Cannot connect IPAD to internet through IMAC airport.

Ryan,

I tried everything you said verbatim and never got it to work. I'm not an assembly language programmer but am pretty computer literate and been using Macs since 1989. Thanks for all your efforts and posts though... As I said before, way too much manual input (and memorization) to get a simple connection to work. I hope Apple is reading this or you post this to your Apple contacts up in N. CA. J

I need to do a video because I think there's something missing.

my ipad2 was connected to my imac via wifi but i could not access any internet based service on the pad.

here is how i solved it.

i had named my internet charing local connections as myname-iMac and i changed it into just 1 word (mynameiMac)

ipad connected instantly...

does not sound very elaborate but it worked.

hope that helps

Lionel, was this ever resolved?

I'm having precisely the same problem with my iPad 2 and my iMac (a year after your report).

Looks like a problem with Airport on the iMac (since iPad can steal signal from a coffee shop nearby and operate perfectly). Connected through the iMac, Safari says it has no Internet connection, yet it appears to be connected with the iMac Airport (asks for and accepts passwords in all tests).

My frustration is that, on occasion, the connection seems to work perfectly, until it fails again; some combination of iPad resetting everything; sometimes Apps forget the Internet connection and I've had to download them anew.)

Where is Apple on this?

Turn off Internet Sharing on the iMac before creating an Airport account.

After jumping through every imaginable hoop to get my iPad 2 reconnecting to my iMac Airport (Ethernet to Internet), the solution is to turn off Internet Sharing whilst creating the Airport account.

1) Go to the iMac System Preferences, open Sharing. 2) Uncheck Internet sharing and select Cancel in the dialogue box to re-Start Sharing. 3) This provides access (on the same box in Snow Leopard) to Airport Options; create a network, with or without WPA security. 4) Re-Check internet on the list of shared services and restart Sharing.

Recap probem: iPad 2 appeared to connect to the iMac Airport network but would not provide Internet access. iPad showed a checkmark on the network but it was greyed. (N.B. The iPad had been functioning fine until the iMac was restarted and a new Airport account created. However, this problem had occurred previously and, honestly, I'm not sure how I got it working; but it operated reliably for weeks until the iMac was restarted.) No amount of resetting of iMac network preferences or creation of Airport accounts would work so long as Sharing was on.

Continuing Airport mystery: in the process the Airport icon on the iMac now indicates a regular airport connection (arrow) whereas in the past Airport had been creating machine-to-machine networks (tiny computer in the icon). Go figure!

Ryan, see my post on turning Sharing off. This resolved what had been a very bizarre and persistent problem in connecting my iPad 2 with my iMac Airport. You sound like someone who's been thoughtful about this issue.

Thanks navg8or03. As insane as this sounds, creating a new mail account connected my ipad to the internet after being connected to the wifi but not the internet and getting repeated errors. I rebooted my router, network, renewed IP, was on DNS.... blah blah.

Creating a new email account worked, which is completely ridiculous. Sounds like a DNS caching issue somewhere in the LAN or iOS.

UGH!!!!!!

I FEEL LIKE SUCH AN IDIOT!

I updated to Lion this weekend and was freaking out that my Ipad2 all of a sudden lost connection. Showed wifi signal, but safari would not connect. After reading a few threads, I learned that the new OS defaulted and turned OFF internet sharing!!!!! I was so mad! I wasted hours on this!

System > Sharing > make sure internet sharing is check marked in the box on the left.

ARG!

But happy 🙂

For what it is worth here is what I did in order to get a Macbook to successfully share its Internet connection with my iPad (wifi).

1. Started Internet sharing according to generally accepted procedures. iPad saw Macbook hotspot but it would not access the Internet.
2. Changed the Macbook's Firewall setting (Security pane) from 'Allow only essential services' to 'Allow all incoming connectins'. PRESTO iPad had Internet access.

Thoughts? Have I just exposed the Macbook to all sorts of wrong doing by making that change?

Had a 3G dongle in Macbok Pro for only 1 day before iPad signal stopped responding.

Have tried all avenues on other forums and websites, reset iPad, new password, name change, Airport diagnostics, etc. all to no avail.

Just tried some of Ryan's solution: copied DNS value(s) from Macbook Pro - System Preferences > Network > (3g Dongle listed) > Advanced > DNS tab (DNS Servers:) to iPad > Settings > Wifi > DNS and it worked!!!

Now have wifi and the kids can watch Peppa Pig, thanks Ryan.

THANK YOU CHRIS! I had been using my MacBook Pro as a wifi hotspot for my iPad 2 for days now (my iPad 2 is new) and it was working fine till earlier today when I downloaded an app from the App Store (no idea if there is any correlation, however.)

After hours and hours trying to solve this by dealing with the Airport wifi settings on the MacBook Pro to match those of the iPad 2 (and vice-versa,) and trying all the variations (leaving some fields blank, filling others to match one another on Static mode, etc), I read this entry of yours and decided to go via the Internet Sharing route just to try it out. It worked automatically! You have NO IDEA how grateful I am. Really, I spent around 3 hours researching this problem thinking the iPad had a hardware problem all of the sudden. As soon as I did what you said (go to System Prefs > Sharing and set that up,) I was able to connect to the internet on the iPad and my emails were immediately updated. So thank you very much, and I hope others who are going through the same problem, and are reading this whole thread, read your posts here and do like you said!! :-)

Thanks Ryan and other contributors.

Tried various combinations of the standard procedure (to set up a wifi hotspot from my retina Macbook Pro running OS 10.8.2 to share the USB broadband internet dongle plugged into it) including an hour on the phone with Apple support but still could not connect.

Later got it working with your various advice by:

a. Ensuring the DNS server entry on my devices, iPhone 5 and iPad 2 (Settings > Wi-Fi > yourMBPnetworkname > >settings > DNS Server) matches exactly the DNS Server entry on the Macbook (System Preferences > Network > connected modem), AND

b. Turning off the Firewall (System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Firewall). That seems to trigger an automatic refresh of the IP address, Subnet Mask and Router entries in the devices (Settings > Wi-Fi > yourMBPnetworkname > >settings).

The connection is not broken if I turn on the Firewall immediately after the connection is made and am browsing pages, but if anything causes the MBP or modem to shut down and therefore need to fire up either/both Modem and MBP, I need to repeat step b. Note that In the meantime the iPhone flips to G3 mode without warning, until the Wi-Fi connection is restored.

Maybe some of that is due to other settings, but I haven't been able to find a less tedious way.

It is 2013, and Apple support people yet don't have this anomaly and its solution recorded in their knowledgebase (nor provided a fix in iOS6). The reason I purchased MBP and iPhone was the promise of seamless compatibilty. Shame this bit lets the rest down.

.

Ok, I just had the same problem, with two iPads.

Both would not join the iMac internet share (all of a sudden). And one would also not join the Wifi router (all of a sudden). Yet both had been happy with these networks for ages. And yes, the iPad said it was connected with 5 bars, but when you used Safari it said "not connected".

The solution (permanent I hope), was to do a "Reset All Network Settings" in the "General >> Reset >> Reset All Network Settings" section. But it does mean I lost all my cafe passwords ! Grrrr !