Can't get IP address via Airport?

Question

Can't get IP address via Airport?

I am having a problem connecting to the Internet via Airport on my titanium PBG4.
I can connect fine via Ethernet cable.
When I turn on Airport and select my home wireless router (from Verizon/FiOS), airport seems to say it's connected with a strong signal but I can't obtain an IP address via DHCP.
I can't even connect to the router itself via 192.168.1.1, whereas I can do so if I connect via ethernet cable.
Is there an incompatibility between my Titanium and the router's wireless protocol? Or am I missing a setting somewhere? BTW, all the other household Macs that are newer connect wirelessly with no problem.
Thanks,
W Kussmaul MD

12/15 G4's, iMac

Posted on Jul 31, 2010 8:28 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 31, 2010 2:35 PM in response to William Kussmaul

Hmmm. Puzzling. Some questions to narrow things down, maybe.

Does the wireless router require a Client ID?

Have you tried configuring a manual IP address for your PB rather than using DHCP?

What operating system version are you using on the PB?

If you click the airport menu bar icon, does your router show up with a check mark by it? (That at least says that you have gotten into the network, but doesn't help with the DHCP issue. If another network is checked, that could be the problem, though I would hope that residential routers are password protected, a hope that is not always fulfilled, I have found.)

I would have to guess it's a router-centric issue, because I have not experienced this problem in my wandering about with the G4 TiBook I have had for seven years now.

Also, you can check your network settings on one of the newer machines and see what its Airport TCP/IP settings are by comparison. That may provide a clue.

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Answer 2

Aug 3, 2010 4:34 PM in response to old comm guy

Thanks for your response and for helping me try to figure out this dilemma.
Some more details: my TiBook G4 runs OS 10.5.8, which I believe is the latest it can support.
Yes, the airport status dropdown shows my wireless network with a check mark, and the signal strength to be strong. Yet, no internet connection. In the TCP/IP pane under Airport, the router is shown as not detected even though it obviously has transmitted a signal to the TiBook.
On my other laptop, a 12" G4, which connects to this router without difficulty, the router is detected at 192.168.1.1; the 12" has a DHCP-assigned IP address of 192.168.1.4.
Back to the Titanium: when connected to the router via Ethernet cable, it gets a DHCP address 192.168.1.5. So I disconnected the cable, turned on Airport, and manually entered that same IP address. No luck.
??

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Answer 3

Aug 5, 2010 11:01 AM in response to William Kussmaul

Based on another thread and some MacOS voodoo, you might want to trash your network configuration preferences file, or at least move it to the desktop for safekeeping. It should be at the following location:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkConfig.plist

There may be something in that prefs file that is causing the mischief. You may have to reboot.

As I say, there's a lot of voodoo involved here.

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Answer 4

gheumann

Level 1

12 points

Oct 22, 2010 10:41 PM in response to old comm guy

I had exactly the same problem - my old PB, now my GF's computer.. I don't know if it was related but because she had let the battery die and as it was not getting on the net but set to get time from the net, the clock was set to 1969. I manually set the clock, deleted the networkConfig.plist (which in my case was in the library/prefs/SystemConfiguration folder. Didn't work, might have if I rebooted. Deleted it AND com.apple.airport.preferences.plist and then rebooted- bingo, all better now.

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