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mayfi944 Author

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

Top-ranking reply

AMelillo

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Feb 21, 2017 3:26 PM

I just purchased a brand new MacBook Pro today and spent my first four hours with it struggling to connect to wifi. After trying every solution I could find, this one finally worked. The solution I found (https://community.bt.com/t5/Connected-Devices-Other/BT-INFINITY-wifi-loss-on-Mac Book-Air-ready-to-quit/m-p/1160960#M7876…) noted that Macs often run in to trouble connecting to wifi when there are identical names assigned to 2.4ghz and 5.0ghz frequency bands.

To fix this problem: access your wireless gateway (For Xfinity users: go to 10.0.0.1 by typing it into the browser of a connected device, enter username: admin pwd: password <-defaults for all xfinity customers) and modify the SSID for the 2.4ghz frequency (e.g., add an 's' to the end of the network name). Then, restart your computer and voila, you should be able to connect. (I still can't access the original network name—the 5ghz frequency—however, I'm able to access the newly named 2.4ghz variation of the network, and it works perfectly).

Hope this saves someone else the headache!

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211 replies

Aug 27, 2011 1:07 PM in response to mayfi944

Time lost over this issue is painful for me. The first two weeks with Lion, Wi Fi was fine. Not even slow. That was both before and after installing the 10.7.1 update. Then one day I turn it on -- after the system's been set for a week with no installs etc., and boom can't get to internet. Power cycled a few times. Started some trouble shooting. Tried dubious stuff from the boards like pram and smc reset . . .

I have tried everything, even calling. And here's the kicker!!!!!!!!

I can open Parallels, with WinXP simulated and go on the net with Firefox -- not cahced sites-- it's emptied on exit. I can do new searches etc. I've never done and the web responds. Go over to Lion and Safari, Firefox, even SoftwareUpdate all complain. Then I use the apple network diagnostic -- all fine it says.

So on this home wi fi, I have a PC, working with internet just fine. And I have a Mac running Tiger -- also working just fine with the internet.

LION is clearly having issues. I just hope they figure it out for the next release -- and send me a cd or something, although I guess I could download a fix through parallels here and move it over and run it on the mac side.

Anyhow, I'll add that I logged onto my router -- it sees my machine (which I figured since winxp on parallels inside the mac can get to the net), and its IP add and MAC add agree with what I have in Network Preferences. I opened terminal and I can ping my router. I checked security logs and found request, offer, ack, nothing too fishy looking (time zone was set wrong though).

Anyhow I thought at first I was just unhappy with iCal in Lion. Now I know a greater misery.

AppleCare / customer service wanted to push me off to the ISP. But when I've got a mac on Tiger and a PC and a virtual machine within the troubled Lion machine that can all surf fresh pages, and I can connect to the router at 192.168.x.x and ping it, well, does that really say ISP problem?

At least I don't buy beer via the internet 🙂

BDAqua

Level 10

245,369 points

Aug 27, 2011 1:40 PM in response to visitor05

Can you ping IPs out on the internet, but not URLs?

Like 74.125.53.103, but not google.com

Aug 28, 2011 12:03 PM in response to BDAqua

I can ping both IPs and URLs from terminal. Safari and Firefox status bars will say they're connected at certain points. But neither ever bring up a page (have even waited 30 min.)

I hadn't changed any browser settings when the trouble started, but I did check to make sure the method of connection is right, and even troubleshoot with manual vs. automatic vs. proxy settings in conjunction with my router.

BDAqua

Level 10

245,369 points

Aug 28, 2011 12:45 PM in response to visitor05

Does Network Utility also Ping OK? How about Traceroute in it?

Aug 28, 2011 12:56 PM in response to BDAqua

Both seem fine in Network Utility too (for sake of space just IPs are posted. URL was also + result):

Ping has started…

PING 74.125.53.103 (74.125.53.103): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 74.125.53.103: icmp_seq=0 ttl=52 time=90.153 ms

64 bytes from 74.125.53.103: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=83.773 ms

64 bytes from 74.125.53.103: icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=87.053 ms

64 bytes from 74.125.53.103: icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=85.315 ms

64 bytes from 74.125.53.103: icmp_seq=4 ttl=52 time=78.855 ms

--- 74.125.53.103 ping statistics ---

5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 78.855/85.030/90.153/3.745 ms

Traceroute has started…

traceroute to 74.125.53.103 (74.125.53.103), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets

1 (192.168.2.1) 8.846 ms 2.083 ms 2.321 ms

2 c-71-228-18-1.hsd1.il.comcast.net (71.228.18.1) 26.100 ms 23.679 ms 29.745 ms

3 * te-7-3-ur04.wchicago.il.chicago.comcast.net (68.85.131.101) 16.651 ms 13.310 ms

4 te-1-1-0-2-ar01.area4.il.chicago.comcast.net (68.87.210.137) 16.540 ms 18.435 ms 15.478 ms

5 pos-3-5-0-0-cr01.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.95.237) 18.638 ms 21.564 ms 19.065 ms

6 pos-1-1-0-0-pe01.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.86.38) 23.468 ms 19.630 ms 18.733 ms

7 66.208.228.202 (66.208.228.202) 18.775 ms 17.438 ms 18.814 ms

8 72.14.236.178 (72.14.236.178) 19.217 ms 24.621 ms 17.310 ms

9 216.239.43.80 (216.239.43.80) 70.774 ms 88.402 ms 72.252 ms

10 216.239.46.212 (216.239.46.212) 92.668 ms

216.239.46.200 (216.239.46.200) 77.883 ms 78.555 ms

11 64.233.174.129 (64.233.174.129) 78.615 ms

216.239.48.167 (216.239.48.167) 84.105 ms

64.233.174.129 (64.233.174.129) 77.748 ms

12 * * 72.14.232.2 (72.14.232.2) 83.878 ms

13 pw-in-f103.1e100.net (74.125.53.103) 99.272 ms 76.836 ms 77.190 ms

BDAqua

Level 10

245,369 points

Aug 28, 2011 1:33 PM in response to visitor05

Hmmm, in Sys Prefs>Network, what do you have for DNS entries? Any Proxies set?

Aug 28, 2011 2:43 PM in response to BDAqua

BDAqua - thanks for your time and interest.

In sys prefs> network I have only my router address 192.168.2.1 for the DNS entries. No proxy protocols are selected/configured, FTP is set to passive, and I'm set to bypass *.local, 169.254/16

BDAqua

Level 10

245,369 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.

Aug 28, 2011 3:58 PM in response to BDAqua

Tried. No change. Does it require a reboot?

Also in 10.7.1, next to the DNS Servers column, there's a Search Domains column. Does something need added there to correspond to the new numbers?

BDAqua

Level 10

245,369 points

Aug 28, 2011 4:13 PM in response to visitor05

Oh, your on Lion!

Not sure, but might ask over in the Llon/10.7 section.

Aug 28, 2011 4:22 PM in response to BDAqua

with my last post, I just noticed this was a leopard section. don't know how i landed here.

cheers.

BDAqua

Level 10

245,369 points

Aug 28, 2011 6:54 PM in response to visitor05

OK, plenty of good helpers over there, I have Lion but have forbidden myself from helping over there since my negativness on lion has depressed a few helpers I truly respect... good luck! 🙂

Sep 9, 2011 1:34 PM in response to Rigelface

This worked omg thankyou so much, have stopped using my macbook for a whole year due to this problem and now i can use it, i love you!!!

Sep 19, 2011 5:47 PM in response to mayfi944

I am having this same problem and have tried almost all of the suggestions on here. My macbook will not connect no matter what I do, not even for a minute. But we have a netbook that connects just fine to our wireless network. I don't know what this ping business means, but I have tried deleting and adding airports, moving the system configuration folder to the trash and restarting, and I don't know what else to do! Does anyone know anything else about this issue?

BDAqua

Level 10

245,369 points

Sep 19, 2011 6:20 PM in response to ttorgusson

Hi, you might get better/more help by starting a new topic of your own, this one is quite long to sift through. 🙂

MacBook won't connect to the internet!!!