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Level 1

4 points

Error joining the AirPort network

I recently replaced my Graphite Airport network (2 ABS connected with ethernet) with the Airport Extreme "n" network.
I configured it with my Duel which is connected by ethernet.
Our emac (running Tiger) and 15" 1.5 GHz PowerBook (running Panther) perform fine. The Epson printer connected with the USB port works too.
However, my older G4 "TiBook" (with older airport card but running Tiger) gets the error message "There was an error joining the AirPort network "MyNetwork". My old G3 Wallstreet (OS9), which was running fine with a network card in the PCMCIA slot, no longer connects. Neither does the G3 imac running Panther.
In other words, I am having trouble connecting with the older wireless cards. Please help!

G4 Dual 1.25 GHz, G4 15" PB 1.5 GHz, G4 15" PB 500 MHz, G3 PB - Walllstreet Mac OS X (10.4.8) some run OS 10.3 and 9.1

G4 Dual 1.25 GHz, G4 15" PB 1.5 GHz, G4 15" PB 500 MHz, G3 PB - Walllstreet, Mac OS X (10.4.8), some run OS 10.3 and 9.1

Posted on Mar 8, 2007 10:43 AM

19 replies

Ellie-VT Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 9, 2007 7:36 AM in response to Henry G4

Hi, Ellie.

You can enable the MAC Address Access Control, so it
won't be an encrypted network (no password, WEP or
WPA), but only the machines whose MAC Address are in
the Acces Control List will join the network.
Machines which are not on this list will see the
network, but they will not obtain an ip address, and
will not join it.

You can find details on how to do this in the
Designing Aiport Extreme 802.11n Networks Manual,
page 51.

Good Luck

MacMini G4
1.25GHz 1GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

MacMini G4
1.25GHz 1GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Thanks! I read about this in the Network manual, but I have never tried it. I will try it out.

Mar 9, 2007 8:22 AM in response to Ellie-VT

One final thing worth trying. Buried somewhere in an Apple KB article I came across yonks ago, was that if you get the "Error joining network" message, hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard as you try to connect. This has often got me past connection issues—but not always! I have also found that sometimes it works when I click "Try Again" in the error dialogue, other times I have to close that dialogue and try it when I first try and connect to the network.

As I say, no guarantees but worth a try.

David

HarryMcQ

Level 1

0 points

Apr 3, 2007 7:00 PM in response to Scott Player

Within the last few weeks I have had no end of problems with Airport. Lots of "Error joining the Airport Network" messages. Different macs, different OS'es (10.3.7, 10.4.7, 10.4.8, 10.4.9) and different Wifi devices - Linksys, Netgear, D-Link AND now the new Apple Airport Extreme base station. All of the problems seem to be easily fixed by turning security off but that is a poor option.

I set up a brand new Extreme today with WEP(Transitional security Network),and was able to access it with my MacBook Pro running 10.4.9 with Airport Extreme Update 002 (I had been running the IO80211Family.kext v1.4 extracted from 10.4.8 with Extreme Update 001 but Extreme Update 002 replaced it with 1.5.3 seemingly identical to the one from 10.4.9.) A G4 Powerbook running 10.4.9 was able to connect to the new network just fine but a G4 iMac running 10.3.7 couldn't connect and neither could a Snow iMac running 10.4.7 (which I updated to 10.4.9 and it still didn't work) and another 10.4.8 MacBook Pro (updated it as well - still didn't work).

I ended up setting up MAC address control and ALL of the above computers work just fine but it seems to me that I should have been able to just plug in the new Airport Extreme, turn on the WEP style security and have all of the macs just work which has been my experience with Apple Base stations and many 3rd party routers in the past but it seems to me that recently something has gone seriously wrong with Airport and not just on Intel. I know this thread is in the Extreme n topic which is fine since my experience today was with this hardware but Airport in general seems to have gotten extremely buggy in various ways which disturbs me.

May 14, 2007 1:46 PM in response to HarryMcQ

Same problem here, got the iMac only a couple months ago, my router is rather new and good model, Netgear DG834GT and all worked very very well until yesterday when the airport just stopped working suddenly without warning. (my PCs are unmoved by the problem and still connect without problem) Airport sees the network (and neighbour's ones) but when the password is entered it gives the "there was an error joining to the "name" network." I tried plenty of options seen in forums, WEp, WPA, 802.11g only, channels, switching on/off, updating both router firmware and airport extreme 003, even pressing Ctrl while connecting: nothing!!! what's going on???? If it is a known issue why isn't it in the knowledge base? The Help utility on the Mac is as helpful as if it was saying "check if your computer is plugged in to the main". help!!

imac Intel core 2 duo Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Error joining the AirPort network