TP-Link router suddenly disappeared

hi. I bought: TP-Link TD-W8961ND 300Mbps Wireless N ADSL2+ Modem Router

From Amazon in October 2012. It has worked perfectly supporting 2x Windows Desktop, 1x Windows laptop, 1x Mac desktop, 1X iPad, 1x iPod, 3X Samsung Telephones.

Suddenly the Mac Mini can't see the router in System Preferences at all ( I am connected via son's personal line.) It just vanished and nothing I can do seems to be able to find it again. It is still visible and working on all the other systems. Any Ideas??

Were you connected by ethernet cable or wi-fi?

Did you lose connection while you were using it? or was it there one day and gone the next time you came to use the Mini?

hi. Thanks for taking time to look at this. I was connected via WIFI, like all the other kit listed. There is nothing connected to the router by ethernet. I tried to get mail one morning on starting my mac, and found I couldn't connect. I also couldn't get Safari or Firefox to connect. My first thoughts were to look at the state of the router in system prefs, only to find it not there. So I went through the normal procedures of re-booting the router. I checked with other equipment and found I could see the router on all devices other than my mac mini. That state remains up until now. thanks again

So you click the wifi icon in the menu bar top-right and your network doesn't appear in this list? Do any other nearby networks appear?

Where in System Preferences are you looking?

That's precisely correct. I click the little wave-front icon and see three available n/w. All password protected. Two are neighbours and one is son who has his own phone line and router. I have his p/w so have connected through his router. I can't keep leeching off my son for ever. He got his own phone line and router to get away from our family access point.

In System preferences I can either click on the router I am already connected to, and ask to: Join Other Network, or of to Advanced and see the other networks, or go to Assist me, and I see the other networks. I can't see the TP-Link box in any of those places.

That's rather odd (though I guess you know that!).

If you can connect to other networks that suggests the Mac Mini is ok and other devices can connect ok to the router so that sounds ok..... very odd.

Is it practical to try connecting by Ethernet temporarily? Just to determine if it's a generic networking issue or whether it's solely a wifi issue?

You can see my conundrum. Both systems work fine, but just not with each other. I have not tried to connect mac to router via ethernet, because frankly it's going to be really difficult to do. What I had planned to do next was change the router for a backup I have, and see if it makes any difference. My other thought was to wonder if somehow I picked up a rogue cookie cutting this specific machine through that specific router. But I cleared all cookies and it's made no difference. It was a very long shot anyway, I know. I am baffled. Thanks again for your input

cookies don't do that kind of thing.

If someone has changed the router to apply MAC (that's network address not Apple Mac) filtering or restricted IP addresses or the SSID has become hidden. Then maybe you'd have connection issues.

Try resetting your network configuration completely:

In Finder go to:
yourMacHD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist

Rename the preferences.plist to preferences.old

Restart your Mac

Attempt to reconnect to your network and try again

If that doesn't work then do the same thing but for the whole SystemConfiguration folder that the above plist is in.

Hi. Thanks for taking time to consider this conundrum. I have just tried both those things, in order, as you suggest. (I wouldn't have thought of either of these methods) But to no avail. The same available networks remain available, TP-Link is not showing, but I am still connected via iPad through TP-Link. SO…. no change. It's most frustrating. But thanks anyway

Any thunderstorms within fifty miles or so lately?

No, not at all. And anyway, my mac is still perfect and the router still perfect, just not talking to each other. thanks

If you log into the router:
1. Is the SSID hidden?
2. What level of security is in place? (wep, apa, wpa-psk etc)
3. What type of wireless (g, n, ac)?
4. Any MAC address filtering on?

hi. Thanks for taking interest in my conundrum. As mentioned in the earlier posts, this was working for over 18 months before vanishing, so I must confess that my lack of expertise would lead me to believe that if I changed nothing, and it used to work, then it still should. But then, as I say, I am no expert.

I have to say that to log into the router via ethernet is going to be extremely difficult, and I don't believe there's a way to get at the management of the box other that ethernet. I will have to give your questions some consideration, I am afraid, as getting at the answers may not be simple. As far as I know the SSID is not hidden (all other users are still attached without changing their attachment) WEP/2, I believe is the p/w level. It is an 'n' router and I don't believe there is MAC filtering in place.

As I say, would these settings be susceptible to change, in some way, without me knowing?? I'd be pretty worried if they could. Thanks again for your help

You will be able to access the settings wirelessly from your iPad.

But you're completely correct nothing should have changed and certainly not to impact a single machine.

Clutching at straws. Can you:
1. reset your pram/smc on your Mac Mini
2. try a new user and see if that has the same issue?

Hi. Thanks for your determination!!! I tried the Pram reset. No change. Logged in as Guest - no change. It's frustrating huh. I need to look up how to log into the router from iPad - never done that before. cheers!

Well you now know why electronics carry a twelve month warranty. Not unusual for routers to fail after two or three years. And the question about thunderstorms have had routers fail after a strike fifty mile away without affecting the computer at all.

Also worth checking if the Minis Airport Card is working. They also fail.

hi, and thanks for you interest. The thing is, I have airport connection via my son's personal router and phone line, and the other router still connects my wife's laptop, my iPad and three Samsung phones. So both bits of the puzzle are still working perfectly. Just not with each other. Thanks for input though.

I believe I found a solution!

I doubt you are still having issues at this point, since it has been some time since the last person posted. However, I encountered the same issues you described, and was bummed to see no one posted a fix. To recap, we are both using a TP-Link router using wireless N, and every device in our home is capable of connecting to the router wireless, except our Mac computer. The mac is capable of seeing our neighbors wireless networks, and connect to those that are not secured, but our mac doesn't even see our routers SSID. AS a note, I am using OSX Yosemite 10.10.3, but other users have noted they have encountered the issue also using older apple operating systems.

Here is what worked for me:

In short, the "WPA Algorithms" on my router was set to "AES," but we are going to change it to "TKIP+AES." You can change it back to AES once we are done (if you would like) and the mac should now be able to detect the wireless network. That doesn't neccesarily explain why our macs don't using.

1. Wirelessly connect to your router via another computer. One that is able to see and connect.
2. Login to the routers backend. Likely you router will still have the default IP address 192.168.1.1 (open a browser, e.g., firefox, google chrome, and type in 192.168.1.1, press enter)
3. Type in the uersname and password. Hopefully you still know it, otherwise, it might be the default username and password for TPLink. Username: admin Password: admin
4. Select "wireless" or "wireless Security"
5. Change the "WPA Algorithms to either "TKIP+AES" or "AES" (the one you don't already have selected)
6. Apply Setting - At this point, you will be disconnected from your network for about 30 seconds. Reconnect to your wireless network.
7. Check to see if you Mac computer is now able to see your wireless network. Connect to it, and enjoy!

8. Optional: repeat this process, but change the WPA algorithm back to what it was before, (likely TKIP+AES for increased compatibility with devices)

Can you please check that your TP Link Router is connected with Ethernet Cable or Wifi.

mariaanderson said:

Can you please check that your TP Link Router is connected with Ethernet Cable or Wifi.

Click to expand...

I believe they found a solution almost three years ago if you check the dates above.

But it may be helpful to some readers that use that service/router later on.




- Patrick
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