TCP / IP Address issue

Hi all,

I've been having a problem with connecting to a single at work, and many of my other colleagues have been having the same problem. We have about 10 routers at the school, but one of them is very close to my classroom. My Macbook Pro couldn't connect to it. I checked system preferences and realised the issue was that the IPv4 number, Subnet mask and Router Number were all wrong. So, I manually changed them, and I also cleared the DNS numbers, and entered the DNS for the router at work. But ever since then, I have to change the IPv4 number, Subnet Mask and Router number, every time I connect to a different network (at home, in coffee shops etc...) It's very frustrating, as I never had to change the numbers manually to connect to any network or router. But my Macbook had an issue with one router, and now I have to change the numbers every single time I select a different wifi source.

How do I set my Macbook Pro, to automatically change the numbers, every time I select a different router (at home, at work , at coffee shops etc..) ?

Thank you for your time.

G'day and welcome to the forums.

You will have to make sure both the school and home routers are set up and appear in the Preferred Networks window after going to 'Advanced', so that means setting up both Networks to handle this. For instance, I run my router 5GHz channel to connect to the net, and the 2.4GHz channel for the wifi printer so they appear as two networks in 'Advanced'. Have a look through this and see if it nhelps:-


https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/8992/how-do-i-connect-my-mac-to-wifi-automatically/8999

If the only issue is the one router(?) I would suggest talking to your local tech and have them check it.

But anyway, it sounds like that one router is not setup to use DHCP so in order to connect you have to manually input it's settings. Your local tech needs to check that router and set it up to use DHCP. If the router is setup to use DHCP already I would suggest it is not working correctly and needs to be replaced.

Every time you have to set your device's settings to match that router it prevents it from automatically matching it's settings to other wireless networks. Your device will hold the manual settings and not change them to match any other wireless network it encounters. The only way to fix this is to continue to change the settings in your mac to manual and then back to automatic when you are no longer accessing that router. There is no way to set it manual for one network and automatic for others.

To have your mac connect to a variety of networks you need to leave the wireless network on automatic. That will fix your issues with other networks. As for the one at work - talk to the perosn (tech) who can access the router near you and discuss the issue. It may be the router is old or failing or not set correctly.

Post back and let us know what you find out. The fact you are not the only one having issues with this router leads me to believe that the router at work near you is the problem.

Lisa

Hi, thank you both for your quick responses. I checked, and found that both networks are already in my preferred networks. I also tried using DHCP automatically at home, and the network at home connected without issue. So, that leads me to believe that it is, indeed, a DHCP problem with the router at work. I would guess that the router is really old, and probably needs replacing. I will suggest this at school on Monday. Thank you for your help.