Spectrum internet back after the hurricane except for ONE device

September 27, 2024 6:12 PM

I have an apartment on the Gulf Coast of Florida with Spectrum internet service. (My neighbors and I are thankfully okay.) The power to the building is back now, and so is the Spectrum internet..except for ONE device, a MacBook Pro. More details inside, including why "reset your router/modem" isn't an option.

The device is a 2023 M2 MacBook Pro running Ventura 13.7 (22H123). My personal and work iPhones and my Windows 10 computer are working just fine on the wifi. The apartment building was built within the last five years, and the internet service is configured with hardwired access points in each apartment - they look like Ruckus Zoneflex units; all apartments share the same "[ApartmentComplexName]ResidentAccess" SSID and password. Unplugging/power cycling the unit is therefore not an option. Basically, the computer connects to the wifi network, but cannot get an IP address and thus can't access the internet. Renewing the DHCP did nothing. The DNS "8.8.8.8" and "8.8.4.4" tricks described on some Reddit posts didn't work. Contacting Spectrum only resulted in "your address is in an outage zone - please be patient" message, but I don't get why only ONE device would stop working. Thanks for your help - it's been a chaotic couple of days to say the least.

posted by Seeking Direction to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Can you connect to other networks on the Mac (e.g. a phone hotspot)? Are you using any VPNs or other security software?

If you're renewing the DHCP and messing with the DNS I assume you've tried the basics like forgetting the network and reconnecting, power-cycling the Mac itself, etc.

Does Spectrum manage the network in your building or is that managed by the building/management company? Might be worth bugging them (although they may also have a lot going on).

Glad you've made it through the storm safely! Hope you're able to connect your computer soon!
posted by mskyle at 6:37 PM on September 27 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: A phone hotspot works fine on this computer. There is no VPN installed. I’ve tried the other suggestions you mentioned. I’m not sure who actually manages the network in my building, but none of the equipment is tenant-accessible.
posted by Seeking Direction at 6:41 PM on September 27

Have you tried getting your laptop to "forget the network" and then rejoin? Basic I know, but it works with a lot of these kinds of issues at the school I work in.
posted by chr at 12:08 AM on September 28 [1 favorite]

I suspect either your computer is trying to connect to a different physical access point than normal, or
for whatever reason the wifi access point is
confused about the status of your laptop's MAC address.

Good news, the second hypothesis is testable. Temporarily change your laptop's MAC and see if you can connect.

Note this is not a long term solution, and may cause issues for other people connecting to the same wifi network.
posted by zippy at 3:45 AM on September 28

Response by poster: Been there, done that with forgetting and rejoining the network. I’m honestly stumped.
posted by Seeking Direction at 8:44 AM on September 28

It sounds like you might have already looked at this angle, but just in case: any chance this laptop had been configured to manually specify its IP address, and maybe now -- with everything booted off and reconnecting -- that address has been taken by another device?

Or if not, I'd maybe see if specifying a manual IP address might fix this. (Look at the address assigned to one of your other devices and copy that but change the last number to something large/random for this device. And I can't remember if on a mac, once you do that, if you're forced to specify the DNS server as well or if it'll still grab that from the router, so you might need to do both to test this out.)
posted by nobody at 9:52 AM on September 28

Response by poster: Tried changing the MAC address (kept getting “permission denied“ errors in Terminal). I’M STUMPED!
posted by Seeking Direction at 6:59 PM on September 28

Response by poster: I noticed if I try to put in a manual IP address, the Wi-Fi icon will change from the “!” error icon to the normal connected icon, and the status in system settings will change from “ self-assigned IP” to “connected”, but it still won’t access the Internet.
posted by Seeking Direction at 7:05 PM on September 28

Response by poster: Finally spoke to Spectrum customer service today. The problem ended up being on their end, and it is now resolved. Thank you everyone!
posted by Seeking Direction at 1:53 PM on September 29