MacBook won't connect to the internet!!!

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Level 1

12 points

MacBook won't connect to the internet!!!

I recently switch wireless service at home to At&t.

Since, my computer "connects" to my network, accepts my password, and shows full signal, but when I open Safari, or any other app that requires internet, I just get the "failed to open page because you are not connected to the internet" page.

My roommates connect to use our wireless network with their PC's just fine, and my Mac connects to other wireless service at school and work and works just fine.

I have been on the phone with At&t many times trying to troubleshoot and fix the problem. No success.

Apple charged me $49 to talk to them, with no success.

I HAVE ALREADY TRIED RESTARTING both my Mac and my router, I have reset the router, I have restored original settings in both Safari and my router, I have tried removing the security from our network in order to connect without a password, I have tried re-configuring the router to work with Macs....all no success.

I am very frustrated with the situation as I, like most people, require internet access for both school and work.

Any help, tips, or advice on the situation would be grateful.

Thank you.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jul 10, 2010 9:39 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

SocialGen

Level 1

5 points

Mar 19, 2012 6:59 PM in response to mayfi944

Wow. Same problem. Like often happens when a Mac quirk shows up I just wasted hours of my life and finally got it to work. I'll share the steps I took. First it worked two days ago at the same coffee shop, the only thing that had changed was the password, however no matter how many times I entered the password in the different forms. Nothing. All I got was a not connected... due to the "self assigned IP address" message. I attempted the tricks that people posted here: 1) Turned off and back on the wi fi ... nothing 2) restarted the computer... nothing 3)I went into System Preferences > under TCP/IP I changed the Configure IPv4 to "Using DHCP Manually" and used an IP address close to the one from my other mac which was connected just fine... almost nothing... the green light went on and it said connected under wi fi in the left panel of the preferences... but no actual connection 4) I changed the Manual IP address to Match my working Connected Mac... almost nothing... the green light again went on and it said connected under "wi fi" in the left panel of the preferences... but no actual connection 5) I deleted "Wi Fi" from the left panel and recreated it using the + and - buttons on the bottom of the left pane and hit renew DHCP address, but it recreated the same 162... IP as before and still not working 6) I changed the from a 162... to a 192... nothing 2) I hit Renew DHCP Lease... nothing same IP.

Then...

Here's what finally worked: Again in System Preferences>Network> I turned Wi-Fi off, Went to Advanced>TCP/IP>Configure IPv4 and changed it to off, hit "OK", Highlighted Wi-Fi in the left column, hit the - sign on the bottom left, deleting it, then hit the + and created it. I got a message saying there is no assigned IP address so I went back into >advanced>TCP/IP and turned on Using DHCP, Hit "Renew DHCP Lease" and it finally created a brand new IP address 10..... and if finally F'n worked.

Jeez Apple get it together. This is a ridiculous problem.

I hope my struggles actually help someone

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Answer 2

Sep 2, 2010 12:27 PM in response to mayfi944

Hey guys. I have one of the newest generation of Macbooks and started having this problem earlier this week with my school network.

I just solved it (seemingly stupidly) and would like to offer my solution just in case it might help anyone.

What I did was as follows:
Open: System Preferences>>Network

At the left, there should be a pane listing ways in which your computer connects to the internet (Ethernet, VPN, AirPort, etc.)

At the bottom of this pane there are (+)(-)(cog) buttons that correspond to (add method)(remove method)(other options dropdown)

Highlight: Airport and hit - to remove.
Immediately hit + and choose AirPort (on mine it is default) for the interface type.
Click: Create

That somehow allowed my AirPort to fully connect again.

This seems gimicky, but I do hope it helps some of you out! Don't know how long the renewed effect lasts as I just did it within the last few minutes.

Message was edited by: Rigelface

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Answer 3

Jan 13, 2011 2:15 PM in response to nudavinci64

you can also check to see the the DNS settings in your Network Preferences are correct. i found 5 settings (numbers) in my list. the top two were the same as on my other mac - which is working fine - and they were grey. the bottom 3 were in black and did not match the other machine. i erased the bottom ones, applied the changes and everything now works properly.

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Answer 4

Mar 18, 2011 1:05 PM in response to mayfi944

I don't know if anyone will be helped by this, but the Macbook problems connecting to the internet are directly related to DNS issues. I discovered this after an upgrade to the OS X Lion preview.

The symptoms are as follows: a macbook (pro, mini, etc) can get an IP address from a DHCP server on any given network, but can not connect to the internet, even though other computers on the same network have no issues. If this sounds familiar, read on.

The problem is not related to 3rd party products, routers, Airport settings, locations or public vs private DNS servers, and you don't need to reset SMC or PRAM.

You will need to use terminal and you DO NOT want to use disk utility to repair permissions.

The most direct way to fix this is to copy the com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist and com.apple.mDNSResponderHelper.plist files from an internet connected Mac into your /System/Library/LaunchDaemons directory.

(You should know that it probably doesn't matter what version of OS X you have or the other Mac has, you just need the files.)

Next you will need to change ownership of the files just copied (ex: chown root:wheel /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist and chown root:wheel /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponderHelper.plist)

Then, you will need to set correct permissions (ex: chmod -R 755 /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist and chmod -R 755 /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist)

The last thing you'll want to do is to verify that the ownership of the files copied is set to system (and maybe wheel) using "Get Info." (Conversely, you can use ls -l /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist to verify owner and permissions.)

You should not have to restart to connect immediately to the internet.

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Answer 5

Aug 24, 2011 9:13 AM in response to mayfi944

Thank you BDAqua. I actually JUST got off the phone with Apple tech support and they seemed to have fixed my problem (we'll see how long it lasts...). They first suggested removing and re-adding "airport" in network preferences, but i had already tried that and it wasn't working for me.

For anyone else who's still having this problem, this is what I was told to do after that:

Open Finder

Click Macintosh HD, Library, Preferences, and then all the way at the bottom: System Configuration

Drag the System Configuration folder into the trash and restart your computer

Go to airport and reselect your network

That did it for me!

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Aug 28, 2011 3:17 PM in response to visitor05

Try putting these numbers in Network>TCP/IP>DNS Servers, for the Interface you connect with...

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

Then Apply. For 10.5/10.6 Network, highlight Interface>Advanced button>DNS tab>little + icon.

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Answer 7

Oct 22, 2011 8:06 PM in response to mayfi944

The delete Airport then add it again work for me. Thanks

Open: System Preferences>>Network

At the left, there should be a pane listing ways in which your computer connects to the internet (Ethernet, VPN, AirPort, etc.)

At the bottom of this pane there are (+)(-)(cog) buttons that correspond to (add method)(remove method)(other options dropdown)

Highlight: Airport and hit - to remove.

Immediately hit + and choose AirPort (on mine it is default) for the interface type.

Click: Create

That somehow allowed my AirPort to fully connect again.

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Answer 8

Caleb96

Level 1

0 points

Nov 24, 2011 3:21 AM in response to mayfi944

i have found a solution to your problems! if your connected to your wifi but theres no internet connection go into system prefences-->Network-->Airport-->Advanced...-->TCP/IP--> change the "configure IPv4" to JUST using DHCP and click ok then click apply then it should work great!🙂

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Answer 9

djt_1

Level 1

0 points

Dec 1, 2011 12:26 PM in response to jadefrommanchester

I was having similar problems. Every time I returned to my mac and opened the lid, Airport would show I was connected to my router, but nothing would work. Safari gave me the 'your not connected to internet' page, mail couldn't connect to the server, etc, etc.

After googling 'delete system configuration mac' (I was sceptical of deleting configuration files), I came accross this advice and gave it go. Worked for me and I have now deleted the .bak file and emptied trash.

http://stevejamesson.com/2008/10/01/reset-mac-os-x-network-configuration-factory -default-airport-interface-disappeared/

Hope that helps.

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Answer 10

jayda187

Level 1

0 points

Feb 10, 2013 2:39 AM in response to mayfi944

hi,

Dont know if this will help anyone,but after reading the post,deleteing airport, system configurations,restarting and trying various other drastic steps etc,the ony thing that worked was a tip from a youtube vid (can't remember the link but it is on this thread somewhere.Its 2 parts.Sorry!) All I did was:

go to system preferences> network>advanced>(click on your airport bit, mine was always green and said connected but it never connected fully to a page, would just hang for ages)

>click advanced down on the bottom right

>then click the TCP/IP tab>

then theres a bit that says router:( this is the router address,mine was 192.168.0.2),copy and paste this.Then click the DNS tab.

The router address should be in the DNs servers bit. If it isn't, apparently, thats what the problem is! So just press the '+' symbol, paste your router address and then click ok and then apply. It was that simple.

After struggling for a week and going on various forums, this is the only thing that worked and now i'm up and running fine. I have a 5 year old macbook with version 10.5.8

Hope this helps someone! good luck!

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Answer 11

bsorense

Level 1

0 points

May 13, 2013 2:02 PM in response to mayfi944

I was working on a older MacBook that would not connect to wireless when I came across this discussion thread. This MacBook would see wireless access points, but would not get an IP address.

I finally got this MacBook back on by changing the computer name: System Preferences - Sharing - Computer name.

Not entirely sure why this made a difference, but immediately after making this change, the MacBook was able to get an IP address.

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Answer 12

Jun 26, 2013 4:56 PM in response to mayfi944

Hi guys!

I had the same problem with mine, and nothing seemed to work. I went into the store, and they gave me a new Mac, and I came home, and the SAME problem occured.

Anyways, I thought it must be my router, even though everything else remained connected perfectly.

I found the solution kind of randomly:

Here is the solution:

Check your router model and look for an UPDATE ON THE FIRMWARE on the website to allow macs to connect, especially if it is a new mac or your first. It took an easy update, my router is Linksys and now I have not had a single problem. I hope this helps.

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Answer 13

Arifmac

Level 1

4 points

Aug 31, 2013 11:57 AM in response to mayfi944

After trying all the solutions on this thread the only thing that worked for me is resetting the SMC. This is an old trick that we used to use in the 90's but I totally forgot about since I didn't need it for many years now.

Step #1: Shut down you computer and unplug from mains power source. leave for 15 seconds or more

Step #2: Plug power cord and after 5 seconds start up your Mac.

That's it.

Read more here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

The problem I had: For no reason my iMac disconnected from internet even though all other Macs, iphones, ipad are connected and working as normal.

It refuses to get an IP address from DHCP router provided by my ISP. Getting connected on wi-fi.

I tried ethernet cable but still no IP adress on that port.

Tried every solution mentioned here but it didn't work. After more than 24 Hours of frustration and system reinstall it hit me. why don't try an old trick and viola! It worked.

**** how we're dependant on the internet.

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Answer 14

Feb 6, 2014 1:56 AM in response to mayfi944

i have found a solution...

it turn out that there was no ip address in dns settings...so i just put 192.168.1.1 and it worked

go to preferences>network (select wifi in the left panel)>advance>dns>then just press the + sign and add 192.168.1.1 or whatever is shown and apply

it worked for me i do not know if it is a temporary fix but it did work fot me.

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Answer 15

Feb 16, 2014 5:34 PM in response to mayfi944

I had this same problem, and tried every fix suggested on this thread. None worked, so I called support. The fix was this: on the systems preferences, network, advanced, select DNS. I added (using the +) two lines (at the direction of support). 8.8.8.8 and then 8.8.4.4. OK, then Apply, then restart the machine. Works fine now.

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