Apple : In Depth: 20 OS X networking problems and fixes |
| In Depth: 20 OS X networking problems and fixes Posted: 19 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST  If you've got problems with your Mac and your network, you've come to the right place. We've gathered together the 20 most common OS X networking annoyances and solved them on the spot. Q. When my MacBook is right next to the wireless router, it connects, but if I move to another room, it then asks for the password, even though other computers can connect just fine. A. This is a hardware fault with your MacBook's AirPort card or the antenna. The AirPort icon still reports a good signal because it is measuring the signal received from the router and the problem doesn't affect the receiver. But the transmitter's signal isn't strong enough to reach the router unless the range is virtually zero. It's time to get the AirPort card replaced – you can do so at an authorised Mac service centre. Q. I connect wirelessly to the internet with a BT Home Hub 2. Recently, Safari has started opening at btopenzone.com instead of my home page. What's going on?
A. If your ISP is BT, your router will create two networks – the password-protected one and an open one called BT FON that can be accessed by anyone with a BT broadband account If your router isn't available when your Mac starts for whatever reason, you can sometimes find yourself connected to a neighbour's FON network instead. Rightclick the AirPort icon and select the correct network to reconnect. Q. My iMac used to be able to create computer-to-computer networks with my Windows laptop. Since upgrading to Snow Leopard, I can't do this. Why? A. If you use the Mac as a Wi-Fi base station, then Windows PCs at least, won't be able to connect to your network unless you untick the Require Password box. Alternatively, use a separate wireless router and connect both computers to that. Q. How can I configure my AirPort Extreme to run both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands simultaneously, to give me two independent networks? A. It already uses both frequencies by default. The newer wireless n models automatically pick whichever band offers the best reception. Separate your network traffic at the IP address level, using a router – not by using different radio frequencies. Q. When I'm using MS Office, I frequently get asked whether I want the application to accept incoming network connections. Is there any particular reason why I might click 'allow'? A. Incoming connections are network packets that were not specifically solicited by the application. MS Office applications listen on certain ports to receive notification of updates, for example. If you have your firewall set to block all incoming connections, it won't be able to do this and that's why it pops up the message, asking if you want to let this one through. If you trust the application, it's safe; probably safer than leaving MS Office unpatched, in fact. Q. How can I use my home Mac to access my Windows XP computer at work?
A. You could use the Remote Desktop Host included with Windows XP Professional, but it's probably easier to use a web service like GoToMyPC.com, which enables you to access your Mac or PC from anywhere (for a price). Q. I use an Orange Internet Livebox, with Wi-Fi turned off, connected using Ethernet to a Time Capsule in Bridge Mode. This provides my wireless network. However, I'm restricted by the five-connection limit of the Livebox, even though I'm using the Time Capsule. How can I get round this?
A. In bridge mode, the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule don't provide any network address translation. They just rebroadcast the network packets wirelessly, so you're still restricted to the five-address limit imposed by the Livebox. Fortunately, however, the solution isn't a convoluted one. All you need to do is put the Time Capsule into NAT mode. This will take one of the five IP addresses handed out by the Livebox and split it into as many wireless addresses as you need. Q. My hard drive is only 80GB and is almost full. I am thinking of getting a 1TB Time Capsule to fix this and also provide a wireless network. Is this the best solution? A. The Time Capsule won't back itself up, so whatever files you migrate to the 1TB disk will be unprotected. Also, your files will only be accessible over a Wi-Fi connection, which is much slower than USB or FireWire. Use an external disk directly connected to your Mac for your overflow storage. Then let the Time Capsule back up both this and the internal disk. Q. I have added a Time Capsule by connecting it directly to my broadband modem with an Ethernet cable. But my Mac now frequently selects the wrong network and AirPort Utility can't see the Time Capsule at all. A. Instead of connecting to the Wi-Fi network from the modem and reaching the Time Capsule through that, reconfigure the Time Capsule to create its own Wi-Fi network and turn off Wi-Fi on the modem. Having two wireless networks just increases interference. Q. I recently changed broadband provider. My networked printer, which used to work perfectly, now causes me to lose my network connection every time I turn it on. A. Your printer probably has a static IP address assigned which now conflicts with the IP address range used for DHCP on the new router. Change the printer to use DHCP as well, or move the static address to an unused number. Q. After reinstalling OS X, my iBook won't accept the network password, even though all the other computers in the house connect perfectly well… A. Assuming that you're definitely using the right password for the router (and not confusing the router admin password with the AirPort password, say) the most likely problem is a corrupted plist and deleting this file should fix it. You'll find it in the folder Macintosh HD\Library\Preferences\ System Preferences. Q. I sometimes get an error message that comes up and says 'IP Configuration'. Nothing else seems wrong. Should I worry? A. This message occurs when another device tries to connect with the same IP address as you. You were there first, so the other device is locked out, but OS X is warning you about the conflict. Check all your network devices are using DHCP, or static IP addresses that don't overlap the DHCP range or conflict with each other. Q. I have an Apple TV that I would like to set up with my Buffalo LinkStation. Can I use this drive as my location for iTunes on my iMac and then play music and films on my Apple TV? A. Using NAS disks for iTunes is probably still more trouble than it's worth. iTunes has a habit of reverting to a local library if the NAS is in sleep mode when iTunes starts. You could enable the iTunes server on the LinkStation itself, but Apple TV won't connect directly to that. Alternatively, connect the LinkStation directly to your Mac as an ordinary external disk. Your Mac would need to be on whenever you wanted to stream media to the Apple TV, though. Q. What is the best way to add really old Macs (G4 and G3 iMacs) to my wireless network? A. Use a wireless bridge. It plugs into the Ethernet port on your Mac and lets the G4 ignore the wireless aspect. The bridge will relay all the traffic from the G4 to the router without the Mac ever being any the wiser. The Airport Express will do this, but Belkin and Linksys also have compatible bridges. Q. I have moved my iTunes and iPhoto libraries to a networked hard drive. Unfortunately, I can no longer use Front Row to watch or listen to my media. Is there anything I can do to point Front Row at an external drive? A. Front Row won't access networked drives directly, but you can easily create an alias to one and drop that into your Movies or Music folder. Provided that the network drive is accessible and mounted, Front Row should display this perfectly well, though there might be a short delay for Front Row to buffer the stream before it begins playing. Q. I'm trying to connect a PC and a Mac. In System Preferences, under Sharing-Services, I've ticked Personal Web Sharing and under Sharing-Internet I've turned on Internet Sharing. But if my Mac has access to the internet, the PC can't get onto the web at the same time.
A. Personal web sharing is just so that you can have web pages on your local hard disk that others on your network can view as if they were published on the internet; it has nothing to do with sharing an internet connection. And the Internet Sharing preferences setting is designed to allow your Mac to share its own internet connection with one or more computers on that network. This is what your router is already doing, and by enabling it on the Mac as well you are just tangling everything up. Turn off Internet Sharing on the Mac (and the PC too if it is enabled there) and just let the router handle the NAT. Q. What is MAC access control and will enabling it improve my Wi-Fi security at all? A. The Media Access Control, or MAC, address is hard-coded into every network device at manufacture and is unique to each one. You'll find it by selecting About This Mac from the Apple menu and then clicking the More Info… button. Then select Network from the list on the left and scroll the right-hand pane all the way down to the bottom, where you should see the MAC address in question presented as six, two-digit, hexadecimal numbers. |
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