Help with TC and Little Black Box

cherry_bomb · Nov 28, 2013

mrplow said:
A NAS is just a network attached hard disk that is better and more flexible at 'advertising' it's content across the network than the AirPort Extreme.

You still need a media player box of some description that can read those files and throw them up onto your TV. That's where something like the LBB comes in. It's this TV attached box that runs XBMC.

While I would recommend a NAS, as I believe they are a better all round product, for sharing media files across a network you don't currently know where your issue lies. You don't know if your extreme is struggling to 'serve' the files or if the LBB is struggling to process those files.
Until you know where the weak link is I'd hold off making any purchases

I'm actually not using an extreme, I'm just using whatever router came with with my internet service. I would think maybe the router is the problem, but my bro (who actually lives in the house next door) is using the same router. I do wonder if being hard wired in is the issue, because I know that's how he's set up. I can experiment with moving my connection from the office to the living room PITA, but you're right, it would be good to know where the problem is. Patience is just not a virtue of mine AT ALL. lol

mrplow · Nov 28, 2013

A time capsule is just an AirPort Extreme with a hard disk built in.

So how is the TC configure, is it in bridge mode?

Is your ISP router or the TC providing the wireless network?

cherry_bomb · Nov 28, 2013

mrplow said:
A time capsule is just an AirPort Extreme with a hard disk built in.

So how is the TC configure, is it in bridge mode?

Is your ISP router or the TC providing the wireless network?

Ah that I did not know!

I do not know if the TC is in bridge mode. :/ I have it partitioned, part TC back up and the other part storage.

The TC is providing the wireless network- I think. Well…maybe not. It's providing the wireless network for my printer and for access to the TC, but I guess no, it would be the router providing the wireless part for everything else.

mrplow · Nov 28, 2013

You can go two ways that I'd recommend:
1. Use the ISP router to act as the DCHP server (handing out addresses to everything on the network and controlling all the traffic. All wifi will go through this router. Then use airport utility to put the TC into bridge mode. Effectively making it a dumb hard disk.

2. Connect your modem (if you have one) directly to the TC and do away with the ISP router. If your ISP router is a modem/router combined then you would disable the DCHP server and wifi and allow the TC to act as the 'controller' for the whole network.

The issues you're encountering at the moment may be clashes between competing wifi networks and competing routers

cherry_bomb · Nov 28, 2013

mrplow said:
You can go two ways that I'd recommend:
1. Use the ISP router to act as the DCHP server (handing out addresses to everything on the network and controlling all the traffic. All wifi will go through this router. Then use airport utility to put the TC into bridge mode. Effectively making it a dumb hard disk.

2. Connect your modem (if you have one) directly to the TC and do away with the ISP router. If your ISP router is a modem/router combined then you would disable the DCHP server and wifi and allow the TC to act as the 'controller' for the whole network.

The issues you're encountering at the moment may be clashes between competing wifi networks and competing routers

Wow. This is like having my own personal IT guy. I love it! Okay. I will dig into this tomorrow, since it's Turkey Day here and I will be gone most of the day, and figure out exactly what I have. Right now everything's just shoved into my office- out of site, out of mind, except for my TC of course it get's its own shelf.

I think I have both the modem and router because I'm pretty sure I have two boxes from the cable company.

Do you have a recommendation between the two?

mrplow · Nov 28, 2013

A separate modem simplifies things a lot.

You connect the modem direct to the TC. Unplug the ISP router completely.

Then use Airport Utility to run through the setup wizard on the TC. So you can configure the wifi etc.

Enjoy thanksgiving.

cherry_bomb · Nov 29, 2013

mrplow said:
A separate modem simplifies things a lot.

You connect the modem direct to the TC. Unplug the ISP router completely.

Then use Airport Utility to run through the setup wizard on the TC. So you can configure the wifi etc.

Enjoy thanksgiving.

So, It looks like I only *have* a modem, unless it can be a combo router/modem. It's an Ubee and I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to log into it right now. It is plugged directly into my TC. Which I guess means I don't have two routers competing with one another, so now I'm kind of at a loss of what to do. Is there maybe a setting off in Airport Utility that is causing my connection issues with the little black box? What do you suggest?

Thanks for all of your help, you've been amazing. Turkey Day was good, not too crazy and pretty low key meal, which was nice.

PS Never mind, it DOES look like it's a combo router/modem. So I need to log into it and??? Thank you!

mrplow · Nov 30, 2013

You need to turn off the DHCP server and turn off wifi. If that's possible on that router.

Any problems, let me know the full name and model number

cherry_bomb · Nov 30, 2013

mrplow said:
You need to turn off the DHCP server and turn off wifi. If that's possible on that router.

Any problems, let me know the full name and model number

Okay, I see where it has the DHCP section and there is an option to to server off. Once I do that will the TC take over automatically? Will I lose internet when I do this? Just worried because if I can't get online, then I can't ask you what to do next. LOL

mrplow · Dec 1, 2013

You'll need to run through the basic setup on the time capsule then you'll be good to go

cherry_bomb · Dec 1, 2013

mrplow said:
You'll need to run through the basic setup on the time capsule then you'll be good to go

;D Okay, and I do that through airport utility? Sorry for the lame questions, just don't want to screw it up.

mrplow · Dec 1, 2013

Yes that's it, Airport Utility

cherry_bomb · Dec 5, 2013

mrplow said:
Yes that's it, Airport Utility

Okay, so turn of DHCP on router, go into Airport Utlity and I don't see where it gives me the option to just run set up. Scared to lose internet and not be able to get back on! LOL

cherry_bomb · Dec 5, 2013

mrplow said:
Yes that's it, Airport Utility

Okay, I turned it off, but so far nothing has happened. Did I do it write?

mrplow · Dec 6, 2013

Ok.

You've turned off DHCP on the ubee router, now turn off wireless on there too.

Connect the time capsule to the ubee router by cable. It needs to connect to the WAN port on the TC.

Then run through the setup wizard for the TC in Airport Utility to setup the wifi. Not bridge mode just the standard wizard. Configure wifi and make sure the TC is running the DHCP server..

Effectively you're just using the ebee as a modem. Your TC is the router for the network

cherry_bomb · Dec 31, 2013

mrplow said:
Ok.

You've turned off DHCP on the ubee router, now turn off wireless on there too.

Connect the time capsule to the ubee router by cable. It needs to connect to the WAN port on the TC.

Then run through the setup wizard for the TC in Airport Utility to setup the wifi. Not bridge mode just the standard wizard. Configure wifi and make sure the TC is running the DHCP server..

Effectively you're just using the ebee as a modem. Your TC is the router for the network

Hey! I'm back online after surgery and trying to tackle this problem again. I turned off the wireless internet on the router and then lost my connections. I then pulled up AirPort Utility to configure the TC, but it couldn't find it…since I'm not connected to a network. I can buy a USB to USB cord to plug them into one another, but I'm worried I'm still missing something.

Also, when you say connect the TC by cable to the router, are you meaning by ethernet cable, because that is the only plug available on the Ubee, besides the telephone line plug. I'm hoping I haven't screwed things up too much!!! And on NYE when I can't go out because I'm supposed to be taking it easy from surgery! LOL

mrplow · Jan 1, 2014

cherry_bomb said:
Hey! I'm back online after surgery and trying to tackle this problem again. I turned off the wireless internet on the router and then lost my connections. I then pulled up AirPort Utility to configure the TC, but it couldn't find it…since I'm not connected to a network. I can buy a USB to USB cord to plug them into one another, but I'm worried I'm still missing something.

Also, when you say connect the TC by cable to the router, are you meaning by ethernet cable, because that is the only plug available on the Ubee, besides the telephone line plug. I'm hoping I haven't screwed things up too much!!! And on NYE when I can't go out because I'm supposed to be taking it easy from surgery! LOL

Hi, hope you've recovered.

The Ubee needs to be connected to the TC by Ethernet cable yes.

To configure the TC connect it to the ubee with Ethernet cable then you can either:
1) reset it, it'll then appear wirelessly for you to connect to then configure in Airport Utility
Or
2) leave the wireless on on the ubee while you configure the TC and turn it off afterwards.