MacBook Bridging Airport to Ethernet Internet Sharing Problem

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Level 1

137 points

MacBook Bridging Airport to Ethernet Internet Sharing Problem

So I'm using my Snow Leopard MacBook to extend my wireless internet connection into a room that doesn't have reception, by running an Ethernet cable out of my MacBook.

I've gone into System Preferences and enabled share my Internet connection through sharing from wifi to Ethernet.

When I plug my device into the ethernet cable, the device shows it's been assigned IP numbers through DHCP. My MacBook shows an Ethernet assignment through the Network control panel. However, the device connected by Ethernet cannot access the Internet.

As a test, I hooked up my Mavericks MacBook to act as a wireless to Ethernet bridge, and worked perfectly. However, none of the IP information on the device or the mavericks MacBook is substantially different. Both seem to auto populate in a similar manner.

since Mavericks works and Snow Leopard doesn't, I have to assume there's some setting that needs to be tweaked under Snow Leopard to allow the Internet access to tunnel through to the Ethernet.

anybody have any idea where I should start looking?

Posted on Jul 12, 2014 9:16 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Jul 13, 2014 8:49 AM in response to Woodwyn

Apple support article - not a lot here.

Internet Connection - Share

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Answer 2

Woodwyn Author

Level 1

137 points

Jul 13, 2014 9:09 AM in response to Eric Root

Thanks, indeed there's not a lot there.

I was thinking that there might be a network reset option on my Snow Leopard Mac Book, like I've had a to do a time or two on my iOS devices that suddenly stop seeing the internet. Since I didn't know what that is, I set up a clean TEST user account. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to change anything, so perhaps the internet network settings are global. Any ideas how to reset the network settings and clear them out completely?

Hard to believe that there could be something so different between Mavericks and Snow Leopard as far as common network protocols are concerned that allows one to be plug and play and the other to connect to the network but not see the internet. Could it be the hardware? A 2007 MacBook vs. a 2011 MacBook Pro?

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Answer 3

Woodwyn Author

Level 1

137 points

Jul 24, 2014 5:45 PM in response to Woodwyn

I discovered I had not used my Snow Leopard MacBook in a while and had not updated with the updates since. I thought for sure that was going to solve my incompatibility problem. But it did not. Unfortunately I still cannot share my AirPort connection over Ethernet.

Makes no sense. I'll try to repair the permissions, and reset the PRAM. What else can I do? What am I missing? Perhaps reinstall the OS to see if some settings are corrupt?

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Answer 4

BobHarris

Level 9

53,117 points

Jul 25, 2014 6:07 AM in response to Woodwyn

What is the IP address that was assigned? It is most likely of the form 192.168.2.x. It should NOT be 169.254.x.x, as that is a self assigned IP address.

Do you have a valid DNS server assigned? Many people say they do not have internet access, when in reality they cannot translate domain names into IP addresses via a DNS server. You can try specifying your DNS server via System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced -> DNS -> [+]. Some choices are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (Google DNS servers), 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 (OpenDNS.org DNS servers).

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