Airport Express no longer expressing...
 

Hi,

I have a G4 model laptop which is compatible with the airport express card-and a WirelessG Billion Router. I installed the airport express card- everything worked fine and I was happy.Then one day for no real reason that I can work out -the wireless doesnt work. It finds the network says its connected but when I pull out the ethernet cable- im gone! Plus it now Airport only seems to "work" if I have the ethernet cable plugged in. It THINKS its connecting via airport but its actually ethernet.
I havent changed anything in the settings and it was working fine via airport before!
*bangs head on keyboard*:mad:
I have checked that I have the latest software etc and I have.
I have checked in the settings and cant find anything...Im at a complete loss.
Does anyone have any ideas that might help me?

Can you please launch your Terminal program (it's in /Applications/Utilities) and show us the results of
ifconfig

Trevor

Here are the results of the ifconfig

Heres the network prefs
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../Picture12.png

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...t/Picture1.png

and the system profiler recognises the card.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...t/Picture2.png

I am at a complete loss! TIA!

OK, if the Airport Express card is en1, as per the first screenie you are associating correctly with the base station, but it is not getting an IP from DHCP. You do have an IP for the ethernet card (which I assume is en0)(192.168.1.101), so this is why it's working.

But then the profiler says the Airport is turned off! What does the wireless icon in the menubar look like? Probably an empty triangle. If so, click that and turn the wireless card on. If it's grayed-out with 4 bars, click, turn off and then back on.

Is your router by chance set to filter connections by MAC address? Go to its setup webpage and make sure the router's and card's security settings are compatible.

PS - for cryin' out loud, turn off IPV6 for all interfaces. Its firewall is set to Allow All by default, so it's an easy way into your system.

Thanks, the screenshots help a lot.

This is excellent advice. Also, go to System Preferences > Network > Show: > set the popup menu to "Network Port Configurations" > uncheck all interfaces that you are not going to ever be using in this configuration: presumably Internal Modem, USB Bluetooth Modem Adapter, and VPN (L2TP). And assuming that you want Airport to be the primary interface, drag Airport above Built-in ethernet in the Network Port Configurations as well.

That's a great theory. However, if following Quantumstate's advice doesn't fix the issue, please give us a screenshot (or tell us all of the information in) System Preferences > Network > Show: Airport > TCP/IP tab. Also it might be helpful to see a screenshot of your router's configuration page.

Trevor

HI again...

The IPV6 WASNT TURNED on for anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I made sure of it!
Will check everything again in a tic.:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Ok will do all of the above and report back...btw just for your info- the airport thingy was turned off at the time I took the shots. I checked all the settings for the router yesterday but I could of missed something as I have a bad cold atm....will posts some shots of that too...thanks ppl :)

Your ifconfig says that it is turned on for en0 (which is Built-in ethernet):
You do have it switched off for Airport (en1).

Trevor

Er, sorry to butt in here, but could someone explain the IPV6 issue to me please? Should I disable it then?
TIA

ok Im back....here's some shots....btw if I turn airport on...there is NO signal despite it saying it is connected (it actually seems to THINK its connected but is only connecting via the ethernet)

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...t/Picture3.png




http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...t/Picture5.png



Does this help or make matters worse??:rolleyes: TIA

Is this the vulnerability that you are referring to, or are there other exploits to be concerned about?

Here's another article about it.

Well, your very first snap in #9 shows that your client card is in fact associated with a base station and connected... the question is, is it associated with your base station. Usually in the router setup there's a screen that shows DHCP clients; hopefully that will show MAC addresses associated with your router. And I am new to Mac, but usually in the client machine you can pull the MAC address of the router it's associated with.

You don't seem to have security on, so at this point I'm wondering if your client is associating with somebody else's router and/or somebody else is associating with yours.

I am a recent refugee from Debian, and in Linux we had a package called wireless-tools, which is not available in MacPort or Fink. It would allow you to examine all the intimate details of your client card, including the host MAC it's associated with. I don't know how to do this in OS X.

BTW, on your router you should Hide ESSID, for cloaking. This will prevent rinky-dink Winduhs active stumblers from seeing you, yet the Mac will still find you if you have security set up. And turn on WPA or WPA2.

Gavin, IPV6 is the next generation of internet protocol, designed for much more efficient operation and to give many more IP addresses; but it hasn't caught on because NAT for IPV4 has allowed IPs to be reused millions of times on internal networks, and also IPV6 can be a real bear to set up. IPV6 is a whole 'nother network on your system, and when it's active it can be reached by others running IPV6 outside who can crack your machine with ease, since the OS X IPV6 firewall is completely open by default. Many of your daemons these days listen on IPV6, and this is an easy avenue in. I've just walked in to several wide-open Macs. So turn off IPV6 on each interface.

No Three, those are refinements to IPV6 security. What Trevor and I are talking about is a complete second network with no firewall, fully open to the outside.

Bluemist, please do a simple test for me:

1. Disconnect the ethernet cable from your computer
2. Make reasonably sure that the computer reports that it is connected to your 802.11g router by verifying that the ESSID (wireless network name) matches (note that this won't prove it if you have a neighbor who is specifically trying to get you to connect to their network by matching your ESSID)
3. Now, open a browser, and attempt to connect to http://70.42.185.231/
4. If that works, try to connect to http://macosxhints.com/
That is actually the same address, but the first time it was written as an IP, the second time as a domain name. If you can connect to the IP but not the domain name, then you actually ARE connected over Airport (802.11g) you just are not getting DNS service.

The fix is quite simple--enter your DNS servers in System Preferences > Network > Show: Airport > TCP/IP tab > DNS Servers.

By the way, you may want to obfuscate the WAN IP address of your router in the images above from your router's configuration page for your safety.

Trevor

Quantumstate- I already have WPA2 Preshared Key on as the wireless secuirity.

Trevor-no go- like I said before as soon as I pull out the ethernet cable- DESPITE it saying I am connected via airport I am not (there's no signal at all yet IT thinks it is connected and tells me I am connected to the internet via airport)

I am wondering if I should just bite the bullet and reset the modem..and start over??

So you're saying that you tested connecting to an IP address instead of a domain name?

Trevor

Quantumstate: Thanks for that, I have switched it off on all interfaces. Does that fix it, or will it automatically come back on after a reboot?
Tx

G.

Yes...and no cigar...plus I tried to connect to "other" network and then manually typed in the network name..sometimes it tells me the encryption methods dont match other times it just says theres a problem connecting to network " xxx"

I downloaded Airport Radar and nothing appears.

Im out of ideas....do you think taking the airport card out and putting it back in might do anything??

Gavin, those settings will stick, so no need to worry about IPV6 anymore.

Bluemist, did you read some of my posts? Did you look in router settings for connected DHCP clients? Did you check everyything trevor and I suggested, because if you did not you are wasting our efforts.

Quantumstate- yes of course- I have tried everything suggested. I did find a DHCP Table in the router settings...and all is as it should be in there...

Thanks everyone for your help...I am just :confused:

Oh great now I check the settings and this appears under Airport but only intermittently...and the Airport icon intermittently flashes from being on (black) to off (grey)

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...t/Picture8.png

GRRRRRRRRRR....

Can you reproduce the DHCP table here? Something fishy is going on. The router's DHCP table will tell us the MAC addresses of clients connected, which you will then compare with your client machine to see if it is in fact one of those connected, or if maybe your client is connecting to somebody else's router.

It would be best if there were some wireless tools on the Mac, so we could run tests, but I am new to Mac so don't know of any. We should be able to ask the Mac the MAC address of the base station it's associated with.

Something fishy is going on alright...when I checked the DHCP table yesterday there were two addresses in this table (one the router and one my mac) and now look!

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...t/Picture9.png


I feel like things are getting worse and worse.....!!!!!!!
The MAC address is associated with the correct base station...(or it was yesterday!!)

Heh, just as I thought. The client that's associated with your base station is 7f:d9:00, whereas your Airport card is 32:22:95.

Unless you have another wifi client, someone else is associating with your base station, my dear. And you are associating with someone else's, named Zamina.

This doesn't seem possible since you say WPA2 is on, but the MAC addresses don't lie. Show us the Summary page of your router, and let's have a look at some of its specifics, like name for example. Please blur out or erase your WAN (external) IP though, before you post.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...st/wanbott.png

Also I no longer need a password to get to the router page :eek::eek:

I cant even seem to delete "Zamina"

Seriously am I best to reset my modem altogether??

This summary page doesn't tell us enough. Need to know its name, wifi security settings, etc.

Seems like a Jr. High kid has commandeered your router, probably to download pr0n without his parents knowing. They often set the password to keep other Jr. High kids out.

Ya. do a reset and start over with factory settings. Set the name, WPA, WPA password, cloaking, etc. The MAC address will tell you whether it's your machine that's connected.

Hi again...I did a reset Well it all looks ok except it doesnt work!!! I have security configured WPA2 Personal Shared Key on the router set up but when I try to connect it says encyrption methods dont match. I cant seem to find cloaking in the router config but will have another look.

Thanks Quantum.

First and foremost, set a password required to change settings in your base station. Then, in naming your network if you hadn't named it Zamina, that's the name of somebody else's network so name yours something different. Do not use your address, name or phone number, like some trusting souls do. I use star constellations. Set this name in your base station (router).

To connect, on the Mac click on the wifi icon in the menu-bar and hit Other. Enter the name you'd named your network in the base station, Security to WPA Personal, and the WPA2 password you'd set in the router. OK, and it should connect in a sec.

To make this permanent, open System Preferences|Network and select Location: Home. We are going to set up the networking profile you'll use at home. Elsewhere, the settings would be more, eh, promiscuous.

Airport|Configure.
By Default Join: Preferred Networks.

Hopefully your network is in Preferred, since you'd just joined it. If not, add it manually with +. If there are any networks there you don't recognize, by all means - them.

Options: Ask before joining, and Require admin password to Change wireless; all the rest unchecked. OK.

Go to the TCP/IP tab and Configure IPV4|DHCP. Configure IPV6: Off

And you should be in business.


To hide your network from garden-variety scanners you can cloak your router. Normally the router sends out a beacon every tenth of a second announcing its presence; but no one else needs to know it's there because you already do. This setting is usually a checkmark deal in wifi settings called something like Broadcast ssid, or Beacon, or something. Uncheck it, and your router stops advertising its services. Recommended.

Another MacBook, same problem
 

My new MacBook knew my wireless network was there but the Airport icon was grey and it wouldn't connect. Two XP-based computers and my daughter's MacBook can connect fine and the MAC addresses in the router DHCP table are correct. The network is unencrypted.

After hours on the phone to Apple they told me to enable Access Management on my router and put in the MAC address of the MacBook. This I did and it connected immediately. It continued to connect OK for four days. Now it is not working at all again.

Apple also got me to upgrade the OS to 10.4.10 and my Airport Extreme firmware. Airport is now type 0x168c,0x87, firmware 1.1.9.3, with an Intel 2.16GHz processor.

The MacBook that connects OK has a 1.5GHz Power PC G4 processor, a type 3.90.34.0.p16 Airport Extreme with 404.2 firmware and a 10.4.7 OS.

Something in the new MacBook stops it connecting. But it is strange that it worked for four days then stopped.

I have read various posts on this subject but should welcome some more advice on what to do.

First of all, MAC Access Management is worthless. I can use KisMac to sniff what MACs are communicating and forge mine easily.

Second, a grayed Airport means it sees the internal card, not the Wifi network.

Check the log in the router and see if it's giving any errors. If not, I can only help with WPA mode, and that's all you should run in.

Did you install the 802.11n Enabler in this MB? When you try and connect, go to Applications|Utilities|Console, and check the Console and System logs for related errors.

Just thought Id let you all know...everything works fine...EXCEPT it wont allow me to use a WPA2 PSK only a WPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone know why this is??

Cool.

Forgot what kind of base station, but some older firmwares muffed WPA2, since it'd been in development. Might get the latest firmware for it and flash it.

I have the latest firmware and I was sure WPA2 PSK worked previously :confused: