No wi-fi but works fine on Windows

I'm at work on their hidden wireless network. None of the Mac-based computers will connect to the internet but the Windows-based computers work without any problem.Three of us are using Mac Pro's with Windows via bootcamp. All three will connect on the Windows side but not the Mac side.
We have tried the diagnostics that comes up when we trie to open Safari but it doesn't help. We have also tried signing on again with the network name and password but that doesn't work either. All three of us also have iphones and none of the will connect either. Anyone have any ideas? This seems to be an apple problem but I have no idea what it is.

When I go to network preferences it says I am connected to the network but when I try to open safari it says the homepage can't be opened because I'm not conneceted to the internet. All of the computers and phones are showing full signal strength.

I'm assuming your "hidden" network at the office is encrypted? What type of encryption is being used? WEP? WPA? WPA2?

If it's WEP, that may be the problem. The OS X airport wireless utility has problems with WEP encryption in that is doesn't always properly recognize the hexadecimal characters as such. If you are using WEP at the office, I first suggest changing it to a more powerful secure encryption - WPA2. If you can't change it, then try placing a $ in front of the hexadecimal sequence.

Let us know.

Regards.

Unless it was changed recently and we weren't told about it, it was wpa2 personal. I have tried to sign in to the network using all the options and nothing has worked. In the diagnostics when safari fails to connect it lists:
Airport
Airport Settings
Net Settings
ISP
Internet
Server

The first four have green dots next to them. The last two have red dots next to them. In Internet settings it is saying we are connected to the network and have full signal strength but we can't connect to the internet when we open our browsers.

If your office network is using WPA2 and broadcasting its SSID and you're entering the correct pass phrase, you should be able to connect and then open a web page. The same would apply to the iPhones.

However, if your office is using a proxy server, you would also have to configure the proxy settings. Is a proxy server being used that you know of?
I'm wondering if that's the problem because the network diagnostics say that you're connected.

I'm not in Windows 7 right now so I can't check to see if proxy settings are set in automatically on connection to a secure network but I do know Windows will handle a secure connection easier than OS X.

Regards.

If they are using a proxy server they just started recently. As soon as someone in-the-know gets here I'll check.

Everything today is just like Friday. None of the macs or iphones will connect to the internet but say they are connected to the network. When we switch to widows we connect without a problem.

Are you sure that the only security is WPA2? There can be other security layers. For example - my company requires a certificate to log into the corporate network. I can attach to the network with my login but I needed to be able to grab the certificate to actually authenticate. This is just an example.

That being said - it seems like there is some microsoft protocol going on in the background - because nothing but MS products connect.

Do you have a linux box, or a MS Windows mobile phone to verify my theory? (The linux box shouldn't connect, the Windows Mobile phone may have the software required) You can always grab a Linux live CD and just run off of that to see if you can get on the network. If Linux connects then it is definitely a Mac issue.

The only security was wpa2 personal and windows is still connecting using that. I know there is nothing with linux around here and I don't think there are any windows phones but I'll check around and see if I can find something.

Just a note, I have had issues with some routers that were using WPA or WPA2 with AES instead of TKIP or AES&TKIP. Computer just would not connect. Some allow you to change from AES to TKIP. TKIP has always worked for me.

Well, I found out they are making changes to network and computer system but don't know what. It will probably be Thursday before I can try to contact the main IT guy. He's not much on Apple so I don't have much hope he'll know what he did that changed it. If I find out anything I'll let you know.

That is why I suggested a live CD - Ubuntu will boot into a fully usable operating system without installing anything.
Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

IvanLasston said:

That is why I suggested a live CD - Ubuntu will boot into a fully usable operating system without installing anything.
Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Click to expand...

That is a very good suggestion. See if a Linux Live CD will connect to the WiFi.

The infra-record software they say to use to burn ubuntu to a cd doesn't say it's win7 compatible. Is this even needed?

The live cd is an iso image. You can use Mac's disk utility to burn it to a blank disk.
How to burn ISO disc images - Mac OS X Hints

^^^^^^^
That would work if I could access the net with OS X. The only place I have internet fast enough to download anything is at work and I can only access the net with Windows via bootcamp because of the above problem.

Try this then
The Windows Blog

very similar issue

Proff49,

I am experiencing a very similar problem that just started Saturday morning.
I have a 2008 iMac and run Windows 7 through bootcamp. I have a fairly old Linksys wireless router. Currently, my internet is not working on the Mac side, but is working absolutely fine in my bootcamped Windows 7. Also, my wife has a PC laptop for work with Windows Vista, and the internet on it works absolutely fine.

So, first I tried the standard "reset the cable modem and wireless router" and unplugged them, waited a couple of minutes, and plugged them back in. When I launched Safari, the best it could do was pull up my homepage...but I could never navigate to other webpages. I tried this several times but no luck.

I scheduled an appointment at the Apple Store and took my iMac in. The technician was very helpful, but after working on it for 25 minutes or so, determined that there was nothing wrong with my Airport wireless card. He suggested that I check to make sure my Linksys router's firmware was updated and perhaps disable my security since i was using WEP encryption.

So I went home and I checked linksys.com for firmware updates for my router. I was happy to see that there was a recent firmware update that I had not downloaded, and I thought it would remedy the problem. I updated the firmware, reset the router security option from WEP encryption to WPA Personal encryption, and launched Safari. This seemed to resolve the problem, but within fifteen minutes it had discontinued working again.

As mentioned in an earlier post, when one runs a diagnostic, the following 6 items/settings are diagnosed:

Airport
Airport Settings
Network Settings
ISP
Internet
Server

The first three items show up green, and the last three items (ISP, Internet, Server) show up red/failed.

I am at a complete and utter loss. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Lctwo

a suggestion - since you are using bootcamp, go into windows and turn off the airport. boot into OSX and see if it is still enabled. if not turn it on and try to configure. if it is still enabled in OSX, drop and refresh your IP address.

communique overseen

fearless,

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond...unfortunately your recommendation did not work.

Just to double-check, I printed off the firmware upgrade instructions and read over them, only to realize that the linksys telephone representative did not go through all of the required steps with me. So I went through step-by-step, and actually reached a firmware upgrade screen that had not popped up the first time.

The linksys firmware upgrade registered as successful, so I was excited to give it another try. I reset the cable modem and router before logging into Mac OS. When I logged into Mac OS, at first safari seemed to be working fine and I thought i had fixed the problem....but then a few minutes later I was back to square one, with endless "loading" screens and failure of (i.e., red dots beside) the ISP, Network, and Internet settings when performing a diagnostic.

Here are some peculiar details about this issue: First, after I run these diagnostics and proceed with the recommended steps to fix the problem (network port configuration, select network, etc), it comes back and tells me my internet connection is fine. From there I pull up safari, and I can usually boot up my homepage and maybe navigate to one or two other webpages before it drops again and the diagnostic tells me that my ISP, Network and Internet have failed.

Second, I have noticed that the date and time are incorrect on the Mac side. To correct this, I either have to go into date and time and set it manually or re-enter the appropriate time zone. Sometimes, however, it just corrects itself after being on for a while. I find this really odd.

Again, I am at a complete loss. My linksys router Model # is WRT54GS. It is a 2004-2006 model...so it is somewhat dated I suppose. At this point I am seriously considering running to the apple store and picking up an Airport Extreme, but I am worried that a new router might not solve the problem.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Best regards,

Lctwo

another detail

Fearless or anyone else who may be interested in helping out,

I just tried turning my Airport off and then back on when my wireless dropped out, and it works, but only temporarily. Within a few minutes, the signal drops out again and the diagnostic says that my ISP, Network and Internet have failed.

Geez this is a pain