10.5.5 Self Assigned IP OR no connection at all

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10.5.5 Self Assigned IP OR no connection at all

Okay, I'll try to condense this as much as possible. I have an imac, MBP, cell phone, and a couple gaming systems which connect to my network via wifi. All has been well for ages with this setup. 10.5.5 comes along and I didn't install it for a bit. Thursday I finally do it, and now my iMac cannot stay connected to the network. It also many times will not connect at all, simply saying connection failed

The other devices all connect with no problem what so ever. I turned off my network security and same problem. I unplugged modem + router for 10 mins, problem persisted. I then fully reset my router and left it at default, same result. My iMac either gets no IP address, fails to connect at all, or does a self assigned IP which doesn't do anything because I still cannot get online. I also updated my router firmware with no effect (i tend not to do this unless I need to, it usually ends up causing more trouble than it fixes).

My router is a netgear wgt624 v3. This first occurred when playing WoW. This had me checking the WoW forums for solutions. Over the past week, the problem has happened enough times without WoW being on for me to rule it out as a cause.

My router is in the same room as the iMac, so this is not a range issue. The other devices connect fine, so it is not a shot router. I am at a loss for what to do. I am going to take the computer to another network in a couple of days when i have the time (school/work.. too busy) but I am unsure if that will help me much. If it works there I'll be further perplexed, and if it doesn't I guess it's time to consider a faulty airport card? I am under warranty still.

Anyone know of a possible cause to this? Or how to further investigate. Aside from trying on another network I feel I have exercised all options.

iMac 20", Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Sep 23, 2008 7:24 PM

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Answer 1

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,203 points

Sep 23, 2008 7:43 PM in response to Matt Turek

The usual diagnostic tricks:

1) Make sure your router is running the latest firmware version available from Netgear. (Which you already did.)

2) Download iStumbler and make sure there are no new Wi-Fi routers in your neighborhood that may be interfering with you.

3) Try deleting your network from your list of known networks, rebooting your iMac, and adding it back.

4) Double check your Network firewall is set to "Accept all incoming connections," or if it's not, try setting it that way and see if you can obtain an IP address.

4) If the above fail, if it's possible for you to try connecting to another Wi-Fi network as a test, to so. I hate to tell you to drag your iMac down to the Apple Store to try their network, but if that's the only debugging move you can make, that may be what you have to do.

If you're consistently not obtaining an IP address from your DHCP server, we can diagnose that, but it seems there are multiple issues at play here.

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Answer 2

Scoreboy

Level 1

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Sep 23, 2008 8:37 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

Very similar problem. Since upgrading to 5.5, my internet connection has been spotty. Now it seems to be gone for good. The very weird thing is I can ping my router, I can ping the DNS's (which are outside my network at my ISP) listed. I can ping anything, just can't get to the web or my email. None of my browsers can reach outside (Safari, Opera, Firefox, even ancient IE). I can't get my mail (Entourage). Up until now I've been more than happy with my new(ish) iMac.

I have a hard-wired connection, with a fixed address, so I tried the Airport. No dice, same thing. Reset my hard connection, same thing. Turned everything off then on then off then on again.

Any other computer in the house has no problems, just my newly upgraded Leopard iMac.

I was about to go bonkers when I checked my properties on my old XP machine. Somehow the aforementioned DNS addresses had been changed. This is very mysterious, none of my other computers had the DNS addresses as my iMac and I had not changed them since buying the computer. I entered my correct DNS addresses and voila, connection again.

Bottom line? Check your DNS addresses and see if they've mysteriously been altered. And if anyone else has had this odd problem Apple should know about it.

Another oddity is that when I originally opened my network panel the "Firewire" connection was highlighted. I have never used that one.

Very strange.

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Answer 3

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,203 points

Sep 23, 2008 8:57 PM in response to Scoreboy

What were your DNS addresses changed to?

Computers using DHCP usually obtain DNS server addresses from the router, unless you've specified them manually, and typically the address will be set to that of the router which will then issue DNS requests on behalf of the router's clients in part to build a larger DNS cache.

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Answer 4

Scoreboy

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Sep 23, 2008 9:16 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

The addresses assigned to my DNS were 204.127.129.1 and 204.127.160.1. After I wrote my reply I realized those addresses sounded familiar and, indeed, they belong to the ATT Worldnet ISP. Now, while I used to connect through ATT with my XP machine I have never done so on this machine.

Is it possible my iMac went trolling and found these addresses on one of the old Windoze machines on the network? That seems very unlikely but I'm at a total loss as to how they got on this machine.

Gremlins?

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Answer 5

Scoreboy

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Sep 23, 2008 9:21 PM in response to Scoreboy

Sorry, I forgot. I don't use DHCP and never have. Everything is hard wired and hand addressed by natives. I'm not on the ATT network anymore having switched to Speakeasy several years ago.

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Answer 6

Matt Turek Author

Level 1

20 points

Sep 23, 2008 10:45 PM in response to Scoreboy

did the firmware.

used istumbler, no networks other than mine in the area.

removed the network, no solution.

firewall set to accept all

DNS settings are fine

Ill try another network but other than that ?

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Answer 7

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,203 points

Sep 24, 2008 1:10 AM in response to Scoreboy

Do you have any kind of proxy configuration set up?

Were your DNS settings all entered by hand via the DNS tabs?

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Answer 8

Matt Turek Author

Level 1

20 points

Sep 24, 2008 8:07 AM in response to Dogcow-Moof

no proxy, my dns shows 192.168.1.1 and its greyed out. i dont think that was there yesterday, i managed to get online for a few mins and install the combo update, that might have changed it?

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Answer 9

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,203 points

Sep 24, 2008 8:44 AM in response to Matt Turek

Any DNS address that is greyed out is one provided by your router or DHCP server, so that's very likely its source.

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Answer 10

Scoreboy

Level 1

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Sep 24, 2008 9:16 AM in response to Dogcow-Moof

nope, no proxys

Everything is still working fine since fixing that dang DNS problem. I really don't know where it came from though. If you'all can't replicate it I'm willing to call this fixed and move on. If it happens again I'll try and gather more information.

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Answer 11

Sep 24, 2008 10:19 AM in response to Matt Turek

I'm also wondering if 5.5 is causing my problems as well. I have no service when I plug the modem directly into the computer. When it goes to my router, everything on the network is slow, which leads me to think that this isn't a 5.5 issue. I have a PC on the network and it is also slow. Still haven't tested the router yet as I get no connection when it's directly connected to the mac or PC.

Just is no fun when you have no internet. (this is being posted from work)

Message was edited by: Brian Kastens

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Answer 12

Matt Turek Author

Level 1

20 points

Sep 24, 2008 4:02 PM in response to Brian Kastens

same problem on my parent's network with a complete different brand of router. they have no problems with their computers, but none are imacs.

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Answer 13

Sep 25, 2008 12:12 PM in response to Matt Turek

I too have encountered strange connection problems recently. I have to power up the MacPro twice to get a working internet connection (via utp cable). After the first start up sometimes it gets a self-assigned ip sometimes the expected one with which I can ping to anywhere (but no mail etc). The network utility shows a lot of receive errors. The log indicates first a down-link of the ethernet port and then an up-link.
After powering off and immediately powering on again everything works as expected, mail, safari ..., without receive errors. In the log I see an up-link without a prior down-link.
Unfortunately after the MacPro is waking up from a long sleep, the internet connection doesn't re-establish and I have to restart it again.

Has this something to do with the 10.5.5 upgrade ???

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Answer 14

Matt Turek Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 1, 2008 8:12 AM in response to Jan Vercammen

Well I have reinstalled the combo update, and now I can connect. However, I get insanely large lag spikes constantly. If I play a game online it's impossible.

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Answer 15

Matt Turek Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 1, 2008 9:32 AM in response to Matt Turek

what i am really wondering here is if i should take the imac in to have the hardware checked or is this a software issue

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