Brand new Extreme broke everything, including direct-to-modem? Please help!

Question

MizVic Author

Level 1

0 points

Brand new Extreme broke everything, including direct-to-modem? Please help!

Hello, Amazing Problem-solvers:

MacBook Pro, OS 10.7.5

Brand new Airport Extreme N (bought tonight at Best Buy)

Cable modem (Motorola, Comcast connection)

Airport Utility v. 6.1

The plan: Replace my trusty Linksys WRT150N with the Airport Extreme

The result: My MacBook Pro cannot connect to the internet AT ALL -- not directly from the modem NOR wirelessly via my iPhone hotspot. I think the AE messed something up?

The details: I followed instructions to set up AE: First, transferred the LAN Ethernet cable from Linksys to AE, along with the other E cables. Then plugged in the AE. From this point forward, the instructions in the book matched NOTHING logical, since things happened automatically on the computer. (BTW, I have experience -- doing graphic design and networking 3 to 5 computers with printers, etc. since the early 90s.) The computer recognized the AE and there didn't seem to be anything to "do" in Airport Utility regarding the instruction to "set up the wireless network," since there didn't appear to be info missing.

So I proceeded to check the wired connection, which worked. I then attempted the wireless connection, but it wouldn't work -- something about DNS problems. ***[Note that I've had weird wireless problems with this and another computer recently -- I think since I changed the security setting on the Linksys from the weaker password to the 28-character one -- I don't know if this is related.]*** *****[Note also that I saw on another post something about a DNS virus? Could I have that?]*****

After some unsuccessful attempts to get the wireless to work, I switched back to the Ethernet connection, but then it wouldn't work. I restarted the modem and maybe got it working once more, I don't remember now, but the wired stopped working altogether. I restarted everything, unplugged, changed wires, called Comcast to see if they could give me settings info (which they couldn't), let them refresh the modem to no avail. Even connecting the computer directly to the modem wouldn't make the MacBook Pro reconnect to the internet. I tried shutting down, restart, etc... And the iPhone hotspot connection wouldn't work either. ***[Note I saw a tip about deselecting Proxy settings, and none were ever selected.]***

The Comcast connection is fine, because I'm writing this post from another Mac hard-wired to that same modem.

I unplugged the AE sometime after failure to connect directly from the modem. I'm afraid to turn it back on and afraid to reconnect the Linksys, for fear I'll screw up another computer somehow. I'm at a complete loss as to how this happened.

THANK you so much for reading I'd really appreciate any suggestions or further inquiry.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Nov 2, 2012 10:23 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Tesserax

Level 10

148,321 points

Nov 3, 2012 12:15 PM in response to MizVic

Please check to be sure that the Ethernet cable coming from the modem is connected to the WAN (circle-of-dots) port on your new 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn).

Then I would suggest that you perform a complete power recycle of your networking equipment. Check out the following AirPort User Tip for details. When completed, please post back your results.

Reply

Answer 2

MizVic Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 3, 2012 2:19 PM in response to Tesserax

Thank you so much Tesserax. You posted your suggestion as I was on the phone with Apple fixing the problem. You are correct to suggest the complete power recycle and your link to the AirPort User Tip is also good, HOWEVER, some things need to be clarified and stressed for others who may have this problem:

QUICK BOTTOM LINE: The modem had to be disconnected for at least five minutes in order to reset.

As simple as this sounds, it still took an hour on the phone with Tech Support to get to this point. We unplugged everything several times, but never for a whole five+ mins until after several other attempts.

This is basically what we did, but I'll leave out our unsuccessful tries in between and narrow down the solution. I'm going by memory and some things are fuzzy, but I'll clarify fuzzy parts:

We first went through all the re-boot steps with no success and then he had me restart the Mac to test something I can't fully explain:

> Restart Mac while holding COMMAND-R, which brings up a screen I don't remember what was called but a search told me it's the "Lion Recovery" screen. **Note this may be a command for OS X Lion only? Check your system...

> Again, don't remember exactly, but this recovery screen had four options and the one I selected was something like "test internet connection." I clicked it and a Safari-looking page came up. I typed the Apple URL and voila! It finally connected to internet after so many previous fails! This process bypassed something in the modem or something, ?? I'm not sure exactly. But I guess it conveyed to the Apple tech that the modem was capable to connect and deduced the problem was an address thing between the computer and modem. Once that was established, again, we went through this several times, but save yourself the hassle and do the magic 5-minute wait the first time:

Things of note: the Apple tech was specific about the order things were unplugged and replugged:

1) shut down computer;

1a) (you can leave your Ethernet cable connected directly between Mac and modem)

2) unplug power from modem;

3) unplug coax cable from modem.

>> WAIT FIVE+ MINS, then

4) reconnect coax cable;

5) replug power and wait until all lights are on and modem looks ready;

6) start computer normally and confirm you can connect using direct-to-modem. If yes, then

7) shut down the modem again (coax and power) -- you can leave the computer on

8) while still OFF, connect the modem to the Extreme's WAN Ethernet port (don't power the Extreme yet);

9) re-power the modem, ensure all lights are on and normal, then plug in the Extreme

10) on the Mac, open Airport Utility. You should see the image of

11) the lower image probably is a yellow dot instead of green. If so, click it and then "edit" in the dialog box.

12) go to the Network tab and ensure Router Mode is "DHCP and NAT" [NOTE: for me, this setting defaulted to the setting called "Off (Bridge Mode)," which was obviously wrong, but nothing in documentation mentioned it.]

13) Click Update -- and I think that will finish the job. You may need to confirm that you're set to Connect Using: DHCP in the Internet pane too.

NOTE** The Apple tech said the process of shutting down and waiting five mins, thereby resetting the modem, was called "provisioning."

It had something to do with the modem only allowing one device to work at a time after I confused it with the new router.. I dunno... something like that. Just wanted to report the term in case anybody wants to look it up.

Thank you to Tesserax again.

That was it. Everything just worked after that. I hope this helps anybody else having this frustrating problem.

Message was edited by: MizVic

Reply

Answer 3

MizVic Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 3, 2012 2:13 PM in response to MizVic

PS... The Apple tech said the process of shutting down and waiting five mins, thereby resetting the modem, was called "provisioning."

It had something to do with the modem only allowing one device to work at a time after I confused it with the new router.. I dunno... something like that. Just wanted to report the term in case anybody wants to look it up.

Thank you to Tesserax again.

Reply