Help needed with internet

I have this really bizzarre problem with my internet. I am running ethernet through uni and running tiger.

For some reason my ethernet connecting to the internet doesn't work. When I connect the cable into the computer, it can detect a router, however in my istat bar it only shows updating on the part when it says 'ext'. I have all my settings right... but it still doesn't work.

My ethernet only seems to start working only when I 'jump start' it by using a wireless internet connection. Once the wireless starts working, I can take it off and the ethernet works... and istat says that my ip is now my ext. ip. And I can't continue using the wireless because its not mine... which is why I want to try to fix the problem. I'm quite convinced that its a problem with my computer and not the server... and I've tried clearing my cache (to the best of my knowledge) and clearing my DNS settings and still nothing.

Something I just noticed is that all internet kind of cuts out at random times... and then I won't be able to get internet running on either wireless or ethernet for a random amount of time...

Any ideas?

Jackolow said:

I have this really bizzarre problem with my internet. I am running ethernet through uni and running tiger.

For some reason my ethernet connecting to the internet doesn't work. When I connect the cable into the computer, it can detect a router, however in my istat bar it only shows updating on the part when it says 'ext'. I have all my settings right... but it still doesn't work.

My ethernet only seems to start working only when I 'jump start' it by using a wireless internet connection. Once the wireless starts working, I can take it off and the ethernet works... and istat says that my ip is now my ext. ip. And I can't continue using the wireless because its not mine... which is why I want to try to fix the problem. I'm quite convinced that its a problem with my computer and not the server... and I've tried clearing my cache (to the best of my knowledge) and clearing my DNS settings and still nothing.

Something I just noticed is that all internet kind of cuts out at random times... and then I won't be able to get internet running on either wireless or ethernet for a random amount of time...

Any ideas?

Click to expand...

Please take a few screen shots of your network configuration in System Preferences => Network. Be sure to include pics with both the Ethernet (wired) card and the Airport. That will help tremendously.

To be honest, there is nothing special with my network settings.
Airport is set to completely automatic as I am connecting to another computer.. and ethernet is manually set to my uni's configuration except for IPv6 which is set to automatic (which doesn't need to be set at all). Do I still need to post my settings? I really don't think it has to do with it. If you still think its relevant then I will.

cwa is one of the better network guys around here - if I needed help and he asked me for pictures, you can bet I'd take some screen shots and put 'em up

while it may not be related, you never know what another pair of eyes will see

and surely you've already spent more than the minute or two this will take in trying to resolve it yourself

i got kind of bored so I tried installing leopard.. maybe it would fix it all. It didn't. So yeah.. here it is! (hopefully)







Jumpstarting the ethernet doesn't work anymore, however it works for hours on wireless. So I guess this really is an issue of either hardware or server... The thing is that the server, I would imagine, is a serious piece of hardware and isn't prone to switching off and resetting.
And my mac has just been in (like less than 2 weeks ago) for service where it got a new logic board.. Could there have been an error installing it so that I can't access the net anymore? It detects the other side, it just doesn't want to connect to it.

Jackolow said:

i got kind of bored so I tried installing leopard.. maybe it would fix it all. It didn't. So yeah.. here it is! (hopefully)







Jumpstarting the ethernet doesn't work anymore, however it works for hours on wireless. So I guess this really is an issue of either hardware or server... The thing is that the server, I would imagine, is a serious piece of hardware and isn't prone to switching off and resetting.
And my mac has just been in (like less than 2 weeks ago) for service where it got a new logic board.. Could there have been an error installing it so that I can't access the net anymore? It detects the other side, it just doesn't want to connect to it.

Click to expand...

Thank you - is there a static IP set on the Airport as well?

Nope. It actually only connects to another computer (windows).. not an actual wireless router or anything

Jackolow said:

Nope. It actually only connects to another computer (windows).. not an actual wireless router or anything

Click to expand...

When you have the ethernet cable connected, does it plug into a router/switch or into a wall jack?

The reason I asked for the images was to see exactly how your network cards are configured. My thought was that the "jumpstarting" effect was caused by the machine obtaining a valid IP address from the wireless router (in this case, a Windows machine, sharing out its connection) and then using that valid IP in lieu of the invalid IP it was statically set for.

Are you certain that the IP configuration you have set statically is correct and that no other user on that network is using that particular host address?

If you turn off the air port can you ping the router?

Also, Is there a reason you have the router using static ip assignment?

The ethernet connects to a wall socket.. which I presume is connected to a hub, which is connected to the university's internet system. In any case, its connected to a big... 'thingo'

You may have something with trying to connect with a valid IP. Looking at istat, the internet only start working when it has an external IP...

I'm pretty sure that all the details are correct. I have to use the IP because each computer is given an IP, which is locked to each mac address, and is only able to run from a certain socket.

The ethernet worked for about 1 hour this morning... so I'm thinking it could be some sort of server error. One thing I have noticed is that the internet is really unstable. It's very choppy. I guess this proves that all the settings do work, however something is kind of still haywire. Ill try getting a new IP tomorrow and see if it helps.

Is there any software reason why the computer won't get an external IP?

Jackolow said:

The ethernet connects to a wall socket.. which I presume is connected to a hub, which is connected to the university's internet system. In any case, its connected to a big... 'thingo'

You may have something with trying to connect with a valid IP. Looking at istat, the internet only start working when it has an external IP...

I'm pretty sure that all the details are correct. I have to use the IP because each computer is given an IP, which is locked to each mac address, and is only able to run from a certain socket.

The ethernet worked for about 1 hour this morning... so I'm thinking it could be some sort of server error. One thing I have noticed is that the internet is really unstable. It's very choppy. I guess this proves that all the settings do work, however something is kind of still haywire. Ill try getting a new IP tomorrow and see if it helps.

Is there any software reason why the computer won't get an external IP?

Click to expand...

Well, the static IP you're using on the Ethernet card is a class B public IP address. I can't tell what address you're getting on the Airport connection because the screen shots don't show it.

Does your school not have an IT support department? It really sounds like whatever scheme they're using to bind your MAC address to a specific IP isn't working properly. Chances are a network admin is going to need to get involved with this one.

When you have no Internet connection, I would like to know if you have a network connection. If you could try running "ping 130.240.102.1" from the command line in terminal. You are pinging your router. This will let you know if you have an ethernet connection. Here is a copy of my output when I ping my router.

[1623][daniel@Macintosh:~/web]$ ping 192.168.0.1
PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=4.652 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=2.590 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=2.397 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=2.237 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=2.064 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=1.868 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=1.635 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=1.443 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=1.279 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=3.189 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=2.982 ms
^C
--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
11 packets transmitted, 11 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.279/2.394/4.652/0.917 ms

If you don't have a connection, you would have 100% packet loss.

If you have an Internet connection you can ping a website like google and collect some statistics. If you ping when you have a "good" connection and then ping when you have a "choppy" connection it may help you determine if the connection is poor.

My thinking on this is to set the static IP of the Airport with the IP given by the university and have the Airport do DHCP to the Windows and Airbook.

After pinging and trying auto dhcp.. nothing works. i went to the student help desk and they told me that it could be the switch actually malfunctioning, and they told me to get someone else to try in my port.

So no one else can use my port, which means that its probably a server side problem (yay!).

Thanks for all your help guys! Without it I wouldn't have had enough information to tell the people at the help desk.