Time Capsule connectivity issues & conflicts

Time Capsule set-up conflicts are as follows:

TC/TM dropped after being unused for a couple of months. During that time my internet server provided me with a new router to replace one that had stopped working.

When I came to re-use my TC via Time Machine the TC was invisible, even though I used Airport Utility to search for it.

Meanwhile, I acquired a Macbook Pro with Lion instead of my older Macbook.

Now I have reset my time capsule by depressing for 10 seconds the soft reset button on the back of the TC.

Then using Airport Utility TC is recognized and can be set up. But doing this means I lose my internet router connection. BY clicking on the Wi-Fi button at the top right of my laptop I can see both my Wi-Fi network and a Time Machine connection.

But neither seem to interact in a seamless whole. If I want to go online I must choose my Wi-Fi router connection and then lose the TC – or vice versa (it seems anyway?).

Can anyone advise a fix for this problem please?

Thanks

The two devices should coexist without you having to switch between them. I am doing it right now. I have my Time Capsule set to connect to the router by wire (ethernet). I have assigned the TC an IP address in the range of those generated by the router. The Time Capsule is set to extend an existing network if I remember corruptly.

Either of the devices could in theory be used as the router as long as the other is set to extend an existing network you should avoid the problem you are having. Make sure only one device is handing out IP addresses. Also be aware that if you let the TC extend the network wirelessly I think the ethernet ports stop working.

Many thanks for your help Slydude. As you suggest, I'm going to try connecting the TC to the router and see if that resolves the issue.

When I reset the TC this afternoon, I selected the option to extend an existing network I believe. But I'll check this again to be sure, as I also often remember corruptly too.

Can you step me through the process of assigning a specific IP address in the range you mention. Sad to say I remain a child in these matters and if I'm not carefully led by the hand I'm likely to power-out the British National Grid...

And that would be unconscionable. Fun perhaps, but unconscionable all the same.

Btw, the odd thing here is that the TC used to work fine wirelessly even though it wasn't connected by an ethernet cable to the router. It was just part of my wireless system from the get go and worked hassle free.

Here's an overview of my settings perhaps that will help. This assumes that the other router will be manage the network and has the job of assigning IP addresses. If necessary I may be able to be more specific if I know the model of your router. I assume that your router assigns addresses based on DHCP if not let me know.

1. Find your router's IP address and the range of addresses it can assign. e.g. 192.168.2.1 for the router and 192.168.2.2 to 192.168.2.100 for the addresses.

2. Launch Airport Utility and choose Manual setup.

3. From the Toolbar at the top Choose Internet. In the Internet Connection tab for Connection Sharing choose "Off (Bridge Mode).

4. In the TCP/IP tab choose Manually. For the IP address choose one that the router could assign such as 192.168.2.2. The sunbonnet mask will likely be 255.255.255.0. You can check it by looking for that value in one of your Macs that can connect to the router. For the Router and DNS addresses I have entered the address of my router.

When done apply the changes and see if that fixes the problem.

Thanks again for your assistance.

I'll follow the steps you set out and will let you know it all went. This may be Monday, but possibly earlier depending on our movements this weekend.

If it's of any use my router is a Sagemcom 2504N provided by my Internet provider.

Hasve a very good New Year!

One further question Slydude.

How do I find my router address so I can fill in the Router and DNS address fields?

And as you suspected the sunbonnet mask was set to 255.255.255.0.

Thanks for your patience.

I went through the steps carefully (using the router IP address that was displayed on the Airport Utility manual setup page) but at the end, after receiving the message that the changes had been successfully updated, I eventually got this error message:

"AirPort Utility was unable to find your AirPort wireless device after restarting.

The settings for this AirPort wireless device have been successfully updated, but there was a problem re-joining the wireless network or finding the AirPort wireless device. You may need to select your network from the Wi-Fi menu and try again."

I have no idea what I've done wrong?

Router & Time Capsule Issues

Frustrated Newbie ~

These are the kind of issues that I quit using PC's for back 30+ years ago and bought my first Apple I believe ~

I have chased this problem around for hours on end ~

Have found that its all in the setup/security/connectivity & resetting of the the router/ depending upon whether or not connected over the ethernet or wifi.

Now that I've been able to establish a more stable connection through my Air Port Extreme, which I believe I have set in an 801.1x mode of some sort with all of the other various things that have been previously mentioned here and throughout the forum ~ and still very confused but getting better ?!?!

I don't pretend to understand but have spent a ton of time attempting to get the system setup so I can backup to up grade to OS Lion and maybe finally get the rest of the system operate ?!?!