wireless nightmare

Hi everyone,

First of all, sorry for troubling you guys, but believe me I have read tons of information and advice on this matter but nothing solved my problem.

I have a white macbook and the BT Homehub at work doesn't want to assign it to an IP address for some reason. Having followed some advice I was given, I tried to configure Ipv4 manually, which was working for some time, but when I got back to work today my connection had gone again. However, airport can connect to the internet, what's more skype is working fine but when I launch any of the browsers I have, I got a message saying that I have no internet connection... (I'm not the sharpest knife in the box but I know that skype do need internet connection, so this whole thing is a mystery for me..)

I need to add that when I'm at any other location I never have this problem, so I assume airport is OK. Then I thought it might be some kind of compatibility problem between the computer and the router, but my bf uses the same one and I never had any problems connecting to his wireless either...

Any thoughts would be welcome.)

The problem you're having at work is with the wireless encryption on the network. Do you have administrative control of that device, or do you actually have an IT department?

If the former, you'll need to get into the configuration for the BT HomeHub. This is typically done through a web browser, but the process varies (widely) depending on the device. Either check the documentation or contact BT for more info. Check the wireless security settings. If currently set to WEP and/or using MAC filtering, turn off both and enable WPA (or better, WPA2) only. Set a password when prompted. Then reconnect each one of the computers (you'll be prompted for the password you set). That should do the trick. Again, can't walk you through the specifics as it varies by the make/model of the router, but it should give you some direction to go in.

If the router is managed by an IT department, you'll want them to check your Mac's settings for the connection.

What's happening is that your Mac isn't going through the "handshake" process that occurs when it connects. So what happens is that you have a partial connection - your Mac isn't getting an IP address from DHCP. This is most common when the encryption isn't set right or you're using MAC filtering and your Mac's MAC address isn't entered into the table of allowed devices.

Cheers, I tried to get into the routers control panel, but the admin password I was given (that's the default password that came with the device) didn't work. (P.S> I know how stupid it sounds, but should I try again from one of the computers that the router can actually see?) On the other hand, when I check the network list in network preferences, it tells me that the network is protected with WPA2 password.. Well, it looks like a dead end, but thanks for the advice.)

Just an update: I managed to check the router's settings, it was set to WPA2.. I also checked all the network settings, but without any intervention I got back online all of a sudden..