Unable to connect to a small percentage of open wireless networks with my MacBook Pro
January 13, 2009 3:26 PM Subscribe
I have a MacBook Pro, running 10.5.6, and on three occasions I have not been able to connect to some wireless networks. I have no problems at libraries, Panera, and a number of other public places. When I'm visiting relatives, I'm usually able to find and connect to an open network in their neighborhoods.
However, when I visit my sister-in-law, I can't use her wireless network (WEP password). She knows it's the correct password because she used it the previous week when she bought & set up a new computer. I can connect to her wireless router - it shows up full-strength in the Airport menu - but it won't let me get on the web. She says other people can use her network - she doesn't have it set up for a specific MAC address. I've tried re-setting her router, but that made no difference. The same thing happened to me last week at a friend's house with an open network, and again today when I was at an outpatient surgery center with a public network.
Can anyone help me figure this out? I've looked at previous MeFi questions and googled it, but have found nothing specific that I might be able to try.
However, when I visit my sister-in-law, I can't use her wireless network (WEP password). She knows it's the correct password because she used it the previous week when she bought & set up a new computer. I can connect to her wireless router - it shows up full-strength in the Airport menu - but it won't let me get on the web. She says other people can use her network - she doesn't have it set up for a specific MAC address. I've tried re-setting her router, but that made no difference. The same thing happened to me last week at a friend's house with an open network, and again today when I was at an outpatient surgery center with a public network.
Can anyone help me figure this out? I've looked at previous MeFi questions and googled it, but have found nothing specific that I might be able to try.
That happened to me once. At the Apple store of all places while I was waiting for an appointment for something else. The Genius went into the Network Preferences and and renewed the DHCP lease in Advanced -> TCP/IP.
posted by birdherder at 4:06 PM on January 13, 2009
posted by birdherder at 4:06 PM on January 13, 2009
You may want to try the HEX password instead of the ASCII one. I've found that sometimes that'll work for me when a network as WEP passwords.
posted by tundro at 4:09 PM on January 13, 2009
posted by tundro at 4:09 PM on January 13, 2009
Response by poster: I read your situation and the answers, el_lupino:
- It didn't matter where I was in her house - in the living room or in the office where the router is. By the way, I could disconnect the cable from the back of the router and plug it directly into my computer, and then I could connect to the internet.
- There were no open networks in her neighborhood, so hers is the only one I tried to connect to.
- I just checked the Proxies tab on my computer and it says "Configure Proxies: Manually." I have no idea what that means.
- I don't know if they use Norton, and I don't know what the rest of the suggestions mean.
posted by onemorething at 4:12 PM on January 13, 2009
- It didn't matter where I was in her house - in the living room or in the office where the router is. By the way, I could disconnect the cable from the back of the router and plug it directly into my computer, and then I could connect to the internet.
- There were no open networks in her neighborhood, so hers is the only one I tried to connect to.
- I just checked the Proxies tab on my computer and it says "Configure Proxies: Manually." I have no idea what that means.
- I don't know if they use Norton, and I don't know what the rest of the suggestions mean.
posted by onemorething at 4:12 PM on January 13, 2009
Response by poster: birdherder, I'll try that the next time I encounter this.
tundro, would it be difficult for you to explain to me how to find the hex password? I've set up wireless routers only three times in five years, and that was kind of by the seat of my pants. Do I find the hex password by using her computer to go to 192.168.0.1 and typing in her WEP password to get into her network settings? Also, using the hex password wouldn't solve the problem when I'm on an open network with no password, so that couldn't be the whole problem.
posted by onemorething at 4:26 PM on January 13, 2009
tundro, would it be difficult for you to explain to me how to find the hex password? I've set up wireless routers only three times in five years, and that was kind of by the seat of my pants. Do I find the hex password by using her computer to go to 192.168.0.1 and typing in her WEP password to get into her network settings? Also, using the hex password wouldn't solve the problem when I'm on an open network with no password, so that couldn't be the whole problem.
posted by onemorething at 4:26 PM on January 13, 2009
I'm pretty sure the Apple is having serious Wifi related issues with their current crop of machines / OSes. I just brought a MacBook to the genius bar under warranty due to the exact same problem.
There are tons of discussions going on about this problem on the Apple support site and other places like MacFixit.
Typical symptoms:
Newish Mac using Wifi
Other machines can get on with no problem
Connection sometimes come and go
Connections can sometimes be "pushed along" by clickin the Wifi connection icon in the upper right hand side of the screen and let it "scan" for a bit
Some people had some success running iStumbler while surfing.
I've gotten sick enough of the issue (hitting 2 of my mac laptops while the pcs, nokias, linux boxes have no problems at all) that I'm just leaning on Apple via my warranty until they fix the problem.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 4:50 PM on January 13, 2009
There are tons of discussions going on about this problem on the Apple support site and other places like MacFixit.
Typical symptoms:
Newish Mac using Wifi
Other machines can get on with no problem
Connection sometimes come and go
Connections can sometimes be "pushed along" by clickin the Wifi connection icon in the upper right hand side of the screen and let it "scan" for a bit
Some people had some success running iStumbler while surfing.
I've gotten sick enough of the issue (hitting 2 of my mac laptops while the pcs, nokias, linux boxes have no problems at all) that I'm just leaning on Apple via my warranty until they fix the problem.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 4:50 PM on January 13, 2009
Response by poster: bottlebrushtree, I have AppleCare for 2 1/2 more years - why didn't I think of that? ........ Oh, yeah, maybe I didn't think of that because the last time I took my iBook to the Apple Store for a simple font problem, the young Genius deleted ALL of my emails and mailboxes from my computer. Thank goodness I had backed up just before I left. Seriously, though, at least I know I'm not the only one having this problem.
posted by onemorething at 5:41 PM on January 13, 2009
posted by onemorething at 5:41 PM on January 13, 2009
I am wondering if you ever got this resolved? My husband just got a Macbook and we have a similar problem. Can't connect if WPA is enabled on our wireless router, and even without security it's really slow. Applecare phone support just told me to contact the router's support line despite my protests that I've had at least three PCs work on the router with no problem.
posted by txvtchick at 3:28 PM on April 20, 2009
posted by txvtchick at 3:28 PM on April 20, 2009
We took our newish MacBook back to Apple for repair and it seemed to have mostly taken care of things.
Went into the Genius bar, explained what worked and what didn't work (having 3 other machines - Windows and Linux - that worked fine helped my case). They took our machine and swapped out a board. The performance difference was night and day when we got it back
I'm still unhappy with my wireless connections on my Macbook and MacBook Pro, but it's much better than before.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 12:22 PM on April 21, 2009
Went into the Genius bar, explained what worked and what didn't work (having 3 other machines - Windows and Linux - that worked fine helped my case). They took our machine and swapped out a board. The performance difference was night and day when we got it back
I'm still unhappy with my wireless connections on my Macbook and MacBook Pro, but it's much better than before.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 12:22 PM on April 21, 2009
Thanks. My husband is visiting the genius bar today. And a friend pointed me to this article:
The MacBook's mysterious WiFi dropout problem is still unsolved
It describes our situation to a T even though the article is about a year old.
posted by txvtchick at 1:27 PM on April 22, 2009
The MacBook's mysterious WiFi dropout problem is still unsolved
It describes our situation to a T even though the article is about a year old.
posted by txvtchick at 1:27 PM on April 22, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by el_lupino at 3:45 PM on January 13, 2009