Raible Designs

I have all sorts of problems with my G4 PowerBook, Quad G5, and WGTR614. Maybe it has to do w/ the OS X version? Which version do you have on your PowerBook?

Posted by Bob Lee on February 27, 2006 at 11:23 AM MST #

I believe they both are running 10.4.5. I'll have a couple of other routers (another Netgear and an Airport Express). I tried those too, and still no luck.

Posted by Matt Raible on February 27, 2006 at 11:31 AM MST #

In the Network Prefs->Network Port Configurations, you can drag the port configurations to re-sort their order. Are you having some trouble with the order in which OS X is trying to connect maybe?

Posted by Bruce Snyder on February 27, 2006 at 11:54 AM MST #

Are you able to use WPA instead of WEP? I have two PCs, my MacBook Pro, and an old iBook G3 500 connected. Granted, I'm using a Linksys WRT54G and not a Linksys router, but still.

Posted by Mark Imbriaco on February 27, 2006 at 03:07 PM MST #

I have a Mac Powerbook G4 at home working fine using the built-in Airport with a Netgear WGT624 router (that's what I'm using to write this post right now). This same router also serves Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro laptops.

Initially, I had my Mac using the Netgear WG511T adapter via the PCMCIA slot (which is - sadly - missing from the Macbook Pro - the rationale escapes me!). I used the excellent wireless driver from Orangeware to get full 108 Mbps connectivity.

Anyway, 2 days ago I decided to try and get the built-in Airport (can do 54 Mbps max.) working with WGT624 (disconnected the WG511T card). Here are the steps that worked for me...

NOTE: Before you begin, use one of your other computers to get the hex equivalent of your WEP key from the the WGT624 router. Either write it down or save it as a file on your Mac. You can find this value under the "Wireless Settings" menu of the web-based administration tool for WGT624.

Make sure your WGT624 is running in Auto 108Mbps mode (so you get 108 Mbps on your Windows machines while being stuck with 54 Mbps via Airport on the Mac :-( ). Or at least, make sure it is in "b and g" mode. I'm guessing your Mac wont be able to connect if it is in "108 Mbps only" mode - because Airport only supports the standard 802.11g. 108 Mbps is firmly in non-standard territory and vendor specific.
Enable Airport on your Mac
Click on the Airport icon in the Mac menu bar.
You should see the SSID of your home wireless network here.
Select the SSID for your home network.
A pop-up will prompt you for Wireless security
For "Wireless Security", select "40/128-bit hex"
For password, paste in the hex key you got earlier from your WGT624
Check "Remember password in my keychain" so that you dont have to repeat step 8 ever again
Click OK and your Mac should be connected to your router.

Let me know if this works for you. If not, there may be some settings in my router (not specific to the Mac though) that are different than yours.

Jijoe

Posted by Jijoe Vurghese on February 28, 2006 at 01:02 AM MST #

Hi Matt, Do you see the router from MacBook but just cannot connect? I recently had problem with two NetGear routers at my friend's house -- he has two laptops - old Powerbook, Sony Vaio and I came with my Powerbook. I was not able to connect to his router, even if I saw it time to time. However his laptop was perfectly connected. Sony Vaio - was connected as well. Everything fixed when we turned off his Sony Vaio and his 2.4Ghz baby monitor. I am not that could in hardware and all such stuff, but I believe we had some kind of frequence problem ;-)

Posted by Olexiy Prokhorenko on February 28, 2006 at 09:09 AM MST #

I seem to have similar problems with my MacBook Pro. My router (DLink) is configured to use 40-bit WEP. The MacBook remembers this most of the time, but occasionally forgets and tries to use a plain password and then obviously can't connect. If I then follow the instructions by Jijoe above, it all springs back to life.

Posted by David Salter on March 10, 2006 at 03:22 PM MST #

A quick update to my earlier post - I just bought my wife a MacBook Pro yesterday. I applied the same steps as noted in my post above.

Works like a charm - although, as David pointed out, I noticed, it "forgets" the settings sometimes.

Posted by Jijoe Vurghese on March 10, 2006 at 03:49 PM MST #

Jijoe - I wish I had the same luck as you. Your instructions don't work for me.

Posted by Matt Raible on March 11, 2006 at 11:34 PM MST #

Matt - if you are still interested in getting this working at home, let me know. I can work with you offline (via email, perhaps) to troubleshoot. I'm guessing this has to do with some setting (either on the wireless router or your Macbook Pro) being differnt than mine.

Dave - I think I figured out why the Macbook Pro "forgets" the wireless settings sometimes.

Remember the WEP password - there is an option (in the "wireless security" dialog) to store the WEP password in your Mac OS X keychain.
Using this option will ensure that the Mac will not prompt you again for the password
Pick a preferred wireless network - Go to System Preferences|Network|Show|Airport. On the Airport tab, change "By default, join:" from Automatic to Preferred Network. And make sure your network of choice is selected.

With these 2 settings, my wife's Macbook Pro no longer suffers from long term memory loss :-)

Jijoe

Posted by Jijoe Vurghese on March 12, 2006 at 11:55 PM MST #

Hi Jijoe, Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried this and unfortunatley it makes no difference. I'm guessing this must be a new bug or something. Still, its the ONLY complaint I've got about my new MacBook Pro. This is the best machine I've ever had.

Posted by David Salter on March 14, 2006 at 02:27 PM MST #

I have the same problem of forgetting wireless settings on my Macbook Pro. I'm using the Linksys WRTP54G router (w/Vonage). Every time I reboot my Macbook Pro (and sometimes my iMac), it can't find the network. The SSID is hidden but that and the creds are still saved. Only way to connect is to re-open internet connect and reconfigure. Jijoe- where is the "wireless security" dialog you're referring to? Is it only for WEP or for the WPA pws as well? Thanks.

Posted by Tim Johnson on March 19, 2006 at 10:44 AM MST #

Thanks JiJoe your solution worked for me!

Posted by Nick on March 20, 2006 at 07:21 AM MST #

My girlfriend's new Macbook Pro is having the same problem of "forgetting" the WEP key of the Linksys wireless router even though "remember password" is enabled and the "prefered network" is selected. She doesn't have a clue how to reconfigure by entering the WEP key in hex, so basically her new $2000 laptop is useless. I got her a Mac so she doesn't have to worry about crap like this. If apple doesn't fix this soon then this could be the last mac I will ever buy.

Posted by Kyle on April 02, 2006 at 05:33 PM MDT #

in system preferences -> network it states that airport is connected to the network. you are connected to the internet via airport. i am not able to reach any websites though. what could my problem be? i'm using a d-link wireless router

Posted by maluka on June 18, 2006 at 01:54 PM MDT #

Hi all, the network security community doesn't think very highly of WEP, not very highly at all, in fact many are saying it is worse than nothing, if you can, get WPA going instead, if not, then turn WEP off and secure your network with something else. Honesty, a school kid can just about beat WEP with pencil and paper given enough traffic. I've just finished a couple of weeks of security and networking seminars, this is what I'm hearing. Good luck.

Posted by Badcop666 on July 16, 2006 at 07:46 PM MDT #

I have what I think is the same problem as the original poster...my new MacBook Pro won't connect to the internet. Problem is, that's only half the truth. Yesterday, I setup my WGT624 router with hidden SSID and 128-bit WEP. Tried to connect, but no success. Used an ethernet cable...same thing... Note that the XP machines both are wired...no problem with them. I was somewhat amazed when later I realized that I actually am connected to the network since I could connect to both windows machines and read their shares. However, connecting to the internet doesn't work. Before going to bed last night, I accidentaly left the Mac powered on while turning off the XP machines, and today when I turned on the Mac it had connected to the Safari start page. But then when I tried to connect to a web page (while the XP machines were running) I couldn't connect. Someone? Please!

Posted by Stefan on September 12, 2006 at 12:42 PM MDT #

also having problems connecting my Macbook to Netgear WGR614v6. there is no communication and I have no idea where to go/check. would be grateful if someone can work with me on it?

Posted by Gali on September 13, 2006 at 05:23 AM MDT #

I've just been having the same problems as you with regards to my MacBook and Netgear WGR614v6. I checked one of the other forums and found something that worked for me. I was having the problem of my MacBook connecting to the network but not managing to get a assigned an IP address from the router and therefore couldn't connect to the internet. It seems my problem was simply solved by choosing WPA on the router setup and WPA Personal on the MacBook. It's easily done on the MacBook from System Preferences > Network > Airport. Just Edit your network and change the security settings. It's only been working for a couple of minutes so far but I think everything is going to be OK. Hope this works for you guys...

Posted by Simeon on September 26, 2006 at 12:51 AM MDT #

hi, I bought a netgear router yesterday and spent a very long time trying to set it up.in the end i can only connect to the internet using my ethernet cable.i want to connect using my built in airport. how can i do this?I have the new macbook with the intel processor. thanks, David

Posted by David on October 26, 2006 at 03:07 AM MDT #

Okay, I've got a Linksys WRT54G v5, and was having major problems with the router allowing my MacBook online, however, it would allow all of my XP machines on with no problem. This happened right after I re-configured my router with a bunch of new settings and updated the firmware. I ended up limiting down all of the culprits to one, the firmware (version 1.01.0). I've been on many fights on the phone with Linksys, and Mac, each one of them blaming the other, and whatnot. But whatever... IT IS THE FIRMWARE on the ROUTER, don't let Linksys tell you otherwise. Not a single one of their "tech support" is knowledgeable enough to help anyone fix this problem. They're not helpful what-so-ever if you know anything about networking, they are just going to tell you to do a bunch of worthless crap that you've probably already done. Ok, i'm done venting, here is the solution that worked for me:

This is for a Linksys WRT54G v5, it is how to install different (3rd party) firmware on your router. If you're running a different version on this router, look up on how to install dd-wrt on your specific router, do not assume that just because your version is close to mine that it will work. There are plenty of websites that will guide you through how to install dd-wrt on your specific router. I cannot stress it enough to make sure you're doing the correct installation for your correct router, you can easily turn your router into a paperweight.

Anyway, there is a simple and easy instruction guide found here: (CLICK HERE)

After I loaded that firmware and turned my router into a linux machine, everything worked much better, faster, more efficient, the mac machine had no problems connecting, and there are a bunch of more features on it.

Hope I helped, glad I found that, I was pulling my hair out trying to get that piece of junk to work.

Posted by Matthew on October 30, 2006 at 12:16 PM MST #

Hi Anyone help. I have just set up my PC wired to Linksys wrt54g router. I now wish to connect my powerbook G4 wirelessly. It has a network card fitted and seems to recognise the routers name but I cannot get any further than enter password. When I put in the password created while setting up the router on the pc it just comes up with "there is an error joining the selected Air-port network. Can anyone help a beginner in all this? John

Posted by john on November 10, 2006 at 04:24 PM MST #

Try using my previous comment to help you, the same issue it sounds like, was happening to me. What version of the 54g are you running? if you have 1-4 you can install the full version of Linux firmware on your router, if you have 5 or 6 you'll probably have to go with the micro version. Anyway, i'm two comments up ^^, follow those instructions.

Posted by Matthew on November 11, 2006 at 10:37 AM MST #

Hi, I have a MacBook running osx Tiger version 10.4.8 and have just purchased a Netgear DG834G 54Mbps Wireless ADSL Modem Firewall Router with 4-port 10/100 switch. I cannot however get the router to connect to ADSL (ie: the light flashes amber and does not go solid green) and cannot connect to internet therefore. Can anyone help? I am new to macs and have recently killed off my PC (R.I.P).

Posted by James Weaver on November 28, 2006 at 07:29 AM MST #

I just bought a brand new Macbook Pro yesterday and I took it home to get it all settled in... everything was looking great until I tried to send in my registration. I managed to find the router SSID, enter the WPA-Personal password, and connect in OSX. But whenever I tried to send out my registration, it complained that it couldn't establish a connection. So I figured Apple's servers were fubbed. I just skipped registration and went to the desktop. I screwed around a bit and decided I wanted to install Firefox. I launched Safari and... nothing. No connection. I looked in the Network Settings and it said it was connected to my router. It even registered my Wireless-A connection oddly enough. Anyway, I repeatedly tried messing with the settings to get it connect and lo-and-behold I got to the Apple Homepage! But not for long. I couldn't access any other pages after that. Frustrated I moved upstairs NEXT TO MY ROUTER and it still couldn't connect on a consistant basis. I've decided that I officially hate my WRT55AG (I got the Wireless-A because I'm a sucker and bought the Wireless-A adapter for my Xbox360), but I want to exhaust any other solutions/drivers/workarounds that anyone might come up with before I sell the damn thing on eBay. Can anyone offer any help (beyond what has already been posted above) for a poor WRT55AG user on a Macbook Pro?

Posted by Wetty on November 28, 2006 at 03:19 PM MST #

P.S. I also have two XP machines on the Wireless Network and the router seems much more reliable when my 360 and both XP computers are off... maybe a MIMO router is the answer?

Posted by Wetty on November 28, 2006 at 03:23 PM MST #

Just got the Macbook Pro in today and no dice on connecting to my router via wireless. I have a Netgear WNR854T and it would not connect via WEP 128bit. As recommended above I upgraded the firmware (to 1.4.07NA) and Airport connected beautifully! Thanks for the tip/reminder as I usually update firmware but most of the time when things go bad.

Posted by Jeremy Heslop on December 18, 2006 at 07:33 PM MST #

Just had fun of using a Mac book for the first time to connect the girlfriends daughters new Mac Book, using Wirless on a NetGear DG834G. Only way it would connect was if the Security was turned off didn't like any of the security options. PC's no problems, setup loads of ADSL/modem routers mainly Netgear all worked first time straight out of the box, but not the Mac, not impressed with Apple. Do like Apple and there products but this should be alot easier especially with only one mouse button :-)

Posted by Mark Hillier on February 10, 2007 at 05:38 AM MST #

thanks very much for this post. I switched the ascii key for the hex key and my wireless works much better now.

Posted by Jason S on February 20, 2007 at 10:28 PM MST #

I was having a problem where my 17" G4 Powerbook would connect to the wireless network, but I wouln not be able to get on the internet. I switched the WEP to WPA and now I am surfing wirelessly!!!!

Posted by chris May on February 21, 2007 at 08:57 PM MST #

i am having trouble to connect to internet with airport net work ( wireless) i have new 1.83 htz intel duo core what cani do about it it also get over heated .

Posted by Premrajan on March 12, 2007 at 10:33 PM MDT #

I have been connected to a Netgear WGR614 since October and it has been working fine. For the last month I keep losing connection to it and it disappears from available networks in airport. I have to unplug everything and then power up again and then connect the ethernet cable to get it activated. this then lasts for a period of time (actual time fluctuates) before it goes again. I might be wrong in saying this - but is it another update I have installed from Apple / someone else that has messed all of this up. After 5 months of working flawlessly how can it not now??

Posted by andy on March 25, 2007 at 11:01 AM MDT #

Make sure that you have 128Bit Wep encryption. The newer Macs don't support 64Bit Wep because it's not secure enough.

Posted by AJ on April 29, 2007 at 08:55 AM MDT #

Help, I just got a new macbook pro, after having a powerbook for about 6 years. I'm totally lost. It worked fine in Panera, for example, connecting wirelessly w/no changes, when I first got it. I wanted of, course to install winxp. I used boot camp, and installed winxp, (and somehow managed to lose the 'key'. Then I got 'parallels' and wanted to set it up as a virtual machine, so I wouldn't have to reboot between OS's. I installed parallels, but it doesn't work...I cannot reinstall winxp cause I can't find the key. I went on line, and got a piece of software (jellybean?) to get the key, but could only now connect on the mac side wirelessly...at least I could, till I messed w/the network settings hoping to get the win side recognizing the airport card. Now I cannot connect wirelessly from the mac side either. HELP!!! win

Posted by winyan on May 08, 2007 at 02:50 PM MDT #

AJ, your troubles are very much like mine. Last night I booted over to the XP side to update one of my radios as I couldn't get VMWare to allow access to the USB serial port adapter. XP saw no wireless, quite unlike the G4 sitting right next to it (PowerBook) and a Dell laptop in the dining room, and the same MacBook Pro which 5 minutes previously had a good enough network connection to download the update software. I performed the update, rebooted, and lo! The laptop still couldn't see the network. After playing with the ACTIONTEC router, I tried to enable WPA, and got a connection with the MacBook Pro- for which I was happy. Sadly, the upstairs neighbor's Mac laptop gets the error I was getting (timeouts) joining the WPA enabled network... There's no common solution for all the systems I support in the house, except, I'm sure, "buy something from Apple."

Posted by Jeff on June 22, 2007 at 08:26 AM MDT #

How do you change your mac's WEP to WPA, because my PC outside is using WPA and my macbook has errors connecting to it wirelessly.

Posted by Cliff on June 26, 2007 at 11:02 PM MDT #

OK - I figured it out - you need to update the firmware on the Netgear router - easy to do and take about 2 minutes. The set up I had was a MacBook Pro and a PowerBook 1.6Ghz: The PowerBook worked (albeit a little flakey) The MacBook refused to conect dispite seeing the wireless network. Solution: Go to the Netgear site and download the latest firmware for your router paying special attention to the version of the router you have. The update will restart your router. NB - My MacBook Pro automatically popped into life as soon as the update was completed. Hope this helps.

Posted by Ahad Surooprajally on July 23, 2007 at 08:57 PM MDT #

I had the same issue with connecting to the wireless and not being able to connect to the internet. I connected ethernet and the internet worked but my Airport on my Powerbook still would not let me connect. Finally, i switched over to WPA, and voila! Magic. It worked like a charm. I highly recomment trying it.

Posted by Powerbook on July 31, 2007 at 07:23 PM MDT #

We have a Cisco AGS1351 running WEP or LEAP, All the older macs running 10.4.10 are fine, only the intel ones are hosed. This is almost certainly an intel code error problem in my humble opinion. My Bronze Lombard and my 1 Ghz iBook G4 as well as my old 500 Mhz duo gb ethernet G4 powermac are fine on 10.4.10. Great QA going on in Cupertino these days eh? Jeez come one guys...........get with the plot here!! (Lombard is AOK). To the guy who suggested WEP is rubbish. Er... everything else WORKS with it. Windows, AIX, Solaris, Linux and HP UX so I am not buying that twaddle!! Once it is working we can argue the merits of security, right now it needs to be working.... May be the last MAC I ever buy that Macbook Pro..... what a shame.......Apple that's lame. Now where can I get a copy of 10.4.9?????

Posted by Sion Beard on August 04, 2007 at 11:33 PM MDT #

I have a new macbook pro, but cannot get a wireless connection to my dlink di-714p+. Airport is connect to my network but just not able to access the internet. Dlink nor apple were of any help. Any ideas?

Posted by LMP on August 20, 2007 at 12:32 PM MDT #

I have problems connecting my MacBook Pro (OS 10.4.10) to the internet using a router Siemens SE551, when I turn WPA on. Otherwise it works perfectly. If I switch WPA on on the router and insert a password, then when I try to connect via the airport, I got the request for the password, insert it, and I get the error message: "The selected network uses an access control list to restrict access and this computer is not on the list. See the administrator for access.". This is nonsensical because it makes it seem that the problem is due to MAC filtering. And indeed MAC filtering is turned on, but the point is that everything works if encryption is disabled (still MAC filtering on). I have also upgraded the router's firmware to the latest version but it does not work ... Any idea?? Thanks! Mick

Posted by Mick on September 11, 2007 at 10:16 AM MDT #

I have a linksys "WRTP54G" router(firmware 1.00.62) (Wireless Firmware Version: 1.6.0.24) . It works great with my windows XP machine. However, i cant get it to work with my macbook (model number A1181) (Mac OSX 10.4.10). I open the routers web based utility and reconfigure the wireless security, then I reconfigure the airport network settings on the mac to match (i think) the router. It will work fine for a while, but sooner or later the mac stops connecting to the wireless router and i have to set everything up again. I've tried both wep and wpa security but both have problems. I went to linksys and downloaded the firmware update, but the "upgrade firmware" button, referred to in the read me, on the web based utility is nonexistent. I've read the board above but i still need help. Anyone? Help? Please?

Posted by Greg on September 14, 2007 at 07:27 PM MDT #

I bought a Mac book 2 months ago (MAC OS X, version 10.4.10, intel Core 2 Duo), but in some wireless networks it does not connect, despite putting the password. In other wireless networks, while friends with computers different than MAC can easily connect to to them without password my IMAC does not, and asks for a password. Someone please help me, and please as didactically as possible. I'm a lawyer and do not understand much of computers. Thanks!!!

Posted by Mariana on October 13, 2007 at 11:12 PM MDT #

Houston...we have a problem.... Gawd, my head is spinning from all the forums and replies regarding the same issue!!! I'm hijacking a neighbors unsecured network right now...I have the same issue as everyone else. MacBook Pro can see but can't connect through Airport to Linksys router and my "secured" network although my dying Vaio can. It asks for WEP password but doesn't work. I just purchased the MBP today...if this doesn't get resolved soon, it will be returned along with the unopened software and my adventure into Apple will be a short and unhappy one!! It sounds like Apple is unresponsive/useless to all the calls regarding this "bug". What are we getting for "Apple Care"? This is a longstanding issue...but it doesn't seem to have gotten much mainstream press. Any crusaders out there who want to shine the spotlight on this? I'm so frustrated, I thought Apple was suppose to be "user-friendly".

Posted by Adi on October 24, 2007 at 12:55 AM MDT #

I have finally solved my problem mentioned a few messages above, I tell you how, perhaps you can profit. The key point was to add my wireless net under the "preferred networks" in the system preferences (i.e., system preferences + network + airport + advanced). There one can also directly insert the (WPA2 or whatever) password once for all. So it seems that Mac treats differently the cases in which one inserts the password from there as opposed to the case in which one inserts the password from the pop up window that appears if the net is not defined among the preferred ones. There was no indication that this had to be the case and all the error messages that I got before did not point to the problem (the messages were about the access control list, which does not matter at all here). Indeed I found the solution just by chance. Now everything works perfectly.

Posted by Mick on November 09, 2007 at 12:34 PM MST #

Have a new Macbook Pro OSx 10.5.2...also just got a DLink 625. As mentioned by others, my apple can see the network and has no problem connecting to it, but the internet is not accessible. I have talked with DLink three times and my ISP. Neither have a clue as to what the problem is. Funny, my IPod touch and old IBM laptop can both connect to the internet without a problem, and the apple can connect once in awhile for about a minute, then it cuts off. If I hardwire to the router, connection is a breeze. But I bought the router for wireless, not just another connection point...but this expensive PRO cannot maintain a wireless internet liink on its own. I have WPA / WPA2 selected and the router is configured fine. I dont have a problem with the keychain or anything else. I can connect to the internet effortlessly everywhere else except my home. ANy solutions???

Posted by Patrick on March 09, 2008 at 03:43 AM MDT #

This is driving me nuts... The MBP can connect to wireless networks which is open, or networks which has the DSL (PPPoE) router connected to the internet directly (so not "dialing" through PPPoE on the MBP) but can't connect to a wireless access point which is connected to a seperate DSL modem. This problem did not appear with my g4 macbook, so I can't, for the life of me, figure out why the MBP should not be able to do this

Posted by Sean on March 19, 2008 at 01:44 PM MDT #

I am at an apple store right now and no on e could help me. I am connecting via their open network and no loss. The "geius" says that they use the airport extremes... "n" network or just the fact that no password is needed?

Posted by 12.164.119.105 on April 01, 2008 at 03:49 PM MDT #

I have a MacBook Pro and getting it set up on WiFi was actualy very easy (I inadvertently did it very close to my wireless base station) and it does not forget the WEP key. I'm using a NetGear DG834PN at home. Basically, once the MBP has locked in to the WiFi signal I get three bars wherever I go. However it WILL NOT lock on to the network unless the machine is within about 10 feet of the base station. The interesting point is that the MBP can see other networks in my locality but NOT my own, even though all my other kit (a Mac Mini, iPod Touch, two Dell laptops, a Dell Axim and a NetGear wireless printer adaptor/hub) can see and connect without a problem. Perhaps the problem is the combination of the MacBook Pro and a NetGear Hub?

Posted by Gulfie on April 22, 2008 at 02:21 PM MDT #

Since crossing over to the dark side (PC to Mac) for school... I and several others in my class have had several problems with wireless network connections with our intel MBP's. The consistent problem is the same as PATRICK (March 9, 2008) except I am still using 10.4.9 -- I attend Full Sail University in Orlando, FL. Most students here are required to purchase a new MBP for their degree program. We also get one HELL of a discount, in fact its better than the Apple Employee Discount! We have a massive N wireless system here at the school. You can even chill in your vehicle parked the middle of the parking lot and get great connection. What's strange is that I'll be sitting next to several other identical MBPs, but for some reason I have a major problem getting full connection, where as everybody else is lightning fast. I have even moved around the same room just to see if it was my positioning. Not the case. One of the crappy work-arounds that I have discovered is once the issue starts, I quit the browser (Firefox, the wireless sucks much worse in Safari), turn off the AirPort connection, then turn it back on with in a couple of seconds. Also, there are several people at my school who have had their wireless internal hardware replaced. According to one, the overheating problem with can almost burn your thighs, causes serious problems to the network card. It's also important to note that Full Sail University "streamlined" these computers for us prior to getting them to us. So, it's nothing that I've done. I have not been researching this topic online very long, but have been dealing with this issue, along with several others for a very LONG time (September '07). LAME! Patrick, your not alone...

Posted by SWiY on May 08, 2008 at 08:06 AM MDT #

SWIY....dont know if you saw one of my updates from last month, but all the problems I had have gone away and I am getting great connection. I updated my software which included an update for Airport utility. That fixed the problem. I dont know if you need to also update to to 10.5.2 but I think the collection of updates will help you. I am not a mac expert, but solving the problem was the main concern.

Posted by Patrick on May 08, 2008 at 08:56 PM MDT #

Just had same problem. Using a DLink DIR-655 Draft N router, with no issues hooking up XP devices. The DLink support tech said that I should insert a dollar sign "$" before my WEP key when prompted by AirPort as it detects a secured network. I popped in the "$" sign then my passwork, and WHAM, instantaneous connection to my network. Hope this helps... John Mittelman

Posted by JohnMittelman on May 23, 2008 at 07:26 PM MDT #

I had the EXACT same problem as JohnMittelman and his solution worked. THANKS John!!!

Posted by Edvman on June 25, 2008 at 09:51 PM MDT #

I just upgraded to Leopard. The problem is gone.

Posted by SWiY on June 26, 2008 at 07:10 AM MDT #

This has been educational. I have tried a few of the fixes suggested above. We have a "gateway" router provided by phone company. PCs work fine. Macs do not. This is not my home network. Connectivity drops when new networks come up. Company has done all troubleshooting it says it can, as has Siemens. Have not had this difficulty except in this one location which has stumped techies so far--not that they care much. At home, travel, other homes etc. locates local network easily. Here, does not even find it, although a preferred network. We have tried all of the moving of microwaves and phones and modems and routers until the cows come home. Firmware upgrades, etc. Not sure whether it is a Mac problem (apparently, although specific) or a router/modem one. I have a Macbook running 10.4.11. Stepson has minimac same OS that encounters same problem both at his home and this one, regardless of how many machines are running. JD

Posted by Jyoti Dayal on August 07, 2008 at 08:35 PM MDT #

I just got a MacBook and know little about how it works or where everything is, I'm a PC person. I finally got it connected to my WGT624. It turns out I had the wrong ID number. I am a "button pusher" and just by chance discovered the Airport ID. Duh! I was using the Ethernet ID (dope slap - what was I thinking???). Might be something to think about if you haven't been able to connect.

Posted by wonnderwoman on August 28, 2008 at 11:49 PM MDT #

I have a Macbook and whenver I try to connect to a network, it always says connection timeout. I tried putting it in manually as well, and it prompts me to enter a password, even though the particular network is set to Open and doesn't require one. HELLLLP please!

Posted by Isaiah Carter on September 03, 2008 at 09:27 PM MDT #

Same problem as Isaiah...help

Posted by Nicole on September 04, 2008 at 12:09 AM MDT #

I just bought a macbook, and the airport on it works fine at school, coffee shops, and other places but doesn't work at home. I have a Belkin router and i can't seem to get on the internet with it. My brothers laptop works fine but mines doesn't. At first i thought its because I have a MAC and it wasn't compatible, but my girlfriend also has a MAC and hers work at my place too. I did some research and tried all the solutions even entering "0x" in front of my password but that doesn't work either. Now i'm starting to think that there might just be a problem with my airport connection, whats the possibilities of that happening? Oh yea, my brother-in-laws iphone works on my router too. Seems like everybodies is working but mines. Any ideas oh how i can get this to work???

Posted by Lumi on September 06, 2008 at 08:37 PM MDT #

I have found that most of the mbp airport problems are due to the password being entered incorrectly for a certain network. Re-connecting the network, and re-enterring the correct password seems to solve the problem.

If you have the wrong password, some networks will still show connected, but no luck in getting anything to work.

Also, I can in no way get the old password off my system, any automatic connection attempt (as from a restart, or start-up) will still try the old password...

Posted by Sean Nel on September 07, 2008 at 02:30 AM MDT #

I FOUND A SOLUTION THAT WORKS!!!! First a little back story. Got my Mac Blackbook and the wi-fi worked great from my Linksys wrt54g2 router. Moved to Germany and into an apartment and my connection issues started happening. My MB would connect once then loose connection quickly and would only recover connection if i either closed and re-opened my screen, or re-connected to my network... then it would drop again before my next page turn. After multiple days of research I read about SOOOO many others having this issue and the fact the Apple pretty much refused to acknowledge the issue. It seemed that sometime near the OX 10.4.2 update the airport driver got fubar'd leaving all those with Intel based macs wi-fi connects messed up. Some of the solutions i read about and tried had to do with changing my WEP connection to WPA. This did not work, but i left it as WPA as my research finds it a more secure connection. I also read about and tried setting my Wireless RTA Threshold in my router to 256 from the *2432 default. This as well did not work, though I have left it at this setting as it seems to be the best value for MAC's connecting over wi-fi. This is not true for PC's though so be careful. More research, more research, o' my brain hurts and my patience is wearing..... then BINGO!!! I found a thread about connection issues that pertained to MB's not connecting to local-network printers. The poster mentioned that MAC's seem to have a hard time connecting to networks that had more than one wi-fi network present. This is my issue i thought. I have 8 in my available connections now. In my old home I had just mine. So i followed the directions suggested and it has now been 2 weeks of 100% perfect wi-fi connections.

Posted by cesar on September 21, 2008 at 03:12 AM MDT #

Below is the excerpt from this page, http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macbookpro/topic2005.html (Do a find for ?Little Snitch?). The program the writer talks about is called Little Snitch found here, http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html. It's a $29 dollar program, but in my mind its well worth it to make my $1500 Blackbook work! This may not be the Apple Fix we have been waiting for them, but its completely working for me. [quote] I have used Little Snitch software for several years, and it occurred to me that I might be able to use it to block any connections with the other network. Using the latest version (v.2), go to Preferences, or Little Snitch Configuration, choose Rules under the Window menu, and click the New button. In the pop-up window that shows up, click on the gear icon and choose "Choose System Process." A file open box opens, and under the folder "libexec," choose "airportd." "airportd" is the system daemon that controls the Airport card in the MacBook Pro. In the box that comes up, set the main menu to "Allow Connections" and the Server menu to "Local Network." [/quote]

Posted by cesar on September 21, 2008 at 03:14 AM MDT #

I had a small breakthrough with my wifi problem. I downloaded iStumber and found that there were three wifi networks, mine included, all on the same channel. So, I've changed my channel and the problem is much reduced. However, from time to time, my MBP will still not join my network. So the other night I ran iStumbler and to my surprise it could see the network but the MBP still wouldn't join. Moving closer to the router resolved the problem but I'm at a loss to explain why iStumbler could see the network but the computer didn't join the network...

Posted by Gulfie on October 17, 2008 at 03:10 PM MDT #

my MBP 17 airport runs fine with Windows. With McOX10.2.5 it is terrible. I'm ready to go back to PC's

Posted by Ruediger Lueg on October 19, 2008 at 06:29 PM MDT #

To all the users of MacBook Pro and Netgear WGR614 v6:

This is how I got mine working :P

1 On MacBook Pro (mine is Leopard) go to System Preferences>Network.
2 On the Left pane select AirPort.
3 Select your network in "Network Name".
4 Click "Advance" at the bottom. A new page drops down.
5 Take note of the "AirPort ID" at the bottom. xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
6 On a computer that can connect to the Internet, Go to address 192.168.1.1
This is the address to your router's administrator page.
7 Log in with User: admin, Password: Password, or the password you have set, if different (Nope. I can't help you retrieve it).
8 Once in, select under Advanced "Wireless Settings".
9 Click on "Setup Access list", THEN on "ADD".
10 Enter your "Device Name" (a short one) AND the number you noted on "5" above.
11 Click "ADD" underneath. The page changes back to the list of devices showing now your new MacBook Pro. Below the list, click on "Apply".
12 Try to connect to the internet with the MacBrook Pro now.

E N J O Y ! ! !

Posted by Defiantmacho on November 15, 2008 at 01:13 AM MST #

After spending 3+ hours on the phone with ATT&T and no luck in connecting my MacPro to the 2Wire 269 network, I found the answer above from Defiantmacho.

Just followed the steps and connected to the ATT router address: 192.168.1.254 logged in, selected Wireless setting and edit Mac Filtering then added the Airport ID to the list of allowed devices.

Bam! It worked.

Don't know why ATT support didn't know I had to add the device, but on the other hand the good news is that the network is really secure because no one can connect without adding their device to my network (and they can't do that without the password).

Posted by Connie on March 12, 2009 at 07:04 PM MDT #

I am a new user for Macbook Pro, but one stupid thing that I don't like about is, the network is very unstable. I can go to few pages then it stop responding. I never had this problem in my Windows XP or Ubuntu. I hate this Macbook Pro, how does people like such unstable white box.

Posted by Kuppa on June 15, 2009 at 08:50 PM MDT #

i have an MBP late 2008 model and a netgear WGR614v1. my desktop and HP laptop, even my nokia N95, connects to the internet via this router with no problems, but my MBP can't hold connection for even five minutes at a time. i tried so many settings til i finally tried one last thing. instead of using WPA, i reverted to using WEP. for over 12 hours now my MBP is still connected to the internet... i dunno what difference this made but it worked for me, and im fine with using WEP (eventhough WPA is more secure)... hope this simple solution of mine may also work for you guys.

Posted by Aldie on September 03, 2009 at 02:59 PM MDT #

I have a net gear wireless router in my home. I have an older Macbook pro and a Dell running Windows Vista that can connect wirelessly and stay connected. When I first set up the wireless network, I did have a problem with my Macbook Pro but after I changed the security settings (from WEP to WPA i think? and one other setting involving PSK?) and added it to my firewall it stopped kicking me off and reconnecting every 15 minutes. NOW, I have a new Macbook Pro. I am having the same problem, it kicks me off every 15 minutes or so and has to reconnect. (Super annoying if you want to watch any live streaming video.) I can't access my Norton Internet Security firewall settings on my POS windows desktop and I'm not even sure that's the real problem since I'm almost positive that I added my old macbook pro and then removed it when I found the WPA settings to do the trick. Someone please help me.

Posted by Jaime on November 26, 2009 at 09:28 AM MST #

I fixed mine I put my Mac book pro on ebay and went back to old reliablr windows

Posted by obaia on November 29, 2009 at 06:48 PM MST #

I bought my Macbook Pro last year and have been using my old Macbook of 4 years for the internet as this was so frustrating! istumbler seems to have fixed the problem thanks ever so much!

Posted by ickleborough on January 27, 2010 at 05:04 PM MST #

I was able to fix my problem. I changed the security settings on the Netgear wireless router. Everything works great now. I would never give up my mac, my brother has a dell that is one year newer than mine, was more expensive because he got a bunch of upgrades to play video games, and my computer runs much faster. :)

Posted by Jaime on January 28, 2010 at 03:47 AM MST #

I have D-link DL-624 and I'm trying to connect my macbook pro wirelessly. I get that there is a host of things to try, but one thing that keep coming up is the "user" blank before the password. Where do I find what the "user" is referring to?

Posted by Todd on February 21, 2010 at 01:59 PM MST #

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