive?

Mac 10.4.11, was running Azureus.

Wireless router recommendations for a home with PC and Mac

micawber — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:59:53 -0800

Setting up a wifi network for parents - PC and Mac - need current router recommendations I'm giving my mother my old Powerbook for her 70th birthday, so she can edit and upload her photos and run her Etsy store without my dad "helping". He has a PC in his home office. I've trolled the older wireless router recommendations but nothing dealt with both OS on the same network.

I have the same setup at home with the SO, and we happily coexist via Airport Express, but I am there as tech support. I can just buy another Airport Express for the parents, but I am concerned about their ability to troubleshoot when it goes down, OR more importantly, when they drag my brother (who actually lives in the same state) over to fix it, he is PC-savvy but wouldn't know how to turn a Mac on. He could probably be taught but there have been times with AE that I was troubleshooting via voodoo.

My dad will stay connected via Ethernet and I can train Mom in how far she can go with the Powerbook before losing signal, so I don't need the strongest signal in the world. I do, however, need something idiot-proof for when the signal goes down. They are using cable modem if it matters.

Thanks in advance for recommendations.

How do I make my Mac Mini do bridging over wireless instead of NAT?

procrastination — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:26:27 -0800

How do I use my Mac Mini to share its ethernet network connection over the wireless connection, but in a way that NAT is not used? In other words, how do I make my Mac Mini do bridging over the wireless connection? Here is my network setup:

Cable Modem -> Router (IP 192.168.0.1)

Router connects to two desktop Macs:

Router -> Upstairs Mac (192.168.0.6)
Router -> Downstairs Mac (192.168.0.50)

I want to use the downstairs mac as a wireless access point. I have done this using Internet Sharing, which works fine *except* that devices on the wireless get a 10.0.0.* address. Computers on the 10.0.0.* net, like my laptop and iPhone, and cannot see the shared services of the upstairs mac, such as iTunes and iChat over Bonjour.

The problem seems to be that the mac with the wireless connection automatically uses NAT, and I can't figure out how to make it just do bridging. I would like for devices that connect to the wireless to get a 192.168.0.* address, and be able to route across the mac mini to get IP addresses from the router by DHCP.

Can anyone tell me how to do that? I am perfectly comfortable with the command line, but am just not sure how to configure it.

Is my macbook screwed or just my wireless?

nunoidia — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:16:08 -0800

My macbook can't find my wireless connection. It was working perfectly for the past three weeks, but now it won't connect (I've only had teh internetz for those three weeks). I connect using plusnet (in the UK), through a D-link DSL-2640B adsl modem/router, on my almost two year old macbook (running leopard). I have tried resetting the router and airport on my mac; all that happens is that about half a minute after I turn airport back on, the mac finds my router for about 5 seconds, then drops the connection, and can't find it again. I don't think it's the router / wireless actually being pants, as both my iphone and my wii can connect to wireless just fine.

I'm a little stumped, short of thinking that the airport card is dying a death, does anyone have any ideas of what to try, or confirmation indeed that it's time to get a new mac? (on a separate point my screen has started flickering annoyingly again when running off battery, as it did three months after purchase, and I am loath to spend the money to fix it if it's time to get a new computer). I am out of ideas. Oh, in case it matters I am connecting through WPA-PSK and am not broadcasting my SSID

Sorry if this has come up already, I did a search, but couldn't see anyone with the exact same problem I have.

La Zona Muerta.

Zé Pequeno — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:07:37 -0800

I came home yesterday to find that we've now got internet in our house - great. The only problem is, though I'm able to get a perfect signal in the sitting room, which is where the wireless router is situated, if I go the five metres or so from there to my bedroom, the connection rapidly deteriorates to the point that I can't even open Metafilter. I'm running a Macbook with a fully-udated version of Tiger, so what gives? I should mention that the signal bar is FULL, even in the bedroom. However, though there's a long list of wireless networks that appear when I'm in the sitting room, this list dwindles to five or six once I get to my room. It's unusual because I *always* seem to pick up a signal when other people are unable. I used to be under the impression that my Mac had been gifted with an overly potent Wifi card. And now this?

I live in a fairly old suburban Barcelona apartment block. In between the sitting room and the bedroom are a lavatory and kitchen. To my knowledge, my room is not lined with lead.

One suggestion I read from someone was to ensure the router is broadcasting on a specific channel, as opposed to auto. I just checked, though, and it's connected to Channel 6.

I'd appreciate any help.

WiFi to router, but no further?

cameradv — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:55:47 -0800

My daughter has an iBook G4, running OSX 10.5 (Leopard). She's in Argentina, and having issues with the wireless connection. I need a little MetaFilter brain power: She can connect to the router in her apartment (she rents a room), and she can access 192.168.1.1, and gets router login prompt. But she can't get out to the Internet. She put OpenDNS IP addresses in the DNS entries for the wireless card.

She has limited control over the hardware in her apartment. It appears to be a Dlink DWL 800 AP plugged into a Tenda TEH800S switch, with a Zyxtel 645 Prestige ADSL modem connected too.

Other people in her apartment allegedly can get out via wireless. And there's no indication that there's any WEP or WPA protection. the AP is set to channel 6.

How to get Mac and Vista to share the same wireless internet access.

herc — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:32:11 -0800

Why would my Vista-running laptop suddenly refuse to share Internet access with my Mac OS X 5.4? (more inside) Apologies if a similar question has been asked here; I searched the topic and didn't find an answer on-point (or, perhaps more likely, didn't understand what I read and missed the solution.)

Long-time Mac user, new to Windows. And fairly ignorant in the ways of wireless internet. Anyway, moved into our new home and for the past two weeks, I accessed the Internet wirelessly using the modem Comcast provided when setting up our service. Both the iMac (running OS X 5.4) and the Dell laptop (Windows Vista) were able to access the wireless internet with no problem. We've done nothing to either machine (that we are aware of), but as of yesterday, the web browsers we run on the Vista platform--Firefox, IE-- won't connect to the internet. Further, the iTunes running on the Dell will no longer connect with the iTunes on my Mac (which it had been doing for the past two weeks); the icon for the shared music will appear on the iTunes-on-Vista, but when we click on it, it just hangs.

What makes this puzzling to us is that the laptop running Vista remains connected to our wireless internet signal -- full bars, excellent signal strength. We've run the internal diagnostic software built into Vista, and it says that everything is operating fine -- this despite the fact that we can't actually use the internet on the laptop because while the computer says it is connected to the Internet, not of the applications act as if the computer is.

Everything works fine on the Mac; no interruption of Internet access on the Apple. And being a long-time Apple user, I'm not sure where to begin troubling-shooting the Dell laptop. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I can haz printjob? Wirelessly?

FlyingMonkey — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:19:53 -0800

We have two Mac laptops, an older Compaq laptop running some flavor of Linux, an HP inkjet printer, and a wireless router. Please help me set up the Linux laptop to play (semi-) wireless printserver for the Macs. I have a MacBook Pro, and my fiancée a MacBook. Both are from 2006, running Tiger.
I also have a Compaq laptop, from about 2003, now ostensibly running Linux but mostly taking up space on a spare desk. (It's been a year and change since the Linux---some form of Ubuntu, I believe---was installed, so an upgrade is probably in order here.)
Finally, I have an HP Photosmart C3180 inkjet printer, which runs via USB; a wireless router (a Linksys, if it matters); and a wireless card for the Compaq.

I'd like to set things up so that the printer can be plugged into the Compaq, through which I can print wirelessly from the Macs. Can this be done?

(Among the potential complicating factors: We have no outside network service. This thing would be completely isolated. Also, while I used to be fairly decent with Linux, it's been several years since I used it on a regular basis, and I was never great with networking.)

Home Network PC/Mac folder sharing?

sidereal — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:21:09 -0800

How can I securely access my PC files using my wireless iBook on my home network? I have a Comcast cable modem for internet access. The ethernet cable goes from the modem to my Belkin 4 port wireless router.

The Win XP PC is connected to the router by CAT5, 192.168.2.2.

The iBook is wireless, talks to the router as 192.168.2.3. Uses WEP, etc.

All my cool content is on the PC, but I want to sit on the sofa and browse my PC photos, call it G:\photos on the PC, using my Mac iBook. Mess around with them in iPhoto.

Is there some obvious way to set up a little tunnel in the respective operating systems, sharing through the router or something, without letting all my neighbors see G:\photos\FurryPr0n ? Letting me read/write files on the PC using the iBook?

Xbox 360 + Connect 360 (OS X) + 720p + 802.11n = jerky video?

bryanjbusch — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:26:43 -0800

Xbox 360 + Connect 360 (OS X) + 720p + 802.11n = jerky video? While recently streaming some 1280x720 video from the MacBook (10.5.2, RAM maxed out) through the AirPort 802.11n thing to the Xbox 360, which is connected via a physical ethernet cable, the show would periodically stop.

Then the audio would continue by itself, and then after a minute or so, the video would sort of "fast-forward" and catch up with the audio.

I wasn't running any other applications or downloading big files at the same time. Is this normal behavior, or should I be able to stream HD quality video with this sort of setup?

Airpot doesn't like me

AceRock — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:19:19 -0800

Mac OSX filter: Help! Airport keeps kicking me off... and then hiding... This is a new one (for me). I have a Macbook Pro and and an Airport Express wireless router, and I keep getting disconnected from my wireless network. I'll connect, and stay connected for a minute, maybe 2, maybe a few seconds, and then I get disconnected. When I try to connect again, I often don't see my network (I can see it maybe 1 out of every 5 or 6 tries). Sometimes it will say that it can't connect to the network, but sometimes it will connect. I am sitting RIGHT NEXT to my Airport Express. What the hell is going on? What can I do about it?

one signal bar, two signal bar. three signal bar, four?

twistofrhyme — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:45:13 -0800

i live two floors above the wireless router, and my powerbook can't get a strong enough signal. what's the most cost-effective solution? i'm subletting in an old house- i'm on the third floor. the ethernet jack and router are on the ground floor, and they can't be moved-- ethernet must be plugged into an computer that apparently didn't take well to an expensive wireless card-- and i'm not comfortable asking the other tenants to change their established system and run cables all over the place for the new persson.

we have this bell sympatico router. it's in the back of the house. (specifically, it's one room away from the main stairwell, and it's sitting on a table near the doorway of that room, pointed towards the stairwell / centre of the house. given that it has to be in that room, i think it's in the optimum position). its signal has to either go through 2 floors, or follow a slightly bendy route up the stairs and through one wooden door in order to reach me.

i have a 2005 12-inch powerbook g4 (the aluminum one), which is apparently notorious for its crappy wifi antenna. in my apartment, i can get at best 2 bars of signal- not good enough. i've found a couple places in the apartment where the signal kind of works better, but even that's unreliable. previous tenant had a 2007 macbook and he didn't report any net problems, so i think my laptop is mostly at fault.

i guess my options are:
get a stronger antenna for my laptop (i don't know what kind though- suggestions?)
get a signal booster to attach directly to the wireless router, (again, don't know what kind and the guys in the bell store had no idea what i was talking about), or
get a signal repeater and place it halfway through the house, maybe in the stairwell or in my apartment? (again, what brand?)

does anyone have insight about which of these options will work best, and suggestions of where to get whatever bits i need, cheap? i'm in toronto.

thank you in advance.

sharing internet over airport

ddaavviidd — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:33:17 -0800

(mac network filter)- sharing internet over airport? hi folks,
I'm trying to set up my iBook (running 10.3.9) to connect to internet via airport (using my iMac running 10.5.1 which is connected through Ethernet)--basically making my iMac a wireless hub. I looked into all forums but still am stuck. I followed all procedures from Apple site, can conect the iBook to the iMac network, and my ibook network prefs says I'm connected to internet via airport... But when I open Firefox or Safari, it says it can't reach the server.

bonus question- is this a safe set-up? share files, printer, itunes and internet over airport, all with passwords? Is it worth getting a hub?

thanks all

Making a MacBook remember my Airport wireless settings?

tepidmonkey — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:27:36 -0800

Every time I open up my MacBook (running Leopard), I have to go into the network preferences and re-input my password in order to connect to my wireless network. How can I get it to connect automatically again? A few days ago, the electrical outlet that my wireless router was plugged into went dead, so I had to unplug the router and use a new socket. Ever since then, whenever I open my MacBook, it throws up a dialog box that says there were problems connecting to my wireless network. I have to run Network Diagnostics, choose the network from a list, and type my password manually. Every time. Telling it to store my password in the keychain doesn't work.

What can I do to get it to stick, so that when I open my computer the network settings don't need to be fussed with anymore?

(This is a 1st-gen 2 GHz MacBook, running Mac OS X 10.5.1.)