Using a Linksys router
 

I have a cable modem and a standard Linksys router setup at home that runs to my Windows computer, and it works fine.

At work I use a Titanium PowerBook so I usually bring it home, and hook it up to my router via the ethernet. Everything seems to fine; the PowerBook has an IP address, and can access the router, but I can only view certain web pages. At first I thought I wasn't getting any web access at all, because my home page (Yahoo) wasn't loading. But then, I tried going to Google and it worked. I did a Google search and it worked to. I continued to go through my bookmarks and some worked and some didn't.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why this is so. Any thoughts anyone?

I also tried using the PowerBook straight from the cable modem, and it worked fine. Strange huh?

It sounds like the router is preventing access from certain IP addresses (ie. that of your powerbook) to certain URLs. This is a facility that is often provided in routers and you may have inadvertently turned it on. Look on your router's config pages, possibly under "advanced".

I'd also check Linksys' home page to make sure that you're running the current version of the firmware for the router. That's not really likely to be your problem (I'd expect yahoo to work everywhere) but firmware upgrades do often cure obscure connection problems.

Content Filtering
 

Some Linksys routers have content filtering built into them.

As the other poster suggested, look in the router config.
(Note: If the router is doing the filtering, the PCs connected to it would also have the same pages filtered. You might be able to test this)

Some routers can filter content two ways... not only by actual domain name block-out, but also by objectionable content/language. Not sure about your router, but you need to eliminate these possibilities before looking at other solutions for fixing the problem.

One last thing... your personal OSX firewall on the laptop may be preventing certain services from coming through... while most websites pass communications through using port 80, other services provided by that site may utilize other ports which may be closed. I don't believe this is true for www.yahoo.com, it is occasionally true for the SBC yahoo portal, and a host of other sites.

GS

Hey LinkCJ--- I've had a similar problem for a few months. PC's get through the Linksys fine, but the Mac gets only sporadic response. My old linksys works fine in this regard, but it has to be power-cycled every 5 minutes. The "new" linksys (got it on eBay) has the routing problem just like you describe. In addition to the Mac problem, none of the PC's can get pop3 email. I bought a brand new linksys, 8-port, which doesn't work at all! And naturally, Comcast and Linksys 800# help is no help at all. Let me know if you solve this.

-- Quackster

mac can't see pages pc can
 

Hey everyone,

I had a brief issue with my imac not seeing pages that an old pc laptop was seeing.
It was only certain pages and the filters on the router were default. (nothing being blocked).
It was working for months before, just one day while testing some web site, pages just stopped.
Both machines have access through my linksys router, so troubleshooting was mindblowing. Could not figure out what the problem was.

I even tried termial-ing through, with pinging, traceroute to the sites that I could not view. nothing.

I ended up playing around with the "MAC address" numbers (They are zeros.) in my linksys router settings and then the pages started showing up.


I am not sure to this day what the problem was or is? servers offline?

I found this post while helping a friend hook up an wireless linksys router.
I thought I'd put in my hack fix.

I also had this very problem just recently with my Powerbook G3 connected wireless to my Linksys BEFW11S4. To confirm the problem is the router, try a 'traceroute' of the offending address in Terminal. If all you get back are stars, you're not getting past the router.

It turned out my problem was simply not having my Powerbook set to a static address. The problem doesn't seem to appear with a static address. No addresses have ever been blocked on the router.

Alternatively, you may try reseting the router to factory default by disconnecting the power and holding the reset switch for about 30 seconds.

Las_Vegas

It may be due to the computer not finding a DNS, you may need to use a manual IP and enter the DNS servers of your isp

Linksys router
 

Hi,

Today I received my ADSL router, a Linksys BEFSR11.

When connected exactly as they told me, the router did'nt work at all. I couldn't even get into the control panel in my browser. Do you know what settings I must use in the Appletalk panel and in the TCP/IP panel? Do I have to do additional configuration in my Mac?

If you have any solution or hint, please e-mail me, it would help me a lot. My e-mail is: mail-ddm@zonnet.nl

Thanks!

Best regards, Daphne

You won't need AppleTalk to configure your router... even with a Mac, you can access the router via your web browser directly.

You should generally set your network preferences to DHCP, which will allow the Mac to pull the necessary configuration directly from the router.

Your broadband modem should be plugged into the WAN port on the router, and then your Mac plugged into the LAN port on the router, so that the router sits between your modem and computer.

Make sure you're using the correct address to get to your router. One way to check this is to go to network preferences, and see if your Mac has pulled the DHCP configuration from the router. If so, you should see the IP address of the router in the panel. Otherwise, the default address for your router is 192.168.1.1 (per the Linksys web site).

One last thing... make sure that you've disabled PPP/dial up access as your Internet connection, because otherwise your Mac might not properly use your Ethernet connection to reach the router.

Good luck!

Thanks for your quick reply, I can't wait to try this tomorrow! :p

Depending on how your ADSL Modem is setup, you may need to configure PPPoE on the Linksys. If you needed it on your Mac before the router, you need it off on the Mac and configured through the router.

If you need to set port forwarding on the router for such things as Quicktime Streaming, Filesharing and such, you will want to set your Mac up to use Static Addressing. To setup Static addressing to the Router set the following:

IP Address: 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway/Router: 192.168.1.1

Accessing the Router can be done through any browser as gsparks pointed out by entering the address: http://192.168.1.1

BTW: If you received the Linksys, used. Hold the reset button on the back as you plug it in. Hold the reset button for 5 to 10 seconds after applying power.

Beautiful advice, Las Vegas!!

GS

Hi again,

Yesss, I managed to connect to the Internet today with my new router! Thanks again for your useful help.

There's are only two more problems. I can't receive e-mail, even if I use exactly the same settings in my account as before. Is there some additional setting in Outlook express, or any other solution? I can reach the server, but after sending my username, he doesn't react anymore.

Problem two is that I can't connect to the Internet with two computers in the same network. I can log into the router in all computers, but not at the same time on the Internet. What am I doing wrong? Please provide me some help, in both Mac OS 9 and OS X. Many thanks!

Oh, one more thing: my server requires VPN with PPTP.

Daphne

If you used Static addresses, each Mac needs a unique address. IE: Mac 1=192.168.1.2, Mac 2=192.168.1.3, etc. You can have as many as 254 devices connected through your Linksys Router.

You mail problem is odd… You may need to manually set your DNS addresses in the Linksys setup. If it doesn't show any DNS addresses in the Linksys "Status" section, you should manually enter that. A quick call to your ISP will get the proper DNS addresses.

Hi,

When I call the control panel (192.168.1.1) and get to the 'status' page, you can check which clients are connected to the router. I can see all computers with their IP adresses, so that part works allright. Do I have to use the IP numbers shown in the control panel?

Thanks again, so far this forum has been a great help for me.

Daphne :)

Connection
 

Ok, now I can establish an Internet connection on 3 of my Mac computers through the Linksys router! :) :)

On my old Mac's Internet runs fast, but on my G4 (with Mac OSX) it is very slow. Some of the sites don't load at all and some of them only for a while. Does anybody have an answor to that? And my pop-email still doesn't work. Is there a setting I have to do in my computer or in the router? Maybe a primary or secundary DNS? And do I have to use the DNS of my provider?

Thnx!

Yes you should use the DNS of your ISP. Have you tried switching network cables on the slow Mac?

Slow Mac
 

Thanks!

Yes, I tried to swith the network cable, I even connected the router directly on my slow Mac, with the same cable I use on the LAN hub right now, with no result.

Which DNA should I use and where must I put it? In my router, or in the TCP/IP control panel?

The router should have all your ISP settings. If you're using DHCP, the router should then pass along the DNS info to the DHCP clients automatically.

Unless you're cloning your Mac, don't bother with the DNA… :)

Now about the DNS. Contact your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and ask them to give you the DNS Server address(es). There will be a Primary, Secondary and sometimes a Trinary server. Write down both or all three numbers. Ask also for the "Search Domain(s)" and write those down.

Go into the Linksys setup utility at http://192.168.1.1 and enter your password. Down toward the bottom of the main Setup window, you should have three places to enter Static DNS Servers. Enter all of them that your ISP gave you. Any that you don't have, leave set to 0.0.0.0. Save your changes. This should supply the DNS Servers to your Macs connected via DHCP or Static.

It doesn't hurt to place these addresses in the Mac's Network preferences pane either. You can also add the Search Domain(s) separated by commas here.

Fast
 

Hi experts,

Thank you again for your input, it works just fine now. All of my computers are running fast and all of the pages can be loaded!

I can send e-mail, but still can't receive it from my own domain provider. It's odd, but I CAN receive e-mail from my home e-mail with the same settings in the router, but not my mail from our business domain. Maybe I should contact them and ask them for a solution. If you have any advice on this, please... I never thought I'd come this far! ;)

What was the problem/fix so future readers, who might have the same trouble, will know?

Faster computers
 

Hi,

The advice to set my IP to a static setting worked and I put the DNS provided by my ISP in the control panel. That's all!

Thanks again and I hope my e-mail gets fixed so I can spend my time Internetting instead of configuring. :rolleyes:

Linksys router
 

Hi again,

After configuring a while I'm still not able to receive email from my domainserver.

Someone from the helpdesk told me my email address is not a POP-mail but a Batch-mail, whitch means that it's a 'catch-all' email address. that could be the reason why the router blocks the traffic between the server and my computer. He adviced me forward the port (whitch is 110 for the mailserver) to my IP-address. I tried to do so in the firmware, but I guess I did it wrong because I still can't receive mail.

Does anybody have a suggestion? I would be happy, because my boss is surfing the Internet all the time and he almost gets irritated when I have to send an e-mail. :)

Thanks for being helpful!