01-10-2009, 12:30 PM

I've got a really frustrating problem with my internet connection. I appear to be connected according to Network Diagnostics, but am unable to open any web pages. I appear to start transferring data but it then stops and goes no further. Then all of a sudden it will start working fine a few hours later. My flatmate connects to the same router, and has no problems at all. We have tried rebooting the router, but this does not seem to have any affect.
It happens with both Firefox and Safari.

I connect through ethernet cable and have tried different cables that I know to work on flatmate's computer.

I'm not really clued up on internet settings, so any help would be most welcome.

Any ideas?

01-10-2009, 01:08 PM

Not much to go on.

Make sure your network settings are correct. Open System Preferences, Network, and select "Ethernet". For Configure: You should be "Using DHCP".

Look down below where it says DNS Server: Check the primary and secondary addresses. They should be the same as given to you by your ISP and what is currently listed in the router.

Click on the "Advanced" button. Check the settings for TCP/IP (should say using DHCP) and again check the settings for DNS making sure they're the same.

If after going through all that you still have the same problem, it may be hardware related in which case you will need to have Apple check it out.

Regards.

01-23-2009, 09:22 AM

I am using 2 GHz Power Mac G5, Mac OS X 10.4.11

I connect via ethernet to a Mentor four port router. As I stated earlier, my flatemate uses the same router and has no problems. He uses a Mac Book and Mac OS X Leopard.

When I try to connect, I sometimes have signals in Network Diagnostics saying that internet and server have both failed. Even when it says that they I working fine, I may still not be able to open any pages. It goes extremely slow, then times out.

The network seems to want to use my flatmate's computer as some kind of hub, as I seem to have more success when he is logged on. There also seems to be an issue with the time of day I am trying to connect, as after 1600 GMT it usually works really quickly, whereas before this time I am lucky to get it working at all.

I have tried switching on/off the router and also rebooting it. I even have problems accessing the router's IP address, to reboot it. None of this seems to work.

Checking my Network settings in TCP/IP it is configured using DHCP. When trying to check these settings I would often encounter an annoying repeating drop-down stating that my settings have been changed by another application. I would then have to force quit and reopen to check settings. After some research, it seems that this was caused by a security update that I think I may have installed just before my connection problems started in December. Could this bug be the reason for my internet frustrations?

If so, is there any way to fix it? I am beginning to think I would be best to reinstall Mac OS X. Would this be wise? Will it fix the problem?

If anyone has any suggestions, I would be grateful to hear them.
Thanks. C

01-23-2009, 09:45 AM

- Re-boot the router and your Mac and when both come back online get your flatmate to access the router and check the client list and make sure its registering you etc.. maybe assign/secure your IP etc.

- If you have set up an actual network delete it and create a new one ( there is obviously something incorrect if its reading your flatmates Mac as a Hub

- I don't think this is caused by any updates done

its strange that when your flatmate is on that you are able to connect with almost no problems and I would say the time thing could be caused to/by increased usage/demand on the ISP itself.. I notice that here some times.

I know with OS X you can re-install certain parts of the disc without having to delete and re-install the entire OS.

Use your OS X disc and once its mounted select 'optional installs' there is a whole list of things you can re-install there and perhaps some network options too.

This will at the very least save you from formatting if you don't need to but when all else fails I'd get annoyed and just do a clean install.